If there was ever a least common denominator when it comes to people, it’s that we love getting gifts. WE LOVE OPENING PRESENTS — someone giving us something special, just for us, and we get to unwrap it. It just so happens that Christmas is a giant excuse for gift giving, but what if there was a way to generate that same kind of feeling in our businesses all the time? It doesn’t matter if you have a B2B or a B2C business -- the answer is not a mystery, it’s simply well designed E-commerce. However, the reason why it drives people to buy may be something that you never thought of.
Sure we know that E-commerce makes life easy and allows us to get what we want without ever having to leave our homes or offices, but that’s only half the story and in-fact, that's just the logical half.
Generating Emotion is Profitable
The emotional half of the story is that we absolutely love getting little packages in the mail and more so for those big parcels. Something about it is satisfying and for many, it makes buying a product online possibly even more satisfying than buying it in person. Sure, the fact that your product has to actually get delivered could be a deterrent from buying online, however, once you start it’s hard to stop. Not to mention that shipping times are getting better and better because the amount of products getting shipped keeps increasing.
It doesn’t matter if you are selling electronics, pants, beds or cars the emotional motivation of the Christmas Effect is ever present because once we hit buy, the anticipation begins.
This Year’s Numbers Are A Tipping Point
Online sales are powerful, but the one time of the year when people are supposed to be excited about going to stores, is now getting surpassed by the online retailers. A couple of weeks ago, during Thanksgiving and Black Friday weekend, according to the National Retail Federation, 103 million people did their shopping online while 102 million actually shopped at a brick and mortar store, pushing total Web-based sales up 21% over the last year.
Sure you might be thinking that the largest holiday shopping weekend of the year has nothing to do with your business, but think again. It’s a clear and decisive sign that e-commerce dominance is everywhere, every second and for those that are prudent, for every product. People want the Christmas effect all year round and it’s your job to make it as simple and fluid as possible.
Four Questions To Ponder In The New Year
Ask yourself four very simple questions and when you do, get past the excuses and move towards the obvious conclusions.
- Are we getting left behind while our competitors are giving their clients the Christmas Effect?
- If we’re not giving our clients the ability to buy online, why not?
- If we came up with an excuse for why we are not selling online, how can we get past the excuses and into the solutions?
- If we are selling online and are not doing it well, have we spent anytime exploring the user experience? Is the problem getting customers to come to you in the first place or, are they showing up and not buying?
E-commerce at this point is not a choice, it is like many other things that are part of digital transformation. It’s a matter of survival. However, don’t think of it as survival, think of it as an amazing opportunity to generate growth and profit. If that wasn’t enough, see it as an opportunity to generate the Christmas Effect by being a profitable E-commerce Santa without the big belly(also known as overhead)!
Want to find out more profitable ways to utilize digital like the Christmas Effect? Download a free preview of the book that Bain and Co. chose as a selected reference for Digital Transformation!
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