{"id":5685,"date":"2014-12-18T01:11:01","date_gmt":"2014-12-18T01:11:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/?p=5685"},"modified":"2014-12-20T15:52:03","modified_gmt":"2014-12-20T15:52:03","slug":"breaking-the-e-commerce-sound-barrier-with-matrix-retail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/2014\/12\/breaking-the-e-commerce-sound-barrier-with-matrix-retail\/","title":{"rendered":"Breaking the E-Commerce Sound Barrier with Matrix Retail!"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"BOOM\"<\/a>BOOM! <\/strong><\/p>\n

What was that noise? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Someone just broke the e-commerce sound barrier!<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the third quarter of 2014 Williams-Sonoma’s e-commerce sales represented 51.5% ($587 million) of total company sales overtaking their store sales ($566 million) for the first time!<\/p>\n

\"WS\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Even more importantly this increase is not due to offsetting reductions in store sales with the $566 million in store sales representing an increase of 4.8% year over year for the quarter.<\/p>\n

Indeed Williams-Sonoma are now helping to define a new retail formula, where the sum of e-commerce and in-store sales is greater than the parts, generating competitive advantage for even a 58 year old retailer. This phenomena is something I’m now calling ‘ Matrix Retail <\/strong><\/em>‘.<\/p>\n

On their recent earnings call, Williams-Sonoma CEO Laura Alber told Wall Street analysts.<\/p>\n

‘There’s no question the holiday season will be even more competitive than last year, but I also believe e-commerce will set a new sales record and with over 50% of our revenue in e-commerce we have a competitive advantage.’<\/strong> <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Continuing, Alber further advised analysts.<\/p>\n

‘Our marketing drives traffic to all of our channels and our in-store experiences and services give our customers the confidence to order online.’<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The success demonstrated by Williams-Sonoma in the third quarter represents an excellent example of emerging Matrix Commerce<\/strong><\/em> or more specifically in this case Matrix Retail<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

By providing a co-ordinated, consistent and customer centric approach across all channels to deliver superior customer experience, Matrix Retail players can significantly outperform any pureplay e-tail or traditional bricks and mortar retail competitor.<\/p>\n

Further demonstration of the emerging Matrix Retail effect also comes from observing pureplay e-tailers and the numerous cases in 2014 of dramatic sales increases experienced on skus sold both online and in pop-up stores.<\/p>\n

A number of these interesting cases are discussed in Hollie Shaw’s recent article: ‘Digital retail heads back to the future with old-fashioned stores<\/a>‘ citing plans and examples from leading e-tailers such as Amazon, Warby Parker and Frank & Oak.<\/p>\n

For those still seeking additional support for this, Open Realty Advisors published ‘E-tailers Make Major Brick-and-Mortar Play<\/a>‘ in March 2014 citing several additional examples including Bonobos, Baublebar and Google<\/p>\n

Doug Stephens, founder of Toronto-based advisory firm Retail Prophet is quoted as saying.<\/p>\n

‘It\u2019s not that online is winning and bricks and mortar is losing, it\u2019s that a new form of retail is being born. I think Amazon is trying to figure it out as much as Macy\u2019s is trying to figure it out.’<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I couldn’t agree with Doug more, and today I’m coining the term ‘Matrix Retail<\/strong><\/em>‘ to describe the positively magnifying effect utilizing a ‘Matrix Commerce<\/strong><\/em>‘ approach when combining digital and real world retail environments and experiences into a new hybrid omni-channel business model can deliver.<\/p>\n

Earlier in 2014 sales increases of over 300% for skus featured both online and in new storefronts were being reported.<\/p>\n

In explaining his view of this phenomena, Neil Blumenthal the CEO of Warby Parker said.<\/p>\n

‘When we think about what we do, we\u2019re not just eyewear designers; we design experience. We\u2019re medium agnostic \u2014 we just want you to have whichever medium you prefer to shop with us at. That\u2019s what we\u2019re going to provide, whether in-store or online, and we design these experiences holistically.’<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So welcome to the new world of ‘Matrix Retail<\/strong><\/em>‘, stay tuned for more on this evolving phenomena and until then as a first step here’s a question for you.<\/p>\n

Can you project how long it will be until your online retail sales break the e-commerce sound barrier?<\/p>\n

Cheers<\/p>\n

Jeff Ashcroft<\/p>\n

If you enjoyed this post click here to see All my Posts<\/a>, Follow<\/a> or Connect<\/a> with me on LinkedIn! Cheers!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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