Together with Webtrends, we will provide an insightful day showcasing how you can leverage Digital Analytics, in combination with the right resources, knowledge and enthusiasm, to support management and decision-making to gain competitive advantages.

We will outline the successful implementation and day-to-day usage of Digital Analytics by our customers Hornbach and Credit Suisse and give valuable insights on the latest trends in digital marketing.

Enjoy the networking lunch and share your experience and questions with our web analytics experts and the Webtrends team.

Agenda

On 19 and 20 June 2013 the first CQCON will take place in Basel. We launched CQCON together with Adobe and are proud to invite the CQ developer community to this event.

CQCON will be a unique opportunity to aggregate CQ developers from partners and customers, as well as Adobe CQ experts, to share their experiences, the best development tools and practices, and learn about the most demanded deep technical dives. We could gain Jean-Michel Pittet, Senior Director of Engineering CQ, to held the Keynote. Speakers like Michael Marth (Adobe) will talk about “Scaling CQ” and Bruce Lefebvre about “Responsive Design with CQ”.

More information about schedule and registration are available on the CQCON website.

Giuseppe Giglio, head of online operations at Swisscom

Unic magazine: What kind of content do you deal with on a day-to-day basis?

Giuseppe Giglio: I mainly deal with product information such as images, descriptions, prices, tariff plans, step-by-step instructions, videos and also editorial content.

What do you thing of the new Coca-Cola corporate website?

I’ve had a look at the website and it struck me as very innovative for a corporate website. What I mean is, all the navigation on the website is based on images and the website reminds you of a brochure or a magazine. Moreover, the community has been very well integrated at many points.

There’s a buzzword going around in the online sector: content strategy. How do you define content strategy at Swisscom?

We mainly see this as the planning and creation of the content. A significant factor for us is the decision to incorporate these two phases, that is the planning and creation of the content, as closely as possible to the operative area. For example, the online content for our service area is incorporated into the same organisational unit as our hotlines. This enables us to attain a high level of customer satisfaction. In a big company like Swisscom, it’s important for the organisational structure to be supported by the proximity, in terms of both content and location, of the teams that are working together. In this way we can take into account, for example, customer needs that we pick up via the hotline when creating our online content. We also receive a lot of information directly from the front end – from the shops, for example. Our front-end staff have the best insight into the customers’ needs and interests, so by working directly with them, the content teams can enable this knowledge to flow into the online content. This concept has already proved successful at our company over a longer period.

Does the content at Swisscom differ according to the target group?

The content differs in particular with regard to how the group is addressed. For example, we employ a more casual form of communication with U26 customers, while addressing the over-26 customers more formally. Another example is that we have different guidelines for the website and the social media channels. We don’t use any smileys on the website, for instance. However, smileys are standard on Twitter or Facebook, and we also use them now and then.

What role does the rising number of different terminal devices for online communication play at Swisscom?

An increasingly important and very challenging role. At present, 20% of our visits are from mobile terminal devices (tablets & smartphones). A year ago, they only accounted for 10%. This increase is certainly due to the fact that we now offer a mobile version of our website. Quality control is one particular area in which the increase in mobile usage is presenting us with new challenges. In the past, we performed tests on a screen with two or three resolutions, and today we have to test our content on various devices of different brands with a range of browsers.

What is the actual procedure for creating content for different devices?

We’re still in the learning phase here. In the medium term, we want to first create content for mobile channels, and then adapt this content for other channels if required. For example, we would provide the customer with one image on a mobile, while we can provide multiple images and more content on the desktop website as a whole. At present, we are still working on the basis of the classic “desktop first” principle, using individual pieces of content for mobile devices. We first consider whether we even want to provide the content for mobile devices, and then define how this content is going to look. In a nutshell, we’re still in an exploration phase. However, the multi-device topic is certainly going to be a major one for us in 2013.

The creation, management and maintenance of the content can involve a lot of work. How do you organise this? Have internal processes and roles been defined?

In the product info area, we actually distinguish between three different phases: in the “Preparation” phase, we collect all the product data and enter it into the system; in the second “Production” phase, this content is refined creatively; and in the third “Performance Management” phase, we check whether the published content is making an impact. We measure the benefits that result from the actual content.

We’ve also assigned certain responsibilities. For example, we’ve assigned responsibilities for each product category in the product area. One person is responsible for the content for each category. And we now have so many different smartphones that we’ve additionally assigned responsibilities for each brand in the smartphone product category. For example, one person is responsible for Samsung or Apple smartphones. So when a new smartphone from Samsung appears on the market, this person is on board from the very beginning: they’re present at the launch presentation and they accompany the product to the end of its life cycle.

How is new content created? How do you know where your customers’ needs and interests lie?

On every page of the website, there are buttons with which the user can inform us whether the information on the page was helpful or not. Customers can use this feedback function to evaluate the content online. We continually assess this feedback and try to optimise our content and keep it up to date.

We also have a large, busy Swisscom-Support-Community that is very active in our support forum. In this forum, the customers help one another on matters relating to our products. The information from the forum helps us keep our finger on the pulse and remain aware of our customers’ concerns. There are a number of experts among the users in the support forum, some of whom submit very detailed texts and explanations. In some cases, we can even edit and reuse this text for our own content on the website. Of course, we inform the author that we are reusing his/her text and express our gratitude. We also point out on the website that the information came from users of the support forum.

One reason why our content teams are positioned very closely to the operative business is that we also get relevant feedback on a regular basis from the sales outlets. This feedback from the front end flows directly into the content of our platforms. Of course, we also receive customer feedback via forms and by e-mail and we take this into consider as well.

In your opinion, what is Swisscom doing very well in terms of content? What are you proud of?

We provide an online forum for our customers to interact and we use the input gleaned from this in a valuable way. I also think we are successful in presenting content in a way that the Swisscom brand can be experienced online.

Where do you see the greatest challenges or obstacles?

One very big challenge involves explaining our products, which are often complex, in a simple way. In contrast to face-to-face business, demonstrating the finer technical points of a device to the customer online isn’t easy. This is why we recently introduced expert chat, for example, where users can ask specific questions about products without having to pick up the phone or get in touch with a sales outlet. Our product experts can provide advice to customers directly online, 7 days a week. This chat service is one of our success stories. It helps us to significantly boost customer satisfaction and we plan to expand it in the future.

How do you see the sector developing in the next few years? How significant is content and how will companies deal with it?

Of course, we are currently facing the “multi-screen” issue. Our goal is to avoid creating redundant content and instead to use the same content on a variety of devices where possible. The internal processes also have to be optimised.

Your content trend for 2013?

I’m convinced that mobile usage will continue to increase and as a consequence, the way in which content is consumed will also change.

Many thanks for this interview!

Other features in this series:

> The Coca-Cola Company, content strategy and the courage to change
> Content Strategy at Suva: “If you’ve got a great story, you’ll always have an audience.”

Rafael Azzati, consultant for new media at Suva

Unic magazine: Last week, Unic magazine reported on the new Coca Cola Company corporate website. How do you like the new website?

Rafael Azzati: I like the website a lot. A global player really putting its brand in the spotlight. The connectivity of the website is as good as it needs to be right now, the content is media-friendly, the wording is first class – it could hardly be any better. But what I admire even more perhaps is the level of communicative organisation of the Coca-Cola Company.Here we seem to have a company that really learns from its experiences, takes its target group seriously and wants to enter into a discussion on 730 topics. It gives the consumer the feeling of being part of the whole experience. A major achievement. Congratulations to everyone who worked on this.

The new Coca-Cola website’s unconventional content strategy attracted a lot of attention. How do you define content strategy at Suva?

Which content we communicate to which target group by means of which method, in order to achieve our communication goals.

Suva manages a variety of channels and defines individual goals for each of them with regard to the content. Does this mean that you also tailor the content to the target groups?

We differentiate in both cases, though I prefer to speak about information media rather than channels. Every information medium has its own language and every target group its own vocabulary. Apprentices are likely to use more colloquial speech than chemical engineers, for example. If you have the resources, you should definitely pay attention to these nuances, as they make a significant contribution to achieving your overall goals. In particular, these premises are a strategic factor for success when interacting socially. But the most important requirement is to communicate in a way that a message from Suva is always recognised as a message from Suva, regardless of the milieu.

What role does the rising number of different terminal devices for online communication play at Suva?

The role of the spoilsport. To be honest, it’s really a bit of a headache for me. It simply costs so much to serve all the terminal devices equally. So we’re forced – along with most of the other companies – to use our budget as optimally as we can. In the end the propagation and usage levels of a software product or terminal device determines whether we serve it or not.

The creation, management and maintenance of the content can involve a lot of work. How does Suva organise this? Have internal processes and roles been defined?

Yes and no. It depends on which information media we’re looking at. The processes for offline publications are well defined, so this works very well. Online communication is a different story. We’re still in a development phase here, although the statutory tasks and publication obligations at Susa are perhaps a little more specialised than those of other companies. At operative level, the allocation of online tasks is fairly clear; the strategic roles are somewhat more complicated. However, we’re well on the way to filling this organisational vacuum with functioning processes. But ultimately, you have to accept that the process landscape in the digital media environment is always under construction if it is to keep step with reality. A company has to learn this from experience.

How is new content created at Suva? How do you know where your customers’ needs and interests lie?

As far as this is concerned, we’re very well positioned. The management board at Suva includes employers, union leaders and government representatives. So we have a direct link to “the world out there”. Alongside the usual representative surveys, we do a lot of qualitative target group questioning, always perform pre- and post-testing for our major campaigns and even maintain a dedicated market research panel for preventive purposes. Our Domino feedback program, which is used intensively by internal and external service providers, makes a considerable contribution here. We also employ the classical opinion poll methods, and Web analysis is becoming increasingly important, although it is very difficult in practice. You can’t just turn up with the Webmaster tool and extract a couple of potentials and benchmark them. There are extremely complex mechanisms at work here and I believe most companies simply have too little data, or the wrong data, to implement an effective content strategy.

In your opinion, what is Suva doing very well in terms of content? What are you proud of?

Our television advertising is very good. This is also content. I’m also very pleased about how our engagement with social networks is developing. We started with  Facebook, YouTube, Slideshare and Xing almost exactly a year ago and now we’ve got the biggest YouTube channel of all the insurance companies in Switzerland in terms of the number of views. Communication on Facebook now reaches more than 100,000 people in Switzerland and for selected topics we’re involved in genuine discussions with our users. I also see our applications for Android and iOS such as Suva SlopeTrack with users in excess of 100,000, as real highlights in which preventive messages, personal benefits and entertainment are combined in perfect harmony.

Where do you see the greatest challenges or obstacles?

Consistency on the website. It is not a good experience for users to be served perfectly on topic A, and then get a rehash from the 90’s on topic B. In my view, this can do enormous damage to the confidence in a brand.

How do you see the sector developing in the next few years? How significant is content and how will companies deal with it?

How often have we heard the expression “content is king”? There’s a lot of truth in that. Take the example of Red Bull or, as already mentioned, the Coca-Cola Company. I don’t think I need to add anything to this. If you’ve got a great story, you’ll always have an audience. More than ever, companies have to bring their own products and content into context with the target group’s world. Of course, this has been the goal of marketing for as long as marketing has existed, but with social networks, search engines and our own digital productions, we now also have the instruments at our disposal for producing and controlling this contextual reference.

Your content trend for 2013?

Less free content, more paid-for content. Although that doesn’t always mean paying with money.

Many thanks for this interview!

Other features in this series:

> The Coca-Cola Company, content strategy and the courage to change

> Content Strategy at Swisscom: “The increase in mobile usage is presenting us with new challenges”

Along with the publication of the study “Success Factors in E-Commerce – Top Online Shops in Austria and Switzerland”, the programme included some very interesting cases.
With skill and charm, “Eco” presenter Reto Lipp (Swiss television and radio) led the way through the morning’s topics of multichannel marketing, fashion and the increasing relevance of mobile solutions.

Nespresso in first place in Switzerland

After taking a close look at the most popular internet shops among German online shoppers in January 2013 (ECC study “Success Factors in E-Commerce – Top Online Shops in Germany Vol. 2”, in collaboration with Hermes), the ECC at the Cologne Institute for Economic Research, in collaboration with Unic and hybris, published the study “Success Factors in E-Commerce – Top Online Shops in Austria and Switzerland” at the 6th Swiss E-Commerce Summit. The results of the study showed that the top online shops in the two countries are Amazon and Nespresso.

Dr Kai Hudetz, CEO of the Cologne Institute for Economic Research, presented the results of the study in his keynote speech. The shop ranking shows that, like German consumers, Amazon is the favourite online shop for Austrian shoppers. In Switzerland, on the other hand, the all-rounder takes only third place. Here, first place is occupied by Nespresso’s online shop, which is the most successful in meeting customer expectations for the various criteria. The significantly higher satisfaction level of customers surveyed was decisive in its first place ranking; other success factors include the range of products, website design, payment, shipping and delivery, and service. The Esprit fashion shop accumulated 75.3 points for the online shop index and ranked second in Switzerland. “In comparing the two countries, we show that consumers in different countries behave differently – no matter how close to one another they might seem. So it makes sense to take a country’s characteristics and consumer tastes into account when creating an online strategy,” says Dr Kai Hudetz.

Presenter Reto Lipp and Dr. Kai Hudetz

Retailers score points with payment process and payment mix

The analysis of customer satisfaction using seven success factors (website design, price and performance, product range, payment, shipping and delivery, user-friendliness and service) across all the online shops surveyed shows that online buyers from Germany (78.9 %), Switzerland (82.5 %) and Austria (77.2 %) are the most satisfied with the payment methods provided. Swiss shops show room for improvement in the price and performance area, where Swiss consumers surveyed were least satisfied, comparatively speaking.

At La Redoute, “m-commerce” is purely and simply “commerce”

Etienne Bourdon, CEO of Redcats Switzerland, Germany & Italy (La Redoute), reported on the current challenges for the online fashion market in respect to European developments. La Redoute was launched in Switzerland 15 years ago as a fashion brand with a French touch and is now the leading online fashion boutique in Switzerland.

La Redoute does not have a bricks-and-mortar sales channel, relying instead on e-commerce, m-commerce and social media, alongside its tried and tested catalogues. More than 70% of orders are placed online. With the high proliferation of iPhones and iPads in Switzerland, mobile access to its products is a major driver for La Redoute: 40% of emails from La Redoute Switzerland are opened with a mobile device, 75% of these using iPhones and iPads. Android accounts for only a miniscule proportion (2% of mobile sales). Therefore, for m-commerce it is necessary to adapt to customers’ needs, according to Etienne Bourdon. The goals are to achieve a better cost per order and a greater order volume, to adapt content to mobile devices (email, services and the development of specialised communities), and to improve service and advertising.
For the payment process, the motto at La Redoute is “keep it simple”, with payment by invoice the only payment option. Paying by invoice is generally very popular in Switzerland: the proportion of invoicing in Swiss mail order retail is still about 88%.

Bourdon sees the greatest challenges in the online fashion market coming from the euro exchange rate, higher marketing costs, new competitors – even from abroad (e.g. Zalando) – and the effect of social commerce concepts, such as private sales or flash-sale models. The euro/Swiss franc exchange rate has led to the Swiss buying more online abroad and competitors from abroad are increasingly advertising in the Swiss media with faster and free delivery, lower prices and a wider product range, etc.
In the ranking “Success Factors in E-Commerce”, La Redoute was in ninth place. The planned investment in service and innovation therefore makes sense, as this is where customers identified shortcomings.

Etienne Bourdon, CEO Redcats Switzerland, Germany & Italy

The branches will not die out

Pierre Wenger, CEO of Interdiscount, then explained the challenges of the home electronics market. As the market leader in consumer electronics in Switzerland, Interdiscount also has to deal with falling margins and increasing demand, not least because there is absolute price/performance transparency in this sector. Manufacturers’ brands are distinguished by high concentration as well as vertical integration and nowhere in Europe are electronic products cheaper than in Switzerland.

Interdiscount’s first online shop went live in 1999. Since then various relaunches have followed and now 15,000 articles can be ordered directly online. Increasingly, customers are expecting a wider and deeper range of products to be available. In addition, the combination of online and offline is very important and confers benefits when this generates added value for the customer. For example, Interdiscount provides price security: online prices are the same as at the POS and products ordered online can be collected at the POS.
Interdiscount is making improvements step by step, with the focus on benefits to customers. Therefore, personalisation and individual product advice at Interdiscount online are becoming increasingly important.

The next steps at Interdiscount are being kept simple, explains Wenger. These will include an integration of POS and online article information as well as product reservations. Other steps will be the introduction of real-time availability of products in the online shop and m-commerce, and the option to carry out product evaluations and recommendations online.
Wenger emphasised that no branch will close as long as there is added value for the customer. Wenger’s tip is to focus on convenience for the customer and tailor the channel portfolio accordingly. The emphasis should be on service performance rather than sales performance.

Pierre Wenger, CEO Interdiscount

By 2017, 5% of non-food sales by means of e-commerce

With her presentation of Manor’s new e-commerce strategy, Vanessa Delplace, Director of Manor E-Commerce, rounded off the programme at the E-Commerce Summit.
Manor.ch started in 2002 by selling wine; other sectors were gradually added, with Manor Fashion starting in 2012. Delplace chose Manor Fashion to illustrate the implementation of the new e-commerce strategy. She first presented the company goals: Manor wants to generate 5% of non-food sales online by 2017.

With its new multichannel approach, the company has set its sights on offering the customer an all-round shopping experience, thus further increasing customer loyalty. The aim is to increase customer value and frequency of visits to the department stores.

On what strategic decisions are these based?
First, Manor.ch was repositioned as an e-commerce platform with a broad, high-quality range of products. Second, a transparent price policy was deemed just as important as optimising the usability of the website and check-out process. In addition, Manor decided to have its own photo studio for reasons of cost control, quality, flexibility and responsiveness to goods receipts. It also introduced its own storage and logistics processes.
The product range configuration focused strongly on women’s fashion, with the promotion of the company’s own brands as well as international brands.

Manor sees the resulting increase in traffic on the website and the rise in the shopping cart value as confirmation that its policies were correct. The number of visits has tripled and the visit duration has increased by 50%. The conclusion is that fashion encourages the customer to rummage and thus generates sales. The challenges now lie in refining the product range, the time to market for content creation and product maintenance, and in optimising the returns management. In addition, synergies with the department stores must be exploited and the internal organisation improved.

According to Delplace, bricks-and-mortar branches will continue to play an important role, as many customers want to hold a product in their hands before buying it. The growth potential of e-commerce remains very large, although the goal is to create a single customer view across all channels. Therefore, Manor does not think in terms of channels: customer needs are paramount and customers decide where they want to buy. This is why a systematic CRM approach is important, Delplace concluded.

Vanessa Delplace, Director Manor E-Commerce

Synchronisation of channels

The clear trend everywhere is towards the synchronisation of channels. It’s no longer common practice to refer to multichannel commerce, but simply commerce. Customers want to shop wherever and whenever they want. The goal is to visualise this in a single customer view.

The 7th Swiss E-Commerce Summit will take place in March 2014.

> Photo gallery and presentation slides: http://www.ecommercesummit.ch/nachlese-2013
> Report on the event on Netzwoche.ch (in German)
> Film of ECS 2013: http://www.ecommercesummit.ch/film-2013 (in German)

Screenshot of the new Coca-Cola corporate website: stories taking centre stage

It had been expected for some time that Coca-Cola would launch a new content strategy. But when the corporate website went live, even communication and marketing experts were astounded by the bold site that defied the usual expectations for company website.
It became the subject of lively debate in blogs and forums. Why? Because Coca-Cola has adopted an unusual strategy, especially with regard to the content. This change of strategy is so radical that it cannot be overlooked.

At the centre of the website are the stories. Taken on its own, this would be nothing new. What is novel is the scope of the content and the unbelievable number of stories. A lot of the stories on the website do not reference a Coca-Cola product directly. These are stories about the brand but also about social developments or scientific advances. Furthermore, the website as a whole, which is structured like a magazine, is geared towards a dialogue with the users: practically all the editorial content can be commented on.

Coca-Cola is conscious of the fact that users’ behaviour has changed, making new demands on company websites, such as transparency, the willingness to enter into a dialogue and openness to criticism. The content strategy implemented by the Coca-Cola Company also shows it has understood that candid storytelling can be used to form deeper emotional bonds with the consumer. Last but not least, the company is aware that investment in content is costly but rewarding. To keep the site up to date with fresh content, internal restructuring was taken on board, as Ashley Brown (Director of Digital Communications and Social Media) reported to the New York Times:

“My digital communications and social media team was reorganised. Now we work in much the same way as the editorial department of a magazine. We use production calendars and editorial plans.”

At present, four full-time employees are responsible for managing the site and 40 freelance writers provide them with content. This extraordinary number of content contributors could not be organised without strategic editorial concepts and editorial planning. Coca-Cola is an extremely successful example of how effective an intelligently devised, radical content strategy can be.

The purpose of a content strategy is not always to implement so radical a change. The emphasis is usually on organising the content and structuring it correctly. Specifically, this means:

• having clear goals to be achieved through the content
• meeting the needs of the users
• keeping the content up to date and of the highest standard
• optimising the editorial processes
• defining key messages and tone of the content

The more communication platforms (Facebook, YouTube, apps, etc.) have to be maintained and the more devices (desktop, tablet, mobile, etc) have to be served, the greater the need for a content strategy.

But what about Swiss companies? How do Swiss companies deal with the requirements that have to be met by modern digital content? Unic interviewed two people responsible for content at big Swiss companies: what are they currently working on in terms of content? And what will the future bring?

For Rafael Azzati, communication consultant for new media at Suva, the greatest challenge is presented by the “consistency of the website”. For Giuseppe Giglio, head of online operations at Swisscom, it is the task of “explaining our sometimes complex products in a simple way”. You can read the interviews with Azzati and Giglio in the Unic magazine over the next two weeks.

How do you organise your digital content? What experiences have you had? Please write a comment, we’ll be glad to take your input on board.

Other features in this series:

> Content Strategy at Suva: “If you’ve got a great story, you’ll always have an audience.”

> Content Strategy at Swisscom: “The increase in mobile usage is presenting us with new challenges”

Back from Interaction13, THE conference for interaction design. And once again, what an experience: 750 interaction designers, one-day workshops, four-day conference with presentations, podium discussions and keynotes, as well as PechaKucha (what is PechaKucha?), social events, opening and closing parties, job portals, idea markets… all in all, a great explosion of ideas, inspiration and exchange.

This year, the conference’s theme was “Social Innovation with Impact”. Here are some of the most important points that I took away with me.

1. Global Reach

As interaction designers, our decisions affect the behaviour of individuals and groups. The documentary Connecting is an exploration of the future of this theme.

2. Micro-interactions

It’s the small things that count. So it’s worth focusing more on micro-interactions “Small things can become big things over time. The difference between a product you love and one you tolerate are often the micro-interactions you have with it” (quote from Dan Saffer).

source: http://bit.ly/VOyi70

3. Make it seamless

Interaction with technology has to become even more barrier-free. The development of touchscreens has helped bring technology closer to natural/human interactions, but they require a lot of attention and thus contain obstacles. The idea is to find a more natural way of navigation (keyword: metagestures).

4. Ownership of data

The progressive networking of devices and the mapping of our digital interactions result in an enormous pool of data. This data could be better utilised – users should be able to use their personal data for their own purposes; for example, to learn more about themselves. For more information on this topic, see data visualization by Jer Thorp.

5. Internet of things

Digital networking continues to increase, even in small, everyday areas. In a future where everything can be used in both an analogue and digital form, networking will be omnipresent: ”Any object that carries an RFID tag relates not only to you, but also through being read by a RFID reader nearby, to other objects, relations or values in a database. In this world, you are no longer alone, anywhere.”

This thought may seem a threat to security and privacy, yet it also opens up new possibilities. An interesting  vision of the future was presented by Carla Diana.

6. Designen for social interaction

With a growing flood of information and limitless access to content, social interaction is becoming ever more important: friends will become an important filter and social interaction will gain significance.

Focus is important in the design process: either through the development of products for personal identity (focus: catalogue and share) or for social identity (focus: reach out and connect). Paul Adams has developed specific Design Patterns that can be adapted accordingly to both.

source: http://interaction13.ixda.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/sketchnotes11.jpg

Slides, videos and recaps of the Interaction 13

• Slides from Interaction 13
• Videos from Interaction 13
• Recpas (official recaps of the Interaction 13 website)
• Recpas by Cooper, a design agency in San Francisco

Guest: Alain Stopnicer, Head of Operations eManor
Topics: e-commerce, multi-channel retailing, omni-channel retailing, fashion

What future developments do you see for e-commerce and why?

I personally think that multichannel commerce is much more than just the consistent management of all channels. We have to deliver a seamless shopping experience – the customer shouldn’t have to choose a certain channel for a particular task. In future, it will be important that the availability of e-commerce, and the freedom gained through 24/7 online ordering, is not impeded through uncertain delivery timeframes. End-customer logistics will need to create more pick-up points and offer customers more flexible, dialogue-oriented and time-specific delivery options.

If you could switch roles with an e-commerce manager of another e-shop for a week, who would you choose and why?

In general, there’s no place I’d rather be than at Manor. At least I know what I can and can’t set in motion here (laughs). But I’d also like to take inspiration from England. There are many bricks and mortar businesses out there, such as Marks & Spencer and John Lewis, that have managed to enhance their high-street branches with an online presence in an exceptional way. I am continually impressed by the way in which they combine their online and offline activities.

Thank you, Mr Stopnicer, for your exciting insights!

> manor.ch, the project

About three years ago, we added Sitecore to our portfolio, encouraged by the positive comprehensive evaluation of the CMS. Since then, we have implemented many challenging and award-winning projects. From the start, we were impressed by the enthusiasm of the developer community around the Sitecore CMS. The sharing of knowledge in support forums, countless blogs and, in particular, in the form of shared source modules (open source license approved Sitecore modules) seemed a matter of course.

Following the launch of Unic Sitecore blogs in September, Unic has now released the first Sitecore module in the Sitecore Marketplace. It’s a Christmas present for all Sitecore customers worldwide. And the best thing about it is that our Sitecore customers are already using the module.

The Sitecore Error Manager

The Sitecore Error Manager – our first shared source module – enables the use of any multilingual content page to display error messages such as ‘404 Page not found’. It responds to requests with the correct HTTP status code (important for SEO) and treats wrong links on HTML pages as requests for non-existent PDF documents and images.

In short, the Sitecore Error Manager is the basis for customer-friendly communications in all cases that should never happen, yet do now and then. It can also be easily integrated into existing Sitecore solutions (detailed documentation is available here).

More information about Sitecore Error Manager functions can be found as usual in our Sitecore blog.

> Our Sitecore projects

Guest: Nicolas Schibler, head of e-commerce, PKZ Group
Topics: e-commerce, multi-channel retailing, omni-channel retailing

Unic magazine: What developments do you see in the future for e-commerce and why?

Nicolas Schibler: We’re in the middle of a transition from ‘stationary’ to ‘mobile’ internet. Against this background, usage patterns and preferences are changing. How, when and on which device will I be inspired? Where will I do my weekly shopping? Information requirements vary depending on the location, time of day and device. We as a provider need to learn to cope with these highly differentiated user scenarios.

If you could switch roles with an e-commerce manager of another e-shop for a week, who would you choose and why?

Only one? (laughs) That’s a tough decision.

You can split the week of course.

I would like to spend the first three days at a start-up that is opening up a new market with a new product. I’d like to learn more about innovation, time to market and the efficient exploitation of social media channels.

On days 4 and 5, I would like to go to Amazon. It fascinates me how this ‘pure online player’ changed the game and became hugely successful and remains so, setting trends and always staying one step ahead.

On the last two days, I would like to take a look behind the scenes at a successful global e-commerce fashion retailer. I would be curious to see how it deals with the specific challenges of our industry.

Thank you, Mr. Schibler, for your exciting insights!

> PKZ THELOOK.com, the project
> Making of PKZ THELOOK.com

Like Facebook, My Site in SharePoint 2013 gives each employee his or her own profile page which is usually synchronised with the Active Directory.

Facebook reached one billion users in October 2012, more than half of which use the social network daily. Twitter and Linkedin, with 600 million and 175 million users respectively, are also major social networks. In addition to these three platforms, which currently dominate web-based communication and information gathering, YouTube and Wikipedia are also noteworthy actors. Wikipedia is a free encyclopedia available in over 280 languages and has over 1.5 million articles in German alone. Youtube can also boast impressive user numbers: an astonishing 25 hours of video material is uploaded to the site worldwide every minute.

There can be no doubt that social media has become an inextricable part of our daily lives. This development is the result of various factors, including globalisation and the urge felt by many internet users to be able to express their views and receive feedback from other users at all times. These trends underscore the importance for worldwide networking and the capacity for exchanging information across national borders.

Companies, too, have long since recognised the importance of social media. Social media is primarily used for public relations purposes in social networks as well as for microblogging. But they are becoming increasingly important within companies as well, as nearly every company today must have the capability to work efficiently with other locations within the organisation. Internal networking between employees and centralised information exchange are thus becoming ever more critical for companies. Moreover, the increasingly common blurring of the line between private time and work life means that many people are no longer physically present at the company while doing their work.

More social media

These trends have informed the latest SharePoint release. In the fields of social media and collaboration, SharePoint 2013 offers a diverse range of functions. One standard SharePoint feature is the My Site function, similar to Facebook. With My Site, each employee can create a profile page and edit it as necessary at any time and it is generally synchronised with the Active Directory. Users create public profiles to make contact information and shared colleagues visible to everyone in SharePoint, share personal information, make specific knowledge available publicly and display all activities in a clear manner. Also standard is an “Ask me about” function in which experiences and knowledge can be assigned to a user’s profile through the addition of keywords and tags.

The My Site function familiar to users of previous SharePoint versions has been further developed and improved for the 2013 version. One improvement is the clearer presentation of information relevant to the respective user on My Site in SharePoint 2013. Another enhancement in SharePoint 2013 is the option of using hashtags and mentions in microblogging. These functions are already familiar from Twitter and have now been integrated in SharePoint. The new SharePoint version also allows users to follow changes to any My Site page and documents or pages via My Site.

Other central social media components include comment functions, information sharing with selected people and personal evaluations of all documents, images, lists and blog entries.

Expanded collaboration

To ensure the comprehensive exchange of information throughout the company, SharePoint offers both blogging functions and an advanced search function that can access elements such as documents, blogs, news and My Site pages. And with the FAST search technology now integrated as standard, it is possible to connect and reliably index as well as search other systems in the environment. Search results are structured, clear and easy to use. SharePoint 2013 enables filtering of search results by specific criteria using a horizontal . A preview function also makes it easier to find the right information. In addition to the SharePoint search function, which enables users to find information in a structured manner, there is also a standard Wiki which, like Wikipedia, allows all users to edit and add information.

To follow the activities of specified SharePoint users, SharePoint 2013 offers a news feed function. Authorisations are used to manage different users’ news feeds on view. News feeds make it possible to ensure a constant flow of information within the company. For example, news feeds display all microblog entries from the respective users and can be subscribed to individually.

The final function that promotes cross-location networking between employees and merits mention in this regard is Lync, the internal messaging and presence information tool. The integration of Lync and SharePoint makes it possible to ascertain the current presence state of employees at any time in SharePoint as well. Lync also makes it simple to exchange information quickly and secures suitable means of communication even between remote locations, for instance via telephone, video conference or desktop sharing.

Readiness is the prerequisite

Thanks to its new social media functions, SharePoint 2013 makes it significantly easier for employees in different locations to network with each other and enables centralised storage of information so that it can be accessed at any time.

SharePoint will continue to expand its capabilities for efficient use with social media. For example, the Yammer and Skype products recently acquired by Microsoft will be increasingly integrated into existing products such as SharePoint and to open up new possibilities for covering social media requirements internally. SharePoint already has a Yammer app representing the first stage of integration of SharePoint and Yammer. Likewise, Skype is already integrated in Lync to extend Lync’s functionality for use with external contacts as well.

Notwithstanding the extension of SharePoint to enable its use as a social media tool, the use of social media is a strategic and cultural decision that must be made by each company individually irrespective of the technical options available. Acceptance of the use of social media within a company may vary across generations and parts of the business; however, the need for an efficient solution enabling simple communication and a secure flow of information will only continue to grow.

This article appeared in Swiss IT Magazine on December 10.

> Our SharePoint References
> Collaboration Solutions from Unic – What We Can Do For You

If you want to be successful, you have to be flexible – adapt when necessary and yet always have the right response in every situation. The same is true of modern websites. Gone are the days when the attractions of the binary world were the exclusive province of patient and enthusiastic users in the comfort of their own homes. Today, internet users surf anywhere, any time and with high expectations. And above all: on every possible device. A critical disadvantage for those who can’t keep pace.

The new RD-class

Twenty years ago Apple launched its first tablet computer. Called “Newton”, it was a large, green-screened colossus with an unresponsive surface, and though it had little in common with today’s tablets, it was nevertheless a pioneering development. The latest device from Apple was recently unveiled: the iPad Mini. Together with Amazon’s Kindle Fire and Google’s Nexus 7, the compact and feather-light tablet is ushering in a new class of device. These portable touch devices equipped with WiFi and mobile technology and boasting 20 cm screens do not even have a name as yet. But suggestions are already circulating: mini-tablets, hybrids or smartlets.

In all honesty, who would have dared predict a few years ago that this format would prove to be such a blockbuster? Apple has been a real technology driver in recent years – and not only with the devices and software it develops. Take the rivalry between Flash and HTML5, which ended in a decisive victory for HTML5. Or pre-iTunes online music stores and the emergence of now ubiquitous iDevices such as iPods, iPhones and iPads. The manufacturer’s bold and forthright conduct has established new de facto standards and muscled out less successful technologies. Yet this acceleration of the development process has resulted in more than just simplification, fun and new features. Many companies are forced to play catch-up as they face the challenges of an ever-changing environment.

Survival of the fittest web design.

One very concrete challenge is the question of how to adapt your online presence to deal with the plethora of devices and device classes. Desktop computers, tablets, smartlets, smartphones, in-car displays, internet-ready television sets – the list grows in number and kind almost weekly. Should you have an iPhone, Android and Windows Phone app developed? And then go to all the trouble once again with tablets? And how do the corporate website and the online shop look on these devices? Have they been optimised for them? Does the conversion rate decline if users access the online shop away from their desktop computers and therefore struggle with operation?

While a few years ago the emergence of smartphones with touch displays was met with a specific mobile-optimised website, the introduction of this latest smartlet class has demonstrated beyond all doubt that a more comprehensive solution is required. Developing and managing content for scores of device-specific websites and apps is an outdated model which rarely makes sense nowadays. The costs are simply too high. Moreover, every little change has to be carried out on every channel, and releases planned and rolled out. This not only affects content and development teams in the company as well as the agency, it also adversely impacts the user experience as every page and app may have its own navigation structure and a different appearance that the user has to get used to each time. So what happens if a visitor to the mobile website looks for content that is only available on the desktop website? What if the functions provided by the websites and apps are different? What if the user on the mobile website can see the latest product collection but can only order it via the app? In other words: how can you address the incipient divergence of content, systems and solutions in a sensible and sustainable way?

The solution derives from simple mathematics – it can be calculated and it is called responsive design.

One URL. One content. One solution.

One for all. The layout is adjusted to fit the screen size, the content stays the same.

Responsive design is more than just a catchphrase. The feasibility of the approach has been proven many times over, and meanwhile even large portals have successfully employed it. What distinguishes this idea is its simplicity. There is one website. One content. The only thing that changes is the layout and arrangement of the elements.

When a user visits a specific URL, the same information is displayed regardless of the device on which it is being accessed. Responsive design brings enormous benefits to users and in terms of content management, marketing, SEO and later developments and ultimately deliver real value.

The approach is simple: there is just one website. Whether accessed with the iPad, the newest Samsung Galaxy or a desktop computer with a huge screen, the content is the same. The arrangement of the navigation and content elements adapt to the space available, reacting flexibly to varying requirements. Today’s web standards make it possible to create such flexible layouts. HMTL 5, CSS 3 and JavaScript enable the development of flexible layouts that work on any browser or operating system. Breakpoints determine where a layout breaks. As a result, navigation and content elements can be arranged differently, shrunk or even hidden. This behaviour can be observed quite easily on responsive websites when the browser window is enlarged or shrunk. (See for yourself here: www.kmu-businessworld.ch) The layout has to demonstrate flexibility within breakpoints as well: navigation and content elements are often designed to adjust to the available width. This fluid behaviour guarantees that the website is displayed optimally on devices with different aspect ratios. In most cases, it is possible to dispense with the development of a native app entirely. Features reserved for these apps are increasingly being opened up to browser-based access. Today, websites can already access current geo coordinates, motion and direction sensors and integrated cameras – keyword Webapp.

The KMU Business World (www.kmu-businessworld.ch) site recently created by Unic for Swisscom is a good example of a successfully implemented flexible layout.

Responsive design – in a class of its own.

Developing a responsive website is a demanding and painstaking process that presents challenges to designers, information architects and developers as well as to customers and content strategists. Multi-layout, multi-channel and multi-context thinking demands a lot of everyone involved. Detailed analysis, an extensive design phase and close collaboration within the project team are even more important than they are in the implementation of conventional web projects.

And indeed, it would be premature to suggest that the development of responsive websites no longer posed any conceptual and technical challenges. The field is wide and open, a tantalising prospect for designers and developers alike. This world still remains to be discovered and developed; every new day and new project yields new knowledge and skills. Standards are still being proposed and discussed – not implemented. It remains to be seen which patterns will succeed, which and how many breakpoints will establish themselves as standard and which frameworks will make developers’ lives easier.

But one thing is clear: more will be demanded of our websites in the future. Companies faced with the prospect of renovating their websites or serving additional device classes and channels are well advised to take a closer look at responsive design. Companies that calculate and compare the costs of the various solutions will generally see the advantages of a flexible website. And companies that get in on the ground floor will be in a position to lead the way for customers, competitors and ultimately the technology itself with confidence – because there is quite simply no better way to prepare for the future.

Are you responsive? The checklist.

Think of your current web portfolio and what it should look like in the short- to medium-term.

(This survey makes no claims to scientific validity. Yet in spite of the informal spirit of the exercise, it’s a good guide to assessing how important responsive design is to you.)

Analysis

You chose mostly A: responsive design is not (yet) an issue for you. Or you would like to learn more about the benefits. To prepare yourself for the future, we would recommend that you visit the online agency of your choice. We would naturally be happy to consult with you on this subject at no obligation to you (your contact: Sascha Dengler).

You chose mostly B: You are struggling with the rising tide of new devices. Slowly but surely, operating the various platforms is becoming too expensive and inefficient for you. You are unhappy with the situation. We warmly recommend that you visit the online agency of your choice. We would naturally be happy to consult with you on this subject at no obligation to you (your contact: Sascha Dengler).

You chose mostly C: You’re doing well. You’ve recognised the benefits of responsive design and use them to your advantage.

Representatives of La Redoute, Interdiscount, Manor and ECC Handel will be presenting insights into current developments and challenges in multi-channel retailing, with a focus on distribution and communication through online and offline channels.

Agenda

The seminar is aimed at marketing and IT professionals dealing with multi-channel retailing and e-commerce. The summit is free for industrial and retail companies.

More information available on the ECS website

Tweeted news about #ecs13 on @unic.

165 online merchants participating!

165 merchants have participated to this study and mainly from the retail area as they represent more than 80 per cent of participants.  Most Merchants are relatively small, having less than 10 employees. However, 10% of the participating companies had more than 100 FTE. 

A wide range of PSP have been reviewed such as Buckaroo, MultiSafePay, Ogone, Sisow…

How long has the PSPs been used ?   

It is not surprising to see that Ogone have more than half of its clients using their solution for 4 years+ being one of the oldest in the market. Sisow on the other hand is clearly a new player on the block.

What are the most important features for merchants when choosing a PSP?

Nearly all merchants rated the criteria above as important. However, we can observe that in the merchants’ mind, the technical quality and availability of the PSP is the most important feature (8.8). Meanwhile payment analytics is the least important feature when it comes about choosing a PSP (6.7). Jorij Abraham, co-Founder of the eCommerce Foundation states that there are however differences in how companies value features. Larger companies value payment analytics for example more than smaller companies.

How do PSPs score on the Evaluation criteria?

Participants were asked to rate their PSP on several criteria (see above). We cannot notice any big difference as most of criteria have been rated within the same range with the exception of “Extra / Innovative features. In fact, it is primordial  to emphasize that merchants think that there is a lack of innovation / new features within PSP solutions in general. Jorij Abraham states: “Especially smaller and mobile transactions can be better supported according to merchants. Likewise, merchants see room for improvement in the user interface towards end-customers.

How much does a merchant pay his PSP?

The average commission paid to Payment Services Providers is 1.78%. However, it is important to emphasize that this commission varies depending on the size of the company. The biggest the organization, the higher is the commission paid to PSPs. Jorij Abraham states: “It sounds contradictionairy that larger companies pay more. However, larger companies also often user more services of the PSP. This can explain the higher costs.

How often does Fraud occur?

The fraud rate is also a very interesting KPI when talking about the online payment ecosystem. In average, fraud occurs at a rate of 0.25%, however here again, it differs strongly regarding company sizes & industries.

Payment Services Providers Net Promotor Score

Within this study, the Net Promotion Score (NPS)[1] has also been used in order to determinate the level of merchants’ satisfaction.  Merchants were asked if they would recommend their affiliate network on a scale from 0 – 10, 0 being “not at all likely” and 10 “extremely likely”. A NPS score of 5 to 10 is considered as average. “Above 50” is considered as very good. Below 0 means there are more detractors then promoters.

The Payment Services Providers as industry have a NPS of +2 which can be considered average. Within the eCommerce suppliers ecosphere is however the NPS much higher than our first supplier review on the Affiliate networks (-17, Affiliate network review, June 2012).

“Life is too short to make each and every mistake yourself.” Benefit from the experiences of other companies by introducing web analytics at your company. After all, most mistakes have already been made in the past.

As a cross-department issue affecting the organization, processes as well as the culture of a company, web analytics presents numerous obstacles. We have listed the most important ones here in order to draw your attention to these pitfalls and help you avoid them whenever possible.

We are happy to help you avoid these pitfalls.

Bottom Line

Web analytics is a business – not IT – matter. The benefits of web analytics are revealed only once concrete actions are determined and implemented on the basis of the strategic, tactical and operational levels. To utilise this benefit, web analytics must be organized accordingly. The more departments benefit from web analytics, the more your investment will pay off.