Posted May 17, 2016

Canadian businesses are coming to recognize the value of an eCommerce presence. A strong web presence can significantly improve sales, and allow access to a market of millions. There is no need to sell the idea of a digital storefront. We all know the potential there, just like we all know that giving your customer a digital environment that allows for a more interactive experience with an item they are considering purchasing will improve online sales. This has been proven effective time and again.^[1]

You have the product, the website, and the visual tools to ensure that your customer is getting what they want. But areas beyond the quality of your website are just as essential to the success of your business.

The research proves it

In a recent benchmark study, a joint effort between the Retail Council of Canada and Forrester Research, Canadian retailers were surveyed regarding their eCommerce businesses and key initiatives for the past year.^[2] This study showed that an omnichannel presence was one of the most common priorities for online retailers, second only to web marketing.^[2]

Getting your eCommerce business seen and connecting it to your existing business are both highly essential for the success of an eCommerce venture, so this comes as no surprise.

But what is surprising is that a quarter of Canadian merchants didn’t know the answers to even the most basic of questions about the effectiveness of the techniques they were implementing to improve their businesses.^[2] Companies are spending their money on marketing techniques and websites without knowing if their money is being well spent.

Uninformed changes to a website can result in alienating and upsetting your customers and, of course, losing sales. An informed, iterative development process is the go-to method for successful e-commerce sites^[1], and to make these meaningful changes to your eCommerce site you need solid data backing up those decisions.

So, what’s preventing accurate data collection and analysis?

The top 2 barriers to the accurate measurement of company sales impact across different devices and channels was found to be the difficulty inherent in both connecting data and recognizing customers across these different touchpoints.^[2]

Combining online analytics with in-store analytics is hard, especially when the systems for collecting these data are usually entirely unconnected. Collecting analytics about the success of a business is only effective if that data can be used, and used effectively.

Improve your business: get ahead of the competition

There have been major improvements in Canadian eCommerce in the past few years, there is no doubt about that, but the depth of potential there is still untapped. Canadian businesses need to step up and really understand the nuances of their omnichannel businesses.

Combined analytics of all of a business’ sales platforms that are easily understood and interconnected can make that possible. Companies need to focus on having the tools available to make understanding their company as a whole possible, rather than treating their different platforms as separate entities in order to ensure their spending efforts are focused effectively and, ultimately, that their businesses continue to grow.

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