The very nature of consumer behaviour is at the cusp of a major shift. The smartphone generation, who have grown up with connected devices and high speed internet, now constitute a major chunk of online shoppers. Retail salespersons and word-of-mouth, the traditional sources of buying advice for consumers, have been supplanted by a far larger network of online communities, social media platforms and a deluge of user-generated content. Brands and Retailers no longer control the narrative – it is in the hands of consumers. Modern consumers demand a rich, diverse and detailed content, and a unified experience across information channels. It is the brands’ job to keep up. In this presentation, we discuss the genesis of this dynamic ecosystem, and how Brands and Retailers can adapt to it by keeping a flexible approach, updating their systems and processes, and leveraging user feedback and market signals to constantly fine-tune their Content Strategy.

1. C O N T E N T A N D C O M M E R C E : T H E W A Y F O R W A R D T O
E N G A G E W I T H C O N S U M E R S O F T H E F U T U R E

2. 1 . E v o l u t i o n o f C o m m e r c e
2 . W h a t t h e f u t u r e h o l d s
3 . C u r r e n t L i m i t a t i o n s – W o r k i n S i l o s
4 . H o w t o m e r g e C o n t e n t a n d C o m m e r c e
AGENDA

3. EVOLUTION
OF
COMMERCE

4. EVOLUTION OF COMMERCE
Early
eCommerce Era
Mod ern
eCo m m erce Era
1995-2008
Up to
1995 2008
onwards
Organ ized
Retail Era
Modern Commerce since the mid-20th century can be divided into 3 distinct phases, where technological
disruptions led to a re-modelling in the consumer-retailer relationship
Disruption:
Internet
Disruptions: Smartphone,
Mobile Internet

5. THE ORGANIZED RETAIL ERA
ORGANIZED RETAIL ERA EARLY ECOMMERCE ERA MODERN ECOMMERCE ERA
• Consumer journey was limited to the store
E n a b l e r s o f b u s i n e s s
DistributionAdvertising Sales Staff
“Getting your products to
the shelves”
“Promoting your products
through Mass Media”
“Conveying your product
features and promotions”
• Brands made their products visible via advertising, promotions,
and maximizing presence on shelves
• Consumers evaluated products inside stores, as outside info
(e.g. word-of mouth) was limited
H o w c o n s u m e r s e v a l u a t e d p r o d u c t s
Word-of-mouth
“Feedback from friends
and family”
Trial/Sample
“Trying out your product,
to see if they like it”
Brand Loyalty
“Consumers trust your
brand”

6. THE ORGANIZED RETAIL ERA
ORGANIZED RETAIL ERA EARLY ECOMMERCE ERA MODERN ECOMMERCE ERA
Details like in-seam
length, waist rise etc.
were not mentioned
• Since consumers decisions were based on brand image and physical trials, Brands did not provide detailed content
F o r e x a m p l e :
A 1975 Sears
Catalogue
A 90s Sony
Catalogue
Details like audio output
(kW), headphone size etc.
were not mentioned
Content is a
minor factor in
purchase
decisions
Low ROI on
Product
Content
Low supply
of content
Consumers
used to
consuming less
content
Demand/Supply cycle
of Product Content
• This led to a self-reinforcing cycle of low demand and supply of product content
• Flow of information fully controlled
by Brands and Retailers
• No User Communities
• No User-generated content
Balance of power –
In favor of Sellers

7. THE EARLY ECOMMERCE ERA (1995-2008)
ORGANIZED RETAIL ERA EARLY ECOMMERCE ERA MODERN ECOMMERCE ERA
• With the internet, a new online consumer journey was
born
• eCommerce sellers focused on the fundamentals –
listing products, providing information, ensuring stock
availability
E n a b l e r s o f e C o m m e r c e
SupplyOnboarding Info Availability
“Ensuring your products
are in stock”
“Listing your products
online ”
“Providing required product
info to facilitate discovery”
• In addition to the retail experience, consumers now
started to research online
H o w c o n s u m e r s e v a l u a t e d p r o d u c t s
Online Feedback
“Content provided on the
product page”
“Reading reviews,
complaints and feedback”
Retail loyalties
“This brand has been
tried/tested offline”
Product content

8. • Traditional Sellers still largely
control information, but consumers
dictate the flow of content
THE EARLY ECOMMERCE ERA (1995-2008)
ORGANIZED RETAIL ERA EARLY ECOMMERCE ERA MODERN ECOMMERCE ERA
Balance of power –
Evenly Split
Online research
a major factor
in purchase
decisions
Brands see ROI
in marketing
via content
Increased
Supply of
branded
content
Consumers
have access to
Branded as
well as User
Content
Demand/Supply cycle
of Online Content
• This era saw the birth of online forums for reviews and discussion, which consumers started relying on
• The ever-increasing demand for user-generated content also led to a supply boom of branded content
Ratings and Reviews Section
Online forums

9. ORGANIZED RETAIL ERA EARLY ECOMMERCE ERA MODERN ECOMMERCE ERA
THE MODERN ECOMMERCE ERA (2008-)
A new set of technologies, infrastructure developments as well as consumer trends transformed the
eCommerce (and Retail) landscape
High internet
penetration
“Internet now reached out to all
consumer demographics”
“Internet was now in your pocket,
accessible at all times”
Smartphones and
Mobile Internet
People now communicated
with world at all times
Social Media,
Messaging Apps
People now communicated
more visually
Streaming Video and
Interactive Media

10. ORGANIZED RETAIL ERA EARLY ECOMMERCE ERA MODERN ECOMMERCE ERA
THE MODERN ECOMMERCE ERA (2008-)
• Online research and Omni-channel retail enabled hybrid
consumer journeys
• Sellers focused on making their products more accessible
and prominent
• With equal access to multiple options, consumers now evaluate
the Brand/Channel in each decision
E n a b l e r s o f e C o m m e r c e
Content QualityDiscoverability Omni-Channel
“Providing rich, engaging
content”
“Making products visible
in search and navigation”
“Multiple channel options,
each step of the journey”
H o w c o n s u m e r s e v a l u a t e B r a n d s a n d
C h a n n e l s
Brand Engagement
“UI/UX and Content is
optimized on all channels”
“Online persona,
community building”
Range of Content
“Rich product content,
supplementary content”
Seamless Experience

11. Different content types
ORGANIZED RETAIL ERA EARLY ECOMMERCE ERA MODERN ECOMMERCE ERA
THE MODERN ECOMMERCE ERA (2008-)
• Consumers have access to
unlimited content, sellers fighting
for their attention
• Old brand loyalties demolished
Balance of power –
In favor of consumers
Multi-channel Content
and Messaging
• In this deluge of content, Brands need to effectively engage with consumers through every available channel
• Brands need to use a wide variety of content types, to attain specific goals in consumers engagement

12. CHANGING RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INTERNET AND RETAIL
ONE OF THE SALES CHANNELS
AN INTEGRAL PART OF ALL SHOPPING
ACTIVIES
A SALES CHANNEL & A SOURCE OF
INFORMATION

13. WHAT THE
FUTURE HOLDS

14. A GENERATIONAL SHIFT IN ECOMMERCE USERS
eCommerce User base in India is growing at
24% per year
Smartphone-savvy users will constitute the bulk of shoppers –
Ecommerce websites will need to provide a high-quality, seamless shopping experience
35% of the user base is <25yrs, who grew up
in the smartphone age (this will rise sharply)

15. ECOMMERCE PENETRATION ACROSS CATEGORIES
ECOMMERCE PENETRATION ACROSS CATEGORIES (USA, 2017)
• C a t e g o r i e s l i k e b o o k s
a n d c o m p u t e r s a r e
a l r e a d y e C o m m e r c e
d o m i n a t e d
• I n c a t e g o r i e s l i k e
e l e c t r o n i c s a n d s m a l l
a p p l i a n c e s , p e n e t r a t i o n
w i l l r i s e r a d i c a l l y
eCommerce penetration is significantly rising across all categories -
Brands from all category verticals will need to prepare for eCommerce

16. WEB INFLUENCE ON OFFLINE PURCHASES
Offline Retail sales will be heavily influenced by online research –
Improving their online content will be key for Brands

17. CROSS-DEVICE COMMERCE
Browsing and purchase will be across desktops, smartphones and tablets–
Creating mobile optimized content and web navigation will be critical
CROSS-DEVICE TRANSACTIONS
(BY DEVICE)
CROSS-DEVICE TRANSACTIONS
(BY CATEGORY)
SOURCE DEVICE OF
TRANSACTIONS

18. HENCE, BRANDS AND RETAILERS NEED TO…
PROVIDE A USER-CENTRIC EXPERIENCE
• S e a m l e s s c r o s s - d e v i c e u s e r e x p e r i e n c e ( U X )
• C o n t e n t a n d W e b n a v i g a t i o n o p t i m i z e d f o r
m o b i l e u s e
ENGAGE WITH CUSTOMERS ACROSS THE LIFECYCLE
• C o n t e n t - d r i v e n e n g a g e m e n t a t e v e r y s t e p
• F a c i l i t a t e c r e a t i o n / d i s t r i b u t i o n o f u s e r -
g e n e r a t e d c o n t e n t

19. CURRENT
LIMITATIONS
WORK IN SILOS

20. WORKING IN SILOS
The Content Marketing teams and eCommerce Operations teams and systems work in
parallel, with limited or no synergy
Disjointed Technology
A P PW E B S I T E
M O B I L E
S I T E
S O C I A
L
M E D I A
C O N T E N
T
P O R T A L
S
L I K E / S H A R E
B U T T O N S
B A C K E N D
T E C H N O L O G Y
O W N W E B S I T E
• P u r c h a s e
H i s t o r y
• B r o w s i n g
H i s t o r y
• O f f e r s a v a i l e d
M A R K E T I N G
S Y S T E M
• O w n B l o g s a n d
S o c i a l M e d i a
P a g e s
• C o n t e n t
C o n s u m p t i o n
a n d S h a r i n g
• A d s v i e w e d
• S e a r c h e s m a d e
Disjointed Data Repositories
O T H E R
W E B S I T E S
• C o n t e n t
P o r t a l
• S e a r c h
E n g i n e s
• C o m p e t i t o r
w e b s i t e s
I N B O U N D
T R A F F I C
O W N C O N T E N T O N
O T H E R S I T E S

21. HOW TO FIX THIS - MERGE CONTENT AND COMMERCE
B U I L D C R E D I B I L I T Y V I A
C O N T E N T D I S T R I B U T I O N
P R O V I D E A S E A M L E S S
C O N S U M E R E X P E R I E N C E
I N T E G R A T E T E C H N O L O G I E S
A N D D A T A A N D

22. HOW TO MERGE
CONTENT AND
COMMERCE

23. A FOUR-PRONGED STRATEGY IS REQUIRED
ENHANCED USER
EXPERIENCE
3C STRATEGYBIG DATA
ANALYTICS
INTEGRATED
TECHNOLOGY
01
03
0204
KEY TO
SUCCESS

24. 3C STRATEGY
01
• B u y i n g G u i d e s a n d F A Q s
• D e t a i l e d p r o d u c t C o n t e n t
• P o s t - p u r c h a s e C o n t e n t
C O M M U N I T Y
C O M M E R C E
C O N T E N T
D I S T R I B U T I N G C O N T E N T T O
C O M M U N I T I E S
P R O V I D I N G C O N T E N T A C R O S S T H E
B U Y I N G J O U R N E Y
Facilitating synergies between Content, Commerce and Community
T A I L O R - M A D E O F F E R S F O R
C O M M U N I T Y M E M B E R S
• P o s t c o n t e n t o n B r a n d f o r u m s , f a n
c l u b s , o n l i n e f o r u m s o f
e n t h u s i a s t s
• P r o v i d e n i c h e c o n t e n t o n p r o d u c t
u s a g e , t e c h n i c a l s p e c i f i c s e t c .
• K e e p t h e m p o s t e d o n n e w l a u n c h e s
• P r o m o s a n d O f f e r s s p e c i f i c t o
t h e i r n i c h e i n t e r e s t s
• C r o s s - s e l l i n g a n d u p - s e l l i n g

25. 3C STRATEGY - SAMPLE CASE – RAMEN NOODLES
C O M M U N I T Y
• C O O K I N G
E N T H U S I A S T S
• H O M E M A K E R S
• B A C K P A C K E R S
C O M M E R C E
• N E W F L A V O R
V A R I A N T S
• R E C I P E C O M B O S
• R E P E A T E D
P U R C H A S E
C O N T E N T
• R E C I P E S
• C O O K I N G
T U T O R I A L S
• H E A L T H T I P S
READY-TO-EAT
RAMEN NOODLES
G o a l s :
• K e e p c u s t o m e r s b u y i n g
p e r i o d i c a l l y
• I n f o r m a b o u t n e w l a u n c h e s
• C r o s s - s e l l r e l a t e d p r o d u c t s
• S p i c e s
• S a u c e s e t c .
D I S T R I B U T E O N
S O C I A L M E D I A ,
B L O G S ,
W H A T S A P P
G R O U P S
P R O V I D E C O N T E N T O N
E C O M M E R C E
W E B S I T E S
O F F E R C O M B O S , F A M I L Y P A C K S ,
S U B S C R I P T I O N S E R V I C E S E T C .

26. 02
ENHANCED USER EXPERIENCE
Seamless experience across devices, throughout the buying journey
Simplified, Optimized
Navigation
• M o b i l e O p t i m i z e d T a x o n o m y
• P e r s o n a l i z e d n a v i g a t i o n
Immersive Audio/Visual
Functionalities
• V o i c e - e n a b l e d s e a r c h
• V i r t u a l A s s i s t a n t
• I m a g e S e a r c h
• A R p r o d u c t v i s u a l i z a t i o n
• V R s t o r e w a l k t h r o u g h
Native Social-Selling
• T a g p r o d u c t l i n k s i n t e x t
a n d v i d e o c o n t e n t
• 1 - c l i c k p u r c h a s e
• T a r g e t c o n t e n t p o r t a l s
( S o c i a l M e d i a , B l o g s ,
V i d e o S t r e a m i n g e t c . )
Facilitate Social
Feedback
• D i s p l a y b r o w s i n g
h i s t o r y o f f r i e n d s
• O p t i m i z e d s h a r e
l i n k s f o r c h a t
( W h a t s A p p ,
M e s s e n g e r e t c . )
• C o n d u c t P o l l s

27. INTEGRATED TECHNOLOGY – A NEW-AGE ECOMMERCE PLATFORM
03
WEBSITE
CHECKOUT/
PAYMENTS
Website/App
Front-End
AR/VR
REFERRALS/
REWARDS
SOCIAL PLUGINS
ORDER MANAGEMENT
Digital Asset Management
(DAM) Systems
Back-End Systems
CUSTOMER MANAGEMENT
PROMOTIONS MANAGEMENT
APILAYER
External
Platforms
POS SYSTEMS
CRM
Analytics & Business Intelligence Systems
CALL CENTER
SOFTWARE
LOGISTICS MANAGEMENT
PAYMENTS RECONCILIATION
CONTENT
PORTALS
PERSONALIZATION ENGINE
3RD PARTY
SERVICES
BI ENGINEDATA SCRAPING ANALYTICS ENGINES
INTERACTIVE
CATALOGUE
MEDIA CLOUD
SOCIAL MEDIA
IOT ANALYTICS
PAYMENTS RECONCILIATION
• S e a m l e s s I n t e g r a t i o n
w i t h 3 r d P a r t y
S o f t w a r e a n d
P l a t f o r m s
• C o m m e r c e P l u g i n s o f
C o n t e n t a n d S o c i a l
M e d i a P o r t a l s
• D a t a S c r a p i n g i n f r a
a l l a c r o s s
• D a t a A n a l y t i c s
S y s t e m s
• A n a l y t i c s F e e d t o a l l
B a n k - E n d & F r o n t -
E n d S y s t e m s

28. INTEGRATED TECHNOLOGY – CENTRALIZED DAM SYSTEM
Digital Asset Management (DAM) system
QA Automation Layer
ETL Layer
PLM PIM/MDM CMS CRM
A
P
I
A
P
I
A
P
I
A
P
I
Customer Service TeamMarketing Content TeamCataloguing TeamProduct Design Team
Workflow Tools
Content Versioning
ArchiveMaster Taxonomy Channel Master Change LogEditing Module
A central DAM system, arterially integrated to all content channels and teams
03

29. BIG DATA ANALYTICS
04
Data Sources
• P u r c h a s e H i s t o r y
• C u s t o m e r S e r v i c e
H i s t o r y
• C o n t e n t C o n s u m p t i o n
H i s t o r y
D A T A L I V E -
S T R E A M
Real-Time Analysis Data-Driven Automatic Responses
D A T A
R E P O S I T O R Y
• R e c e n t B r o w s i n g
• R e c e n t V i e w e d
C o n t e n t
• S h o p p i n g C a r t
• R e c e n t V i e w e d
A d s / O f f e r s
• C o n t e n t
S u g g e s t i o n s ( w i t h
B u y O p t i o n )
• C u s t o m E m a i l e r s
• C u s t o m D i s p l a y
A d s
P E R S O N A L I Z E D
E N G A G E M E N T
P E R S O N A L I Z E D
S H O P P I N G
E X P E R I E N C E
• P r o d u c t S u g g e s t i o n s
• C r o s s - S e l l a n d U p - S e l l
• C u s t o m P r o m o t i o n s
• E f f e c t i v e C u s t o m e r
S e r v i c e

30. ABOUT IKSULA

31. I k sula is a leading e - c o mmerce so lutio ns
pro vider fo r brands and retailers glo bally. Led
with o ver fo ur dec ades o f experienc e, Ik sula
do zen billio n do llar c o mpanies in managing
c o mmerc e o perations seamlessly.
I k sula helps brands and retailers realiz e
superio r ec o nomic perfo rmance by transfo rming
supply c hain and retail o peratio ns fo r the
engineer c utting - edge tec h fo r c reating
experienc es fo r yo ur c usto mers and auto mating
pro c esses fo r yo ur stak eho lders .
ABOUT US

32. ABOUT US
If you want to know mor e about the value we’ve deliver ed to
our clients in the Content, wr ite to us at
market in g @ iksula.co m and we’ll email you our Case Studies
Case Studies
You can also visit our website www.iksula.com

33. THANK YOU