Digital products will be key to business growth during a global pandemic
Digital products will be key to business growth during a global pandemic
Digital products will be key to business growth during a global pandemic
The World Health Organisation declared COVID-19 in March 2019. Fast forward to early 2022, we can reflect on how digital products become increasingly crucial during the global pandemic, and how they will continue to grow and evolve as lockdowns and restrictions -pushed more people online for good, and changed how we work.
The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced several new realities. Visits to physical stores are limited with restrictions, and in the same vein, contactless payments have become a must-have to reduce risk in checkout lines. Many brick and mortar stores have had to rely on digital sales, and those in industries who rely heavily on a physical presence have had to find new ways to connect with their customers digitally. The way we work has also changed, with remote working and video conferencing becoming the norm, even after restrictions had eased. In the face of this global pandemic, digital products will be key to business growth, and businesses will need to adapt quickly.
As people expect their favourite brands and businesses to offer a digital alternative during times of restrictions, we’ll cover how businesses will have to leverage e-commerce; how they can transform to adapt to a new digital landscape; and how the way they work must adapt to enable the transformation.
E-commerce has been around for a long time, with the likes of eBay and Amazon already growing at a fast pace pre-pandemic. With lockdowns, restrictions, and social distancing in the current COVID-19 pandemic, e-commerce has become the leading way to trade and do business and has quickly surpassed brick and mortar store sales in an increasingly digital economy. Below, we cover five e-commerce trends that will be important for digital growth during the global pandemic, and beyond, that can be enabled by new digital products:
Augmented reality (AR) enhances the online shopping experience.
Online shopping has always had a barrier in not being able to see the product in person. Wearable products in particular, such as clothing and accessories, have always run the risk of not fitting. AR changes things - while you still can’t feel the product, you’ll at least get an idea of how clothes might fit, or how glasses will sit on your face. You could even furnish your room in AR before you purchase, using your smartphone as a viewfinder!
Artificial intelligence (AI) and big data will increasingly help businesses learn more about shoppers.
Artificial intelligence and machine learning help to understand the incredibly vast volumes of data we hold about our customers. E-commerce allows businesses to continuously collect data on how customers shop, including what they buy and when they buy it, which is difficult to replicate in traditional brick and mortar stores. People are not just beginning to wow at personalised experiences, but are now starting to expect it. AI can learn about preferences, and then provide personalised experiences that will support the sales experience.
That said, people are becoming increasingly aware that the amount of data they provide can be a personal risk factor. To be successful in leveraging this data, businesses must also provide comfort that people have control and ownership of their personal data. Privacy laws are also adapting to cope with the increasing amount of personal information being collected, stored, and shared by businesses.
People are becoming more mobile
More and more people are using smartphones, some even more than their laptops or desktop devices. In 2021 there were 6,259 million smartphone subscriptions worldwide, with this number expected to grow to 7,690 million smartphone users by 2027. With people on the move, mobile shopping is becoming the leading channel for online shoppers with the added convenience and the ability to pay digitally.
Ecommerce websites that are responsive to a mobile experience will become an expectation and a priority for businesses to survive global disruptions like the pandemic.
Videos capture attention.
Video content has surged as a way to engage customers, and even more so in a global pandemic while people are stuck at home. Creating digital content on social media sites such as Instagram, Youtube, Facebook and TikTok have proven to be successful ways to market products. It’s a quick way for businesses to engage customers to inform them about their products and explain in a way better than images or text can. It makesthe ‘elevator pitch’ more relevant than ever.
Businesses are optimising their digital strategies for conversion.
After attracting potential customers and catching their attention, conversion becomes the next challenge. People are spending less time with each business online compared to when they shop in a traditional brick and mortar store, and more businesses are competing with each other for their customer’s attention. With this much competition and the fleeting attention of their customers, businesses are optimising their product pages and investing in multi-channel selling to increase conversion rates (e.g. leveraging Facebook or Google advertisements).
How can businesses transform to adapt and leverage digital products effectively?
While many businesses can start leveraging digital products, doing so without a strategy can be like adding sugar to a cake that has already been baked. Organisations investing in digital change often find themselves doing so due to a change in their customer’s behaviour, who now seek the same experiences and conveniences they are accustomed to in other parts of their life, such as social media. While the COVID-19 outbreak wasn’t necessarily a catalyst for this change, it certainly accelerated online shopping behaviour and cravings for personalised experiences that have required businesses to adapt quicker than they have ever done before.
Transforming as a traditional brand can be difficult, but is absolutely necessary for the organisation to survive in the rapidly changing environment. So how can organisations transform to operate digitally and leverage digital products to adapt to the new landscape set by the global pandemic?
Start with the end vision in mind
The vision is what underpins any strategy. A strategy without a vision is a trip with no destination. Digital transformation has a lot of dimensions, and less can be more - it’s better to do one thing really well than multiple things to a poor degree.
Connect with your customers, and empathize in times of crisis.
It’s no secret that connecting to your customers is fundamental to doing business, and this has never been more relevant in a global pandemic when the way we connect has fundamentally changed. McKinsey noted that “during the COVID-19 pandemic, companies that lead with empathy and genuinely address customer needs can strengthen relationships”. In times of crisis, customer sentiment has shifted to essential concerns such as safety, security, and everyday convenience. Empathy and care will go a long way in building connections with your customers, and digital products can help you reach your customers like you never have before.
Empower the entire organisation and take them on the journey.
Success in adapting to a new way of working in a global pandemic is largely dependent on the organisation’s employees. Giving the entire organisation visibility of what the organisation is trying to achieve, and empowering them to work towards it in whatever way possible, will help the business adapt. This is even more relevant as employees have additional motivation to keep the business going for their own job security, and more than likely want to help the business transform to survive the pandemic.
Understand the topography of your customers.
Prioritising investment where it benefits the majority of customers is a sensible strategy. However, in the context of business growth during a global pandemic, it may pay to understand the topography of your customers and look at the 20% that may have historically been overlooked.
The most applicable example in a global pandemic where digital engagement has become a necessity, is that while the 80% of customers may already be digitally savvy, businesses also should not risk losing out the 20% that may not have good internet access, or those that only have a mobile presence. The biggest innovations come from serving the 20%, which in turn may benefit the remaining 80%.
Be comfortable to fail fast, and experiment.
The COVID-19 pandemic was unprecedented and took much of the world by surprise. Many organisations haven’t got the time to research, develop, and deploy strategies that may or may not work. The mantra to “fail fast, fail cheap, and fail often” is not a new concept, but it has never been more relevant than now in adapting to a new way of doing business in a surprise pandemic environment.
Experimenting, making mistakes, and learning from them is the fastest way to succeed and continue business growth. It’s rare to have a winning strategy to model off when everybody has been taken by surprise.
Business growth doesn’t happen without people. Just as the pandemic accelerated customer trends toward e-commerce and online shopping, remote working has become even more important in a post-pandemic society.
Digital tools that support remote working are opportunities to fuel business growth.
Digital products are key to enabling the way we work in the pandemic, from collaboration tools such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams replacing in-person conversations, to streamlining business processes to adapt operating models to a remote working world.
Remote working now allows organisations to take advantage of new operating models over digital channels to maximise utilisation across multiple offices, or even hire talent from out-of-state or country. Remote working, with the right collaboration tools, can have a multitude of benefits that fuel business growth, including:
Better collaboration as a by-product of new techniques such as 'working out loud', co-ordinating tasks within projects and allowing people more control over how they collaborate;
More opportunities to foster open participation so everyone feels involved,
Faster upskilling and innovation as a halo effect to learning to use digital tools;
Higher employee engagement and productivity resulting from flexibility of work; and,
Access to bigger and more diverse pools of talent.
The global pandemic and the resulting shift to remote working has also forced businesses to rethink operating models where processes were done manually in an office. This can force many organisations to streamline processes using digital tools that can significantly increase efficiency and effectiveness that can drive business growth.
Digital products are increasingly important for businesses to not just thrive, but to survive in the global pandemic and beyond. Rapid changes in the way customers interact with businesses, and how businesses now have to operate in a new risk context, have made digital products even more important as they enable new opportunities and innovation.
Adapt your business to thrive in the digital era. Whether it's a product, a service or an entire business, approaching the transformation with a product management lens will ensure you create solutions that your customers will connect with, and love.
References
https://www.statista.com/statistics/330695/number-of-smartphone-users-worldwide/
https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/the-future-of-work-after-covid-19
https://www.productboard.com/blog/6-product-management-trends-2020/
https://www.zdnet.com/article/effective-strategies-and-tools-for-remote-work-during-coronavirus/