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January 29, 2007IBM Expert Details Web Commerce 2.0
Podcast: Transforming Online Sales with Web 2.0
Guest: Errol Denger, IBM
Listen to the entire 8:49 podcast Download file
| Agenda Questions: 1. How do you define Web 2.0 in an e-commerce context? 2. What new technologies are enabling and extending this trend? 3. How will Web 2.0 change online retailing? 5. Those sound like cool capabilities but will they really help online retailers generate more revenue and increase satisfaction?
6. How do you cost-effectively add the Rich New Internet application Interfaces without creating a spaghetti tangle of apps, increasing development or maintenance costs and ensuring real-world dependability and scalability?
7. Are there any WebSphere Commerce customers using these capabilities today?
8. So how is Web 2.0 being used by WebSphere Commerce? 9. Is this solution available? Time to read, but not to listen? Download a complete transcript of the podcast here. Download a free IBM White Paper: "Transforming the Shopping ExperienceWith Web 2.0"
Note: Errol Denger will respond to comments posted below.
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The Internet and Online Commerce are undergoing a fundamental transformation led by evolving user behavior and Web 2.0 technologies. Users are no longer passive browsers; they have become active participants in powerful social communities that wield unprecedented power and influence.
"A recent survey ranked consumer content as the No. 1 buying aid to a purchasing decision," noted Errol Denger, IBM's Senior Strategist for WebSphere Commerce. "And what we are seeing is that products with a wide breadth of customer reviews have conversion rates that are anywhere between 20-50% higher than products without reviews."Another survey indicated that 63% of online shoppers are more likely to purchase from a retail site with consumer-generated reviews.
At the same time, Rich Internet Application technologies such as AJAX, REST, and RSS provide both reusability and a richer and more responsive interaction via features like drag-and-drop support and dynamic interfaces that Denger described as "a more natural shopping experience that is closer to a physical store experience."
"A great example is if you're shopping for apparel. You can select what brands you're interested in, what fabrics you want as well as your price point rather than navigating through a complex product to narrow your decision criteria set down," Denger observed. "So these desktop-like interfaces also streamline processes such as checkout which can now be done in one page."
Putting the customer at the center of the experience will generate greater revenues and satisfaction. An added bonus, Denger notes, is that content and images contributed by the users both builds a bond with consumers and creates a new marketing tool to promote products to other users.
The challenge then, is to cost-effetively add the Rich New Internet Application Interfaces without creating a spaghetti tangle of apps, increasing development or maintenance costs, and ensuring real-world dependability and scalability.
"The good news is that the application of these Rich Internet Application technologies doestn't require rip-and-replace of your underlying commerce server; instead, what we're doing is putting a new front end on your existing commerce server," said Denger, who added the the RIA-based technologies can be incrementally deployed.
"You can, for example, introduce a Web 2.0 checkout and test-drive that piece of functionality independently of introducing new RIA-based technology such as checkboxes and the sliders," he noted
Denger also noted how a number of WebSphere Commerce customers have deployed out Web Commerce storefronts as well Web 2.0 capabilities
"Discovery.com, WestMarine and Home Depot are just a few customers who are using customer-driven reviews and content," Denger said. "The best example of a Web 2.0 interface is L.L. Bean, who just won two MITX Awards for Best User Experience and Best Consumer Goods experience."
IBM's Web 2.0 Store Solution -- which will be generally available on April 30 -- will incorporate many new Web 2.0 technologies Denger detailed in the podcast.
"We're currently working with several retailers to test the solution in high-volume environments. This is a strategy of ours that ensures that our customers will benefit from the newest and most innovative technologies while having the peace of mind that these capabilities have been tested in live environments under peak loads. So they're not going to go down on Cyber Monday," Denger noted.
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