A Frictionless/Seamless Shopping Experience

Have you had a chance to thumb through all of this stuff about vendor ecosystems in the digital world (click here)? Seriously, give it a peek.

Vendors want it this way - no, they don't want all the competition - like you, they'd prefer that you are the only place where a customer shops. But they love the complexity - complexity confuses marketers, and when marketers are confused, they hire vendors.

I was in a meeting - one of the marketing leaders said that his job was to create a "seamless shopping experience" - he then lectured the attendees about how to integrate a veritable plethora of channels in a logical, perfect alignment that surprised and delighted customers.

There's only one seamless shopping experience - manifested two ways.

1. Customer knows your brand, visits your website or mobile experience, and buys something in that visit.
2. Customer knows your brand, drives to a store, and buys something during that trip.

That's it.

Everything else becomes a multi-step nightmare that you don't control. 

Twenty years ago, marketers had a lot of control.

Today, not so much.

We'll chat more about excellent marketers and what they control as the week progresses.