Yes, e-commerce is a strange situation for an old guy like me. You can buy a TV online, OK, but to buy a dress or shoes? Ugh. The customer has to go back to the store and breathe and smell and have a good time. Because shopping is a good time, like going to a nice restaurant. – Max Azria

Fashion designer Max Azria might not fully embrace online shopping but he completely understands that the shopping experience has to be a good and hopefully memorable one that makes the customer feel good and want to return for much of the same.

But as the shop continues to disappear from the landscape of the high street, how customers buy has changed. However, what customers want remains the same and for the shop that remains on the high street, there springs opportunity.

Less and less about channels

Ask any top-level marketing professional what the most important goal for a digital marketing plan is and they will all respond with increasing sales revenue. Ask them what the most effective channel is and they will all say the website.

These marketers wouldn’t be wrong but perhaps if their responses to the questions posed had been enhancing the shopping experience and mobile respectively, they would have spotted a change in buying behaviour and therefore increased their chances of winning in increasingly competitive market places.

The customer’s journey

Successful businesses evolve with the changing need of the modern customer and according to Google’s VP of U.S. Sales, Retail & Telecom, John McAteer, “Everyone needs to put the customer at the heart of their marketing strategies.”

McAteer further advises that marketers should stop defining their strategy by channels and focus primarily on the customer’s needs and their individual journey.

Digital marketing is changing

McAteer isn’t the only luminary that sees Digital Marketing changing in 2017. Stacy DeBroff, CEO and founder of Influence-Central says, “Mobile devices will emerge as shoppers’ most valued shopping partner.” She also goes as far as to say that we will witness an “electronics evolution” this year. DeBroff’s findings are the result of her research and work with 350 brands and she also sites artificial intelligence and our peers as influencers on our decisions as consumers.

Influence of mobile

The smartphone appears to be a priority for millions and must therefore be a priority for business as a driver of sales.

In 2013, Deloitte UK published a document in which they forecasted that mobile influenced store sales would stand at £41BN in 2017.

Where are brands investing?

To provide the customer with a physical experience that mirrors their digital one, brands are focusing on reorganising their marketing teams and businesses are beginning to take note of the fact that the customer wants no difference between the online and offline world of shopping.

John McAteer says, “The businesses that succeed in the future will be the ones that figure out how to meet all of these new consumer expectations for seamless, frictionless cross-channel experiences. The businesses that can innovate, truly understand today’s consumer journey, and address consumers’ needs at every touchpoint are going to find themselves in a position to win.”