Page 36 - May #172

RLI RETAIL INSIGHT
Keeping up with

Technology

The last two years have prompted a revolution in how consumers shop,
and if retailers and brands are to compete and stay relevant in the year
ahead, e-commerce decision makers must embrace open tech ecosystems
and recognise the importance of fresh, exciting, ever-changing content. This is the view of
James Brooke, CEO at Amplience and below he discusses his thoughts on the subject.

he pandemic accelerated what was already a rapidly • B2B e-commerce is stepping out from the shadows. After
evolving move towards delivering e-commerce years of lagging behind the B2C sector, buyers are demanding
Texperiences. It was no longer enough to build a website online purchasing options that are not linear, but support their
and expect customers to remain loyal unless they were constantly needs wherever they interact, whether that’s through emails,
tempted to come back. Instead, what they expected was an omni- purchasing apps, tradeshow kiosks or web portals. In 2022 B2B
channel experience where they could access exciting, regularly businesses will be looking at technology that harnesses machine
updated content on all devices at a time of their choosing. They are learning and AI and allows them to target, segment and serve the
looking for information, offers, products and reviews instantly at their changing needs of buyers.
fingertips, and they want this content to be personalised and timely.
Accelerate digitalisation
Exploding demand for dynamic content As we have emerged out of the pandemic, we have seen a
We have witnessed the sharp rise in content objects as they are growing urgency from Chief Data Officers and e-commerce
delivered by our retail customers across our CDN platform, and decision makers to accelerate their digitalisation projects. They
we can see that the demand for dynamic content is exploding. are investing heavily to build customer-centric e-commerce
In November 2020 during a peak season boosted by lockdown, experience infrastructure because they want to move away from
requests for content on our platform rose from 160 billion to 225 the restrictions of legacy content management and technology.
billion year-on-year, influencing five billion individual shopping They are no longer prepared to put up with backend and frontend
journeys. That is a huge rise, but it’s a fraction of what is to come, content management architecture that is so tightly joined it stops
and brands must be ready to keep up with demand. teams from making fast, dynamic changes. Instead they want
But it’s not just responsive content that is a key factor in their teams to push updates in a few hours, not a few weeks,
retaining the interest and loyalty of customers, there are four and operate across multiple channels consistently. It has become
further key factors that are driving change: frustrating for developers and users within retailer businesses,
and they are looking for more flexible ways to put memorable
• Brands and retailers are assessing how they can use data content in front of their customers.
to drive hyper-personalised and differentiated customer Another important element of this is that retailers and brands
experiences at scale. The post-cookie environment means that are driving towards content, not code. This means that while
they need to adopt customer data platforms (CDPs) that allow their developers can use modern technology stacks to select the
them to access, and act on, detailed insights from the information frontend tools, frameworks and languages they are experienced
they own about their audience. CDPs will become central to the in, the non-technical business users, marketing managers
technology stack sooner rather than later. for example, can also access content creation tools such as
previewing and scheduling functionality. They are no longer
• Open tech ecosystems are set to take off. Microservices- reliant on developers to code everything, so processes can move
based, API-first, cloud-native SaaS and headless (MACH) much more rapidly.
technology is the only way that brands will be able to navigate Retailers have so much to gain by embracing MACH
both cross channel and cross device commerce. Legacy technology, and they need to be empowered to create digital
architecture can no longer keep up and increasingly we will see experiences without limitations. It’s understandable that they are
it being abandoned in favour of modern technology stacks that nervous about a complete re-platform, but it is a process that
embrace every form of commerce including social, and direct-to- can be done bit-by-bit to make it manageable. This also has the
consumer, in one seamless experience. advantage of allowing teams to learn as they move forward.
What is certain is that they cannot hang on forever to their
• Management of the customer experience is gradually being traditional solutions if they want to compete in today’s vibrant,
moved so it can be curated through one platform. We are very fast-moving commerce market, so they must investigate
beginning to see the adoption of digital experience platforms which and adopt modern tech stacks that allow them to differentiate
allow brands to manage content, not just for their websites, but themselves. They need support from experts who can specify
for native apps and marketplaces too, via a single interface. This the kind of technology will help them deliver data and insight-
has all the benefits of delivering vastly improved workflows and driven customer experiences, not just today, but long into the
leverages automated integrations to support smarter work for future. If they don’t move forward now, they will quickly get
e-commerce teams. left behind.

36 RETAIL & LEISURE INTERNATIONAL MAY 2022