Since the advent of the consumer internet in the mid-1990s we’ve heard and seen the word e-commerce some several billion times as it has blended into the smoothie that is today’s societal lexicon.
Funnily enough, it’s only now that the last laggards are finally beginning to spin up e-commerce sites as they realize they’re slowly sinking deeper into their single channel swamp.
This is Digital Darwinism at it’s finest, as so eloquently stated by my friend Brian Solisin the quote below. Survival of the fittest in the face of competition, fast changing technology and the hard truth that just having an e-commerce site is not nearly enough.
This is bad news only for those firms who choose to continue waiting for Darwin’s day of reckoning, just consider how recently later developing countries have now leapfrogged developed countries with modern telecom systems and envision how you might do the same online.
And for all of those firms out there sitting smugly with your static e-commerce sites sporting a simple catalogue, SEO, shopping cart and checkout, you’d better not get complacent because the days when having just a basic e-commerce site will also be over soon enough!
So what’s an E-Commerce Director to do as the online world around them rapidly evolves from static e-commerce to e-commpetition? And just what is e-commpetition and how can we develop and embrace the online solutions which will allow us to effectively e-commpete and win?
Just as any athlete must develop and hone specific skill sets and capabilities to compete in their chosen sport, e-commpetitors will need to develop, roll out and continuously improve the below technologies and skill sets.
As e-commpetition continues to accelerate so will the available battlefields and components, but the above is a great foundation to put in place and begin growing your organization’s skills from.
Developing and implementing an e-commerce platform that’s designed and prewired for e-commpetition will make this journey easier and there’s also partners ready to assist and act as guides as you begin to build out the initial components of your Matrix Retailand Endless Store solutions.
Look out for upcoming posts on each of these six Key Building Blocks for E-Commpetion to provide additional insights and guidance to those who are ready take up the challenge.
The race for e-commpetition supremacy has already begun, and for those who wish to remain merchants in the future, your participation in this race is not an option.
Jeff Ashcroft
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