From Robin Smith of VL's presentation at the UK eCommerce Expo in Fall 2015, this presentation outlines pitfalls to avoid and best practices to follow when looking to keep your customer experiences' positive over time. Data integration plays a big part whether your business is B2B, B2C, or both, and across any and all channels. Vl customer experience uk e commerce expo presentation final

1. WHY DATA INTEGRATION IS A GAME CHANGER
VIRTUAL LOGISTICS INC.
IMPROVE CUSTOMER
EXPERIENCE & RETENTION:
Wednesday, September 30, 2015 | 15:15 – 15:45 | UK eCommerce Expo | The Olympia, London, England
Virtual Logistics Inc.
3190 Ridgeway Dr., Unit 35 | Mississauga, ON, L5L 5S8, Canada
905-814-1790 | www.virtuallogistics.ca | blog.virtuallogistics.ca

2. THE SHIFTING RETAIL
LANDSCAPE

3. B2B & B2C Are Merging - Omni-Channel

4. So What is Omni-Channel?
“Unlike stores of today that are single-mindedly focused on
keeping sales in-house, stores of the future will position
themselves as true omni-channel hubs, serving customers
through multiple channels of fulfillment, which will ultimately
include their vendors and competitors – yes, even their
competitors. Attribution for these sales will matter less than
delivering the powerful shopping experience responsible for
generating them, regardless of how, when or through whom
they occur.”
-Doug Stephens, RetailProphet.com
& Author of The Retail Revival

5. B2B & B2C: Omni Trends
As consumers everywhere become more and more digitally savvy, B2B companies are
facing pressure to meet these expectations with "B2C-like" experiences.
Source: https://www-304.ibm.com/connections/blogs/commerce_gc/?lang=en_us

6. Gutting of the Mall – North America
Download the full infographic at www.virtuallogistics.ca

7. LAYING A PROPER FOUNDATION
FOR YOUR CUSTOMER
EXPERIENCE

8. How Many Map the Customer Experience?

9. Mapping Out the Experience – Let’s Get Real

10. Mapping Out the Experience – Best Practices
Best Practice #1:
Define what your brand represents and how you want to interact online and offline.
Best Practice #2:
Map out the experience and the supply chain touch points with the focus being on how data moves
and what data is required to satisfy the brand experience you want to create.
Best Practice #3:
Plan for scalability.
Best Practice #4:
Invest in technology that can grow with you. You need to think about how you scale.

11. Mapping Out the Experience – Applications
Download the full infographic at www.virtuallogistics.ca

12. Mapping Out the Experience – Future Thinking
Download the full infographic at www.virtuallogistics.ca

13. Mapping Out the Experience –
Integration Implications

14. What Happens When You Start to Scale

15. Connecting It All Together – Map It Out
Hub-And-Spoke Model - The Central Point of Truth

16. Integrating Data– Best Practices
Best Practice #1:
Look at Data holistically and not from a silo perspective.
Best Practice #2:
Map out how data moves and what data is required to satisfy the applications you are looking at
using.
Best Practice #3:
Look for APIs – SOAP and REST based. Flexibility is key.
Best Practice #4:
Don’t get fooled by hype cycle trends – Shopping Carts are NOT ERPs.

17. CASE STUDIES
How back-end omni-channel data integration has had a direct effect on
business’ front-end customer experience and customer retention.

18. Aran Sweater Market – A Yarn of a Tale

19. Even The Big Guys Get It Wrong

20. Key Take Aways – Best Practices
Best Practice #1:
Define what you represent. Why, What and the How.
Best Practice #2:
Plan for Flexibility and Scalability. Manual processes will always kill you.
Best Practice #3:
Have a central point of data truth. Move data in flows that create your experience. Expect the
unexpected.
Best Practice #4:
Don’t get caught by hype cycle trends – Shopping Carts are NOT ERPs.

21. So Who Is VL ?

22. Who We Are
OUR VISION
To be the leader in customized data integration solutions for growing omni-channel
businesses.
OUR MISSION
We look to transform data while connecting business through our service and
solutions, putting our customers first. VL will change the way you think about data
integration.

23. How VL is Positioned to Help You
•We are Integration Experts – 21+ Years of Integrating Applications
Across Multiple Verticals with Differing Integration Strategies from
Enterprise to SMB/SME.
•Multi Vertical Experience; B&M Retail, Ecommerce, Grocery,
Logistics, Healthcare Procurement.
•Integration Experience with 40+ Applications. We Have Seen the
Good, The Bad and The Really Ugly.
.

24. Virtual Logistics Inc.
3190 Ridgeway Dr., Unit 35 | Mississauga, ON, L5L 5S8, Canada
905-814-1790 | www.virtuallogistics.ca | blog.virtuallogistics.ca
SEE WHAT VL CAN DO FOR YOUR BUSINESS:
COME BY AND CHAT WITH VL AT STAND 217

25. Virtual Logistics Inc.
3190 Ridgeway Dr., Unit 35 | Mississauga, ON, L5L 5S8, Canada
905-814-1790 | www.virtuallogistics.ca | blog.virtuallogistics.ca
Thank You – Questions?