If you're working with big retailers like Walmart, Target, and Amazon, it's important to have a solid eCommerce strategy in place – one that ensures your brand's goals are aligned with your retailer’s goals, whilst also keeping your shoppers’ needs in mind.

This approach will help you give shoppers a seamless experience and help you build stronger partnerships with these retail giants. You're essentially aiming for a scenario where everyone benefits. To do this, you’ll want to make sure your focus is on collaboration, and how it can help you boost your brand's visibility and drive sales.

Creating detailed personas is an important first step. These personas take into account your shoppers’ demographic data, purchasing habits, and motivations.

Let's say you've identified the persona of a busy parent shopping for groceries online. They value convenience, competitive pricing, and easy delivery options.

When you recognize these needs, you can work with retailers to identify the most effective placement and marketing for your products on the digital shelf.

You should also consider creating an empathy map, which can help you understand and visualize shoppers' thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. It’s created by collecting data through shopper interviews, surveys, and observations, to help you identify their needs and pain points.

Empathy maps break down insights into categories, like what shoppers 'Say,' 'Think,' 'Feel,' and 'Do,' to help you spot ways to address their concerns. Creating an empathy map allows you to look beyond the basic demographics of your shoppers, and instead, get a better understanding of their mindset, emotions, and shopping experience.

Some shoppers might feel frustrated by your limited product descriptions, or want more ‘real-world’ examples of how a product can be used. In this case, you could expand your product descriptions to include more detail and add videos to show how real people use your products.

You’ll also need to think about how to make the most of retailer data. This includes information like loyalty program trends, purchase history, and popular search terms, which can highlight key shopper behaviors and preferences. Having access to this data will help you tailor your eCommerce strategies in a way that appeals to your target audience and drives more engagement.

As an example, if data shows that a lot of shoppers are searching for eco-friendly products, you could emphasize this point more in your product descriptions, titles, or images.

Using retailer data in this way allows you to create more personalized and effective shopping experiences. This benefits your shoppers, your brand, and your retail partners.

Developing an eCommerce Strategy

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