Now, with easy access to information at their fingertips through smartphones, consumer expectations have changed. In 2012, the Cooperate Executive Board (CEB) surveyed 7,000 consumers in 30 different countries. The research and insights firm wanted to know what influence product content had over purchasing decisions. As a result, they created the Decision Simplicity Index, which measures how easy it is to obtain and understand accurate information about a product. Though cell phone technology has existed for some time, 1WorldSync, the leading multi-enterprise product information network, believes there is a first mover advantage. The CEB Survey concluded brands in the top 25% of the Decision Simplicity Index are 86% more likely to be purchased, 90% more likely to be repurchased and 115% more likely to be recommended.
At The 2016 BLUE User Conference, 1WorldSync delivered a brisk presentation about the future of e-commerce. 1WorldSync streamlines data from wherever it might be in your enterprise (PIM to PLM systems) so you can reuse the information in transparency initiatives such as SmartLabel, marketplaces, digital catalogs, sales aids, and data feeds for retailer item setups such as Amazon Alexa. There are no limits to what you can do with this content once you aggregate data and have a method of distribution.
Since marketing has become completely content driven, the goal is to have a continuous stream of fresh data in front of consumers as often as possible. Half of purchases are influenced by buyer research online. Consumer expectations have skyrocketed since the creation of smartphones and other growing technologies such as conversational commerce – a term used to describe the rise of voice and text as user interface mechanisms in product technology, including Amazon Alexa and Siri. 1WorldSync can harness all of the content for packaging within Blue Software so information can be used to comply with the regulatory standards of SmartLabel, and configured in a way Siri would be able to access the caloric, ingredient, or allergen information.
Another example of industry standards moving towards an increasingly digital format is SmartLabel. SmartLabel is an industry initiative for consumer packaged good manufacturers lead by the Grocery Manufacturer’s Association that takes the contents of your packaging labels and puts them into a consistent online format. Just as there are standards for physical packaging, there are the beginnings of those same standards in digitization.
Last year, in-store retail was down and the only way retail as a whole made a profit was because of the expansion of digital commerce. Though e-commerce sales currently represent roughly 10% of retail profit, there is room for tremendous growth. 1WorldSync warned a lack of preparation for the expansion of this market will have adverse long-term affects. The key is “reducing decision complexity” by creating a friction-less user interface to increase ease of purchase as well as a personalized experience. The interface also needs to be portable, so websites should be reformatted to run smoothly on handheld devices and social, meaning it accounts for customers’ online friends’ taste and preferences as well.
Product content is so vital to the industry, it is driving commerce, transparency, and compliance regulatory standards. Content is going to be as important to the enterprise today as consumer data was a decade and a half ago. Thus, we are sitting at the epicenter of a brand new industry.
Stay tuned to learn what 1World Sync is doing with BLUE and how you can continually benefit and gain additional return on your investment through our joint software.
Learn more about the Decision Simplicity Index. Watch the 1WorldSync presentation: BLUE User Conference Presentation “Content and the Connected consumer” in its entirety (21 mins).
