This article to serve as a viewpoint on a 2013 panel discussion around the role of commerce in local search industries and how the industry is struggling to adapt.
For starters, this roundtable occurred in late 2013, so some
of the content is very dated and the problems may have been solved…..or have
they?
While this article does a good job of summarizing the key
point of this marketing and IT industry roundtable around customer conversion
based on local search, I want to use this opportunity to expand on what I
consider to be the key point for my reader to ponder even further.
The big idea here is that marketers and the tech world can use
commerce functionality as a differentiator for search engines in a way that
pulls in local companies across all “verticals” (read business segments) and captures
consumers already in a search ecosystem by enabling those users to “find” local
businesses of interest in a way that creates a win for both the search provider
and the local business.
To be successful with this task, a few things have to be aligned.
To be successful with this task, a few things have to be aligned.
(1) User
friendliness of search function for finding local businesses and ultimately
being converted into paying customers.
(2) More
flexible / attractive purchasing and delivery options to the millennial and
new-age consumer.
(3) Expansion
of local business offerings that keeps the interest of the consumer.
(4) ability of
inventory to reflect real-time /updated inventory levels.
(5) Effective
semantic markups that attract and communicate the message of the businesses.
The key takeaway here is that unless you can
capture all of the above while also layering on predictive power to understand
the user/consumer’s taste, habits and anticipated consumption pattern, the full
potential of search as it relates to local businesses and shopping will not be
a fully optimized and efficient outlet for sourcing paying consumers.
Or you could just drive around the neighborhood and discover new businesses, but who has time (or a car) for that kind of aimless nonsense today?
No comments:
Post a Comment