We all demand it as consumers, but as distributors and merchants we don't do it. In the modern World Wide Web everyone expect immediate feedback and instant answers. Web 2.0 technologies like Ajax that enable browsers to update a page without a refresh give users the familiar feeling of highly-interactive applications. Leading merchants offer a rich set of extremely useful, empowering, customer self-service tools that consumers come to expect. Collectively these technologies and practices set the standard upon which consumers judge all others. We have entered the dawn of the Real-Time Web but most product purveyors are in the dark ages.
The Real-Time Web is possible because of true integration that allow instant information between systems, but most merchants operate at batch speed. Enlightened, merchants see that with the Real-Time Web, integrated ecommerce is vital to meeting consumers' expectations. Today, every site on the Internet is expected to operate in real time, including ecommerce sites. Ecommerce sites can't be part of the Real-Time Web with batch updates to multiple systems. Ecommerce sites need real-time connections with back office systems to provide the complete inventory, shipping, and accounting information consumers expect. Modern ecommerce web sites need fully-integrated business management software that allows transactions to flow quickly and easily, without requiring re-entry or manual updates. Ecommerce sites need to be Fully-Integrated Ecommerce.
Fully-integrated Ecommerce allows orders to flow from the Site through to Fulfillment and Invoicing without requiring costly and time-intensive re-entry. This saves on labor costs and allows time-sensitive orders to be processed as quickly as possible. Integration with inventory also allows the site to inform the customer immediately if stock products are backordered or no longer available, allowing the customer to adjust their order before they submit their cart, eliminating late orders and unhappy customers.
Product configurations are global in an integrated system. No need to worry about mistakes when entering a product's configuration into the site when the configuration comes directly from the product configured in Inventory. In a fully integrated system, the site has the exact same product information as a true customer service representative.
A customer's web account never needs to be synchronized in a fully integrated Ecommerce system. Information entered by the customer flows straight into the order, speeding processing and delivery. Their web account can also be managed right alongside the rest of their information without requiring extra logins or more software. This allows customer service representatives to help customers with their web accounts, directly from within the CRM software that they work with every day.
Shipping costs are one of the top reasons for shopping cart abandonment. With a fully integrated Ecommerce system, real-time shipping quotes can be obtained from UPS or FedEx and presented to the customer. This allows the customer to rate shop and make a fully informed decision on shipping choices at the time of checkout, eliminating costly shipping surprises.
We're all attracted to the Real-Time Web and it's possible today for merchants through fully-integrated ecommerce. Costs, errors, and abandonment can be dramatically reduced by providing modern consumers the information they demand as part of the pre and post sales transaction.