In many industry sectors today, brands view e-Commerce as an economic saviour. As traditional distribution channel prosperity suffers, mostly due to the Covid-19 crisis, enterprises are boosting their online activity. Total global retail e-Commerce sales are estimated at 16% for 2020, up from 10% in 2017 (Statista). And an even greater surge is expected in the next few years.<\/p>\n
For most companies, it\u2019s become urgent to exploit their e-Retail channel along with their direct-to-consumer (D2C) approach, as the latter isn\u2019t adapted to all industries. Some retailers have reached digital maturity and represent strong growth opportunities. Others are digital natives (pure players such as Amazon); still others are traditional brick-and-mortar stores that achieved digital success by offering consistent omnichannel experiences (e.g. Macy\u2019s in the US). Globally, pure players currently account for 72% of all e-Commerce dollars spent (adimo.co, 2020).<\/p>\n<\/div>
Launching an e-Retail activity implies major transformations<\/h2><\/div>- <\/i><\/span>\n
Brand animation on e-retailer platforms: How to make product pages more attractive, increase digital shelf space with regard to competitors or build detailed e-activation plans.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/li>
- <\/i><\/span>Commercial negotiations: How to negotiate counterparts adapted to digital (e.g. data sharing), ensure healthy price levels, build e-joint business plans.<\/div><\/li>
- <\/i><\/span>Performance measurement: How to monitor the right metrics, use the right tools, understand consumers and adapt strategies accordingly.<\/div><\/li>
- <\/i><\/span>Designing upskilling programmes is a strategic tool if businesses want to achieve a successful transformation.<\/div><\/li><\/ul>
The golden rules of training for a successful e-Retail business<\/strong><\/p>\nHere are a few golden rules that will help ensure the success of your upskilling programme.<\/p>\n<\/div>
Rule #1: Know where you are and what you need<\/h2><\/div>Your upskilling journey begins with a full audit of your organisation\u2019s relationship with online business:<\/p>\n<\/div>
- <\/i><\/span>\n
Strategy: What is the place of e-Commerce in your distribution activity? What budgets are allocated to it? Why did you opt for an e-Retail approach vs. a D2C model?<\/p>\n<\/div><\/li>
- <\/i><\/span>\n
Operational excellence: What percentage of your sales is generated online? How qualitative are your product pages? How visible are you online?<\/p>\n<\/div><\/li>
- <\/i><\/span>Organisation and process: How many people are working directly on the topic and what are their job titles? What are the composition and perimeter of global management teams vs. local teams? Who is responsible for what in sales and marketing teams regarding negotiations, content, eTrade, media, analytics?<\/div><\/li>
- <\/i><\/span>\n
Tools & Measurement: Are teams well-equipped to source and deploy relevant content on e-retailer platforms? Are they able to monitor business metrics across different retailers and markets? Do they have easy access to studies on consumer behaviours and market trends?<\/p>\n<\/div><\/li>
- <\/i><\/span>\n
People: What is their degree of expertise regarding their new tasks?<\/p>\n<\/div><\/li><\/ul>
Once these questions are answered, you\u2019ll have identified your peoples\u2019 knowledge and competencies gaps in relation to where your organisation is and where you want it to go. This will serve as the cornerstone of your upskilling programme.<\/p>\n<\/div>
- <\/i><\/span>Set up the Facebook Conversion API solution to support pixel data<\/b>: we are actively working on this subject, it is a server to server connection allowing more information \/ data to be uploaded to Facebook and thus limit the loss of data within campaigns. In short, the goal is to be less dependent on pixels \/ cookies and therefore on iOS 14 restrictions.<\/div><\/li>
- <\/i><\/span>Set up Facebook Attribution to keep a + 7-day view:<\/b> Facebook Attribution is being redesigned and the new version will continue to evaluate Facebook performance on attribution windows of 28 to 90 days despite the blocking of iOS (Facebook has not yet communicated on its way of reconciling the data). Therefore, it is very likely that in the long term, Facebook Ad Manager will remain the platform dedicated to campaign management, but that Facebook Attribution will become the platform for optimisation, analysis and reporting.<\/div><\/li><\/ul>
Rule #2: Involve top management and link the training programme to business targets<\/h2><\/div>As your upskilling programme is part of a global transition initiative, it must involve top management and support global business objectives. The upskilling journey will be an opportunity to homogenise ways of working across functions and markets. Input from local stakeholders and global management alike should be sought to add impact at local and global levels.<\/p>\n
Likewise, when developing your training agenda, make sure each module leads to a set of competencies to be acquired rather than concepts to be understood. Trainees should always know which skills they\u2019re obtaining from each section of the training programme, so they can see how they correspond to their global business targets.<\/p>\n
Inefficiency in training initiatives is often the result of a too-strong focus on input rather than output. Practical appropriation must be prioritised over conceptual frameworks; especially when introducing pragmatic topics such as commercial negotiations.<\/p>\n<\/div>
Rule #3: Identify e-Commerce champions, especially in marketing and commercial teams<\/h2><\/div>The e-Retail acceleration has impacted much of the value chain and, by extension, multiple functions within the company such as global management, logistics, legal, IT, marketing, sales\u2026 But certain people will always play a critical role in day-to-day e-Retail activity. They\u2019re your \u201ce-Commerce champions\u201d: e-KAM, e-business managers, digital activation managers…<\/p>\n
These are the ones you should focus your training on, with in-depth learning sessions and personalised workshops on topics like eTrade marketing and e-Retail negotiations.<\/p>\n
Others will be less directly implicated (BU and brand managers, transversal support staff, for example). They\u2019ll also need e-Retail transition training, but more generic courses, such as Omnichannel journeys, global e-Commerce figures, etc., should suffice.<\/p>\n
Consumer habits, player typology and ways of working are naturally unique to each region. In Europe, for example, online sales accounted for 12% of total retail sales in 2019, whereas the share was 21% in China (Statista report, 2020). For this reason, we recommend local adaptations of learning. Involving local representatives charged with adapting the content to their region, and working with internationally-recognised training organisms are two ways to accomplish this.<\/p>\n<\/div>
Rule #4: Format counts as much as content<\/h2><\/div>Combine theory and practice by diversifying training formats. We recommend a blended approach for a more interactive and impactful programme, using formats as varied as eLearning, workshops, bootcamps, or one-on-one coaching sessions, where trainees can interact with experts in real-time.<\/p>\n
Successful upskilling programmes require proper educational engineering, with proven learning mechanics. Engagement with training is key, which is why top-down formats should be avoided. Try to integrate videos, exercises, infographics or testimonies in your eLearning, and invite trainees to print or download the formats as takeaways. To foster appeal and user friendliness, invite creatives and UX designers to participate in building your eLearning modules.<\/p>\n
As for physical sessions, apply design thinking methodologies with ideation processes and discussions. Ask trainees to build real deliverables (templates, RACI\u2026) that teams will refer to in their daily activity.<\/p>\n<\/div>
Rule #5: Measure and support on a long-term basis<\/h2><\/div>After investing time and resources to build the best programme for your collaborators, you want to ensure they\u2019re leveraging it. Long-term support is necessary to be sure best practices are applied. For this reason, we recommend including occasional coaching sessions for operational support as part of the programme.<\/p>\n
And to anchor best practices over the long term, we recommend your upskilling programme be the keystone of an entire e-Commerce community within your organisation. Animated by your champions, this community should be a vector of knowledge-sharing through feedback sessions, meetups, roundtable discussions, forums, or even contests.<\/p>\n
Lastly, you should assess your programme\u2019s business impact at the company level. Measure adoption through completion\/presence rate, but also ROI: define business KPIs on which you can perform before\/after benchmarks (e.g. online sell out, margin rates, return on ad spend, volume of metrics monitored etc.). Try to isolate your impact from natural industry growth factors (i.e. outperforming index compared to e-Commerce category growth).<\/p>\n<\/div>
Make sure you have the right strategic partner to support you<\/h2><\/div>Building strategic upskilling programmes comes with certain challenges and requires substantial investments. We recommend you choose a partner with expertise in digital business topics and training organisation accreditation to accompany you.<\/p>\n<\/div>
<\/div>
Brand animation on e-retailer platforms: How to make product pages more attractive, increase digital shelf space with regard to competitors or build detailed e-activation plans.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/li>
The golden rules of training for a successful e-Retail business<\/strong><\/p>\n Here are a few golden rules that will help ensure the success of your upskilling programme.<\/p>\n<\/div> Your upskilling journey begins with a full audit of your organisation\u2019s relationship with online business:<\/p>\n<\/div> Strategy: What is the place of e-Commerce in your distribution activity? What budgets are allocated to it? Why did you opt for an e-Retail approach vs. a D2C model?<\/p>\n<\/div><\/li> Operational excellence: What percentage of your sales is generated online? How qualitative are your product pages? How visible are you online?<\/p>\n<\/div><\/li> Tools & Measurement: Are teams well-equipped to source and deploy relevant content on e-retailer platforms? Are they able to monitor business metrics across different retailers and markets? Do they have easy access to studies on consumer behaviours and market trends?<\/p>\n<\/div><\/li> People: What is their degree of expertise regarding their new tasks?<\/p>\n<\/div><\/li><\/ul> Once these questions are answered, you\u2019ll have identified your peoples\u2019 knowledge and competencies gaps in relation to where your organisation is and where you want it to go. This will serve as the cornerstone of your upskilling programme.<\/p>\n<\/div> As your upskilling programme is part of a global transition initiative, it must involve top management and support global business objectives. The upskilling journey will be an opportunity to homogenise ways of working across functions and markets. Input from local stakeholders and global management alike should be sought to add impact at local and global levels.<\/p>\n Likewise, when developing your training agenda, make sure each module leads to a set of competencies to be acquired rather than concepts to be understood. Trainees should always know which skills they\u2019re obtaining from each section of the training programme, so they can see how they correspond to their global business targets.<\/p>\n Inefficiency in training initiatives is often the result of a too-strong focus on input rather than output. Practical appropriation must be prioritised over conceptual frameworks; especially when introducing pragmatic topics such as commercial negotiations.<\/p>\n<\/div> The e-Retail acceleration has impacted much of the value chain and, by extension, multiple functions within the company such as global management, logistics, legal, IT, marketing, sales\u2026 But certain people will always play a critical role in day-to-day e-Retail activity. They\u2019re your \u201ce-Commerce champions\u201d: e-KAM, e-business managers, digital activation managers…<\/p>\n These are the ones you should focus your training on, with in-depth learning sessions and personalised workshops on topics like eTrade marketing and e-Retail negotiations.<\/p>\n Others will be less directly implicated (BU and brand managers, transversal support staff, for example). They\u2019ll also need e-Retail transition training, but more generic courses, such as Omnichannel journeys, global e-Commerce figures, etc., should suffice.<\/p>\n Consumer habits, player typology and ways of working are naturally unique to each region. In Europe, for example, online sales accounted for 12% of total retail sales in 2019, whereas the share was 21% in China (Statista report, 2020). For this reason, we recommend local adaptations of learning. Involving local representatives charged with adapting the content to their region, and working with internationally-recognised training organisms are two ways to accomplish this.<\/p>\n<\/div> Combine theory and practice by diversifying training formats. We recommend a blended approach for a more interactive and impactful programme, using formats as varied as eLearning, workshops, bootcamps, or one-on-one coaching sessions, where trainees can interact with experts in real-time.<\/p>\n Successful upskilling programmes require proper educational engineering, with proven learning mechanics. Engagement with training is key, which is why top-down formats should be avoided. Try to integrate videos, exercises, infographics or testimonies in your eLearning, and invite trainees to print or download the formats as takeaways. To foster appeal and user friendliness, invite creatives and UX designers to participate in building your eLearning modules.<\/p>\n As for physical sessions, apply design thinking methodologies with ideation processes and discussions. Ask trainees to build real deliverables (templates, RACI\u2026) that teams will refer to in their daily activity.<\/p>\n<\/div> After investing time and resources to build the best programme for your collaborators, you want to ensure they\u2019re leveraging it. Long-term support is necessary to be sure best practices are applied. For this reason, we recommend including occasional coaching sessions for operational support as part of the programme.<\/p>\n And to anchor best practices over the long term, we recommend your upskilling programme be the keystone of an entire e-Commerce community within your organisation. Animated by your champions, this community should be a vector of knowledge-sharing through feedback sessions, meetups, roundtable discussions, forums, or even contests.<\/p>\n Lastly, you should assess your programme\u2019s business impact at the company level. Measure adoption through completion\/presence rate, but also ROI: define business KPIs on which you can perform before\/after benchmarks (e.g. online sell out, margin rates, return on ad spend, volume of metrics monitored etc.). Try to isolate your impact from natural industry growth factors (i.e. outperforming index compared to e-Commerce category growth).<\/p>\n<\/div> Building strategic upskilling programmes comes with certain challenges and requires substantial investments. We recommend you choose a partner with expertise in digital business topics and training organisation accreditation to accompany you.<\/p>\n<\/div>Rule #1: Know where you are and what you need<\/h2><\/div>
Rule #2: Involve top management and link the training programme to business targets<\/h2><\/div>
Rule #3: Identify e-Commerce champions, especially in marketing and commercial teams<\/h2><\/div>
Rule #4: Format counts as much as content<\/h2><\/div>
Rule #5: Measure and support on a long-term basis<\/h2><\/div>
Make sure you have the right strategic partner to support you<\/h2><\/div>