Add to Cart - C-commerce isn’t the trend you think it is

By Camille Gray | 5 August 2020
 
Camille Gray

Camille Gray is a strategist at Initiative. She specialises in retail marketing, specifically e-commerce, focusing on cultural and media. She has a regular column, Add to Cart.

Nothing gets the media industry more hyped than a new alliterated trend.

From personalised packaging to social shopping– retail is the gift that keeps giving.

The phrase ‘conversational commerce’ is currently making the rounds. Some will refer to it as ‘c-commerce’ to make others feel completely out of the loop (Do they mean corporate-commerce? Culinary-commerce? Capricorn-commerce?)

Put simply, C-commerce is when people and brands connect through chat or voice assistance to make purchases. Rather than order off a website (or god forbid, enter an actual store), you can just DM a brand on Facebook messenger.

Add some phrases like "personalised bots" and "friction-less experiences" and you’ve got a shiny new vision for the future of e-commerce. 

But we’ve been here before. From QR codes to the well-wished prediction that “voice is the future!!!” – we’re like a teenager with their first Fenty highlighter. Addicted to the shine.

C-commerce is particularly tempting. But don’t be fooled.

The most interesting conversation about c-commerce has nothing to do with the tech. In fact, it is quite the opposite.

C-commerce is interesting because it has the potential to bring retail’s oldest and arguably most powerful sales mechanics into the digital arena.

I’m talking about human-to-human interactions. These won’t be replaced by c-commerce. They will be radically enhanced by it.

Here’s 3 reasons why:


1. A bot can’t build a brand

Consider the shop assistant. The edgy cool girl from your school who worked at General Pants. The slightly manic film nerd checking on stock via ear-piece at JB-HiFi. The overly-sensual hand massage from the store owner at Aesop (take my money).

These living, breathing, walking shop assistants are an extension of a brand. The priceless PR value of the heroic staff who recently dealt with #karenfrombunnings is a recent example.

Store staff offer a competitive edge over e-commerce giants.

And there are a bunch of start-ups betting on this. Last week e-commerce platform Shopify integrated HERO; a virtual shopping app that connects customers to staff working in physical stores.

HERO allows staff to video call shoppers making decisions online, assisting on sizing, stock issues and personal recommendations. The merchants who use it in the US have kept 80% of their store staff still employed, despite a raging pandemic.

This is a vision of c-commerce that revives rather than replaces a core brand asset: the person on the other side of the sales counter.

2. We offer 100% humans, guaranteed.

When Facebook Shops launched, they made a point of showing how easy it would be for businesses to communicate and sell products through WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram Direct. Already Facebook claims that 2 in 3 people surveyed globally messaged a business directly last Christmas.

But let’s actually consider an e-commerce landscape where all retailers communicate via messenger platforms.

While customers will win on convenience, brands will inevitably lose on differentiating themselves.

In May last year, Alex Spinelli, former lead engineer for Amazon’s Alexa, told a gathering of Aussie brands that conversational commerce will kill brand websites in 5 years as they provided “unnatural human experiences".

Spinelli now leads an AI-based company that blends human and bot interactions in customer service. Putting the grand irony of “robotic authenticity” aside, he has a point.

Retailers that can offer the most natural human experiences will ultimately break through clutter and avoid the trap of "flattened" aggregate platforms.

3. Shiny, happy people build trust

Many of us loathe the “Can I help you?” moment you enter a physical store, but the science says that human faces drive trust and ultimately, sales.

Physical interactions play to fast thinking: anything from lingering eye-contact or a bangin’ soundtrack in a store can play into emotionally driven decisions.

In contrast, messenger or voice based interactions make shopping an exercise of rational control. Price takes centre stage.

As the founder of HERO, Adam Levene, argues, “Amazon is great for buying, but it’s terrible for shopping…It’s too transactional.”

For specific categories like home-improvement, cosmetics and apparel, c-commerce will need to evolve so retailers can arm themselves with the ultimate trust-building weapon: human faces.

This is what American Professor Timothy R Levine calls "truth-default theory". When we communicate with other humans, we not only tend to believe them, but the thought that maybe we shouldn’t does not even come to mind.

This is in part why live-streaming has taken off in China, and why we’re seeing a rise of Instagram accounts such as @Letmetrybeforeyoubuy (where real people try on clothes, replacing robotic on-site model with trustworthy friend). The value of human-to-human assurance that goes well beyond a written product review.

As retailers increasingly rely on digital interactions, C-commerce will be the next race for brands competing for customers.

The retailers that can provide unique and meaningful consultations rather than just convenience will shine brightest.

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