In addition to the payment system, relevant third-party systems also include tools for warehouse management and analytics. Shop operators create the technological basis to offer their customers an outstanding customer journey and to retain them in the long term. The following applies: the more the content presented in the shop is tailored to the individual needs of the customer, the better the customer journey will be. Against this background, a powerful content management system (CMS), through which content can be controlled effectively and agilely, is indispensable. Shop operators maximize the benefits of the CMS and shop solution when both applications are seamlessly integrated. Arne Hellmich, Senior Project Manager IT at Arvato Systems, explains what is important.
1. Tip: Use a shop, PIM and content management system.
In many cases the shop system forms the backbone of the online shop. With an integrated Product Information Management System (PIM) you can manage product information and administrative details and publish offers. But you need more for an outstanding customer journey. So that your customers feel addressed, you need a simple, intuitive menu navigation and an equally attractive and informative product presentation. Use as many different formats as possible – from texts in the respective national language to images and videos to live streams, chats and podcasts. With useful or entertaining content tailored to the individual needs of your customers, you will be able to get them excited about your shop and its products. In order to manage the diverse content effectively and agilely, you need technological support – in the form of a CMS. For example, marketing content can be easily maintained, translated directly and played out in a personalized manner.
Tip 2: Link the CMS and the shop solution
Integrating the CMS and shop solution is a technologically and organizationally complex task. After all, you have to keep the data of both systems always up-to-date and consistently without exception. The associated effort is not only worthwhile for international corporations, but also if you, as a small or medium-sized company, sell your specialized products worldwide and in very different customer segments. With a CMS, you can optimally maintain various country-specific website and shop variants and are always available.
3. Tip: Decide on the right integration approach
There are two approaches to link the CMS and the shop solution: Commerce led and Content led. Commerce led means that the shop system is in the foreground: The front end forms the structure and content of the shop system such as site structure, navigation, Header and footer. Supplementary content flows in from the CMS. With the content-led approach, on the other hand, the CMS is technically leading, so the front end reflects the website structure, navigation, header, footer, etc. of the CMS. Additional product-relevant information comes from the shop system. Commerce-led integration is currently the most widely used variant. It is better suited if your shop system is to provide structured detail and overview pages per se. You need this in order to present articles comprehensively: with pictures, descriptions, prices, sizes, configuration options and the like.
4. Tip: Rely on cross-departmental collaboration
As with any complex IT project, you should involve the affected employees at an early stage when integrating the shop solution and CMS. Usually these are colleagues from the areas of marketing, e-commerce and sales. Marketing is about including convincing statements on customer benefits, effective advertising images, explanatory video clips or storytelling formats. Employees from e-commerce and sales, on the other hand, tend to think in terms of product lists and prices. It is important to both of them to present every product specification on extensive product detail pages and to enable direct purchase with just a few clicks. Only if all departments are involved from the start and develop mutual understanding is it possible to bring the different requirements and wishes into agreement as far as possible.
Tip 5: Put the focus on the customer experience
A specialized service provider will support you in evaluating and comparing possible systems with regard to their suitability and making a selection. This is followed by the technical and content design of the required components. Put great emphasis on the customer experience. So that your customers feel comfortable in the shop and like to visit it, aspects such as user guidance, usability and accessibility are decisive. Nevertheless, the technical implementation must not be at the expense of your brand. The design is subject to your CI guidelines: your brand should, for example, also be recognizable on subpages.
Of course, you can operate your entire e-commerce with just one system and, for example, keep product-specific content in your CMS or publish editorial content from your shop solution. In many cases, however, this is not really efficient. So check carefully whether you are not taking advantage of both tools with one integrated solution to strengthen customer loyalty and improve your bottom line. An experienced IT service provider can support you. He should use agile methods for development and advise on both private and public cloud solutions. Application management and customer-friendly support are just as important.
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