Written by Gregg Wartgow, Special to AEM —
Many organizations looking to launch an e-commerce platform become overly attached to it. Website traffic jam. That's understandable. Logically, more traffic means more potential buyers and, ultimately, more transactions.
Given that premise, organizations seek to be all things to all people. But in reality, this way of thinking can lead to a death spiral for companies trying to get into e-commerce. Trying to be all things to all people often creates value for very few.
To be successful, e-commerce platform facilitators must focus more on solving real problems for specific types of customers. And to create ongoing value, facilitators must consistently solve that problem in a reliable way.
Jeff Parker and Josh Creamer, co-founders of consulting firm FP Transformation (FPT), discussed these important topics during their talk. AEM Member Education Webinar It was announced earlier this month. FPT helps organizations design, implement, and accelerate business transformation strategies powered by digital product platforms and AI using a series of organizational assessments.
Below are key takeaways from AEM’s webinar…
Why e-commerce?
“The first thing we want to see is whether an organization's efforts are guided by a clear and compelling vision, with clear goals and desired outcomes,” Creamer said. Organizations also need a well-structured problem statement in terms of clearly defined and segmented customers.
“You can't start out and serve five or seven different customer profiles at once,” Creamer says. “What is the specific problem you are trying to solve for a particular customer? Then you need to examine the importance of that problem from that customer's perspective.”
This leads to the second tissue assessment of FPT. This evaluation requires a market segment analysis based on primary research. “An abstract, second-hand research report from a big consulting firm won't solve anything,” Creamer says. Companies should conduct their own research to understand how their target customers use their platform. This research provides the insights you need to build a holistic customer experience that creates value and helps you mobilize more buyers.
Creamer reiterated the importance of starting with a specific customer segment and expanding from there.
“We often see organizations passionate about broader ambitions that are not matched by the more focused discipline of building specific use cases for specific users,” Creamer says. said. Once certain types of customers start using the platform, organizations can begin to offer additional use cases and provide more value, laying the foundation for attracting more users.
consciousness is everything
The vision for building an e-commerce platform requires buy-in from everyone in the company, from the project team tasked with executing it to senior management and the board of directors. They also need to all agree on the strategy to make it happen and the desired outcomes of promoting the market. “Additionally, leadership must align on the organizational structure and resources needed to implement, scale, and operate the platform,” Creamer added.
Where many companies miss the mark is execution. Although the broader vision and strategy are clearly defined, projects are not scoped in a way that the company can actually execute. “You need a lens that focuses on short- and medium-term goals to help you build toward a long-term vision,” says Creamer.
This leads to the fifth organizational assessment, which assesses delivery capabilities.Does the project execution team understand the solution they need to build to solve customer problems and create value? Do they know? how How do we build it, scale it, and operate it? These are the kinds of questions that organizations need to answer and resolve before bringing an e-commerce platform to market.
building trust
When creating a marketplace, organizations need to take a step back and think about what they're actually doing.
“We're putting together a set of rules for how different participants interact with each other, with the goal of creating value for both buyers and sellers,” Parker says. “Once you start thinking that way, you start thinking about governance mechanisms as well.”
Ungoverned markets are at risk of fraud and abuse. “This could be very bad news for big brand sponsors who are trying to develop a market,” Parker said. “That’s why it’s important to keep in mind what structures you put in place to encourage positive factors like quality content and engaged buyers to create a valuable exchange. , we want to be able to detect and prevent things that destroy value.”
After all, a thriving e-commerce platform not only enables you to buy and sell products, but also creates value by solving problems for your customers. That's easier said than done. Taking the time to self-assess your vision, goals, and abilities is essential to ensuring both startup success and lasting success.
About the speaker
In addition to the work they do through their consulting firm, FP Transformation, Jeff Parker and Josh Creamer are accomplished researchers and educators. Parker is a professor of engineering at Dartmouth College's Thayer School. He is a visiting scholar at the MIT Sloan School of Management and a fellow at the MIT Digital Economy Initiative. Parker can be accessed from: gparker@mit.edu. Creamer is a lecturer and postdoctoral fellow at MIT.you can contact him jcreamer@mit.edu.
About AEM Member Education Webinars
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For more information on our upcoming member education webinar series, please visit Contact an Account Success Advisor.
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