Ask the Experts: How to Build a Successful Global Digital Shelf Organization

Today's shopper is more omnichannel than ever before. Brand manufacturers using multiple go-to-market approaches for digital commerce will outperform non-commerce organizations.

This trend is just one showcasing the incredible growth experienced this year on the digital shelf. Digital channels have transformed brands shifting to omnichannel, meeting their customers where they are, and the need for a robust digital shelf strategy to support this growth is more crucial than ever.

But it's essential to understand that building an organization committed to the digital shelf is a process and not a light switch. Brands cannot simply turn the lights on and suddenly take full advantage of digital channels. Through a careful strategy and implementation process, brands can be on their way to digital shelf optimization.

We asked Essity, Johnson & Johnson, and Wunderman about their build and optimization strategies in our webinar, "3 Keys to Building a Successful Global Digital Shelf Organization," and garnered these insights.

3 Essential Guideposts for Decision-Making

For those brands who are committed to enhancing their digital channels and offering their customers the best digital experiences, these three principles should guide your decision making when building an ecommerce strategy:

1. Fast data wins: If you want to sell online, you’ll need to be able to respond fast to deliver consistent and accurate data — no matter where it appears on the digital shelf. Things frequently change on digital channels, and tuning into the data that showcases changing consumer behaviors will help your brand win in both the short and long games.
2. Create content that resonates: When selling omnichannel, go beyond transactional commerce and understand what your customers need to be informed and get inspired so that they can make the right buying decisions.
3. Create a Team That Works Closely With Marketing: Break down silos so that marketing has the insights they need to analyze the data and develop the content that resonates, without creating a cumbersome process in which marketing and sales have to maneuver around systems they don’t have access to.

Starting From Zero —
Day 1 on the Digital Shelf and Beyond

This strategy is a process, and for brands that are digitally under-developed, it is essential to understand that the digital shelf journey consists of organizational efficiency, customer-centric product content, and proactively leading retailer relationships.

Build Out Your Team

An end-to-end team that breaks down silos within the organization will include not only sales and marketing but also customer support, supply chain, regulatory, legal, and IT.

This fully-functional team will ensure that your brand can meet and anticipate the needs of your customers. They will create a repeatable and predictable ecommerce customer journey to strengthen your ecommerce strategy.

Create Precise Product Content at Scale

The digital shelf has significantly altered the funnel. Back in the day, the funnel existed with a much clearer path, in which shoppers were nurtured through product awareness until the buying decision.

However, in today’s digital landscape, product detail pages (PDP) need to become a full-funnel experience. The PDP grabs the attention on the digital shelf, the information and creatives within then inform the consumer as they decide, and the buy button represents the purchase decision.

Continuously optimize your PDPs and product content to adjust to what your customers are engaging with and fit into their evolving needs. Include enhanced imagery, leverage product ratings, and reviews, and optimize headlines and product descriptions to create the best digital shelf experiences.

Adapt to Change

A critical phase of this journey is built around the proactive adaptability of your ecommerce strategy. An adaptable process is critical as changes arise in the external market, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Brands that were fast-reacting and committed to digital channels early on reaped the benefits. Proactive work across your digital environments, from customers to retailers with a clear digital shelf strategy, will create an adaptable process that can react as things change out of your control.

Watch our on-demand webinar, "3 Keys to Building a Successful Global Digital Shelf Organisation," to hear more from these leading brands on how they prioritize initiatives and structure their teams to provide best-in-class experiences for their customers.