The growing market and tight competition in the fashion eCommerce industry requires any brand to stand out. As part of its effort to provide a unique customer journey—from initial marketing interaction to purchasing— brands such as Love, Bonito innovates by creating multiple purchasing channels. It is believed that this seamless customer journey will bring convenience to the customer experience and higher probability of purchase.
As digitalization sweeps through many industries, fashion industry players innovate by shifting its strategy to going online. Some attempt to operate their businesses online (both partially or fully) by launching an eCommerce service. In response to that change, Catchoom.com (2018) explains, brick-and-mortar stores still retain the most significant market share but are losing ground as more customers embrace online stores, giving them an edge in these times of immediacy and instant gratification.
Growing Numbers in eCommerce Fashion Industry
In terms of numbers, cumulative data compiled within Shopify’s Fashion and Apparel Industry Report predicts that there will be a USD 232 billion of revenue raised by the eCommerce fashion industry. Specifically, the number will be raised from USD 481 billion in 2018 to USD 713 billion in 2022. These exploding numbers are in line with customers’ online behavior that is rampant globally. eCommerce has placed clothing and apparels as the top three most purchased products online at 63 percent, quickly surpassing consumer electronics and books.
While the above findings describe what is happening in the United States of America, a similar situation is happening in Indonesia. The proliferation of fashion eCommerce players has enlivened the market, with several brands leading the competition. Love, Bonito, an eCommerce fashion player established since 2006 in Singapore, expanded to Indonesia in 2014. It currently owns six stores in DKI Jakarta . The brand also has a strong presence on the online market through www.lovebonito.co.id. while also promoting its business via an Instagram account and partnership with other ecommerce platforms.
How Love, Bonito Leverages on its Customers’ Journeys
Love, Bonito understands that online services require a specific treatment to satisfy the customers’ purchasing process. The brand then assigns a team to serve online purchasing via the Direct Message feature on Instagram. Meanwhile, sales at www.lovebonito.id are self-service. The company encouraged paying customers to do a self-check-out of products on the site.
However, as the business continues to develop an increase in its followers and customers, Love, Bonito decided to expand its services. It added other purchasing channels such as LINE, Facebook Messenger, and its own Live Chat on its website to serve and interact with customers. These channels complemented the prior services that the brand offered initially. The innovation also gave alternative pathways for the customer to reach the brand. As a result, potential customers could purchase via multiple channels; LINE, Facebook Messenger, website’s live chat, Instagram’s Direct Message, and the online self-service via the website.
Because it wanted to provide a pleasurable shopping experience for their customers—from the first marketing contact to the final purchase— Love, Bonito levelled up by integrating these channels into a multichannel dashboard. It targeted to leverage on the buyer’s conversational experience in each channel to optimize effectiveness and efficiency of its services within the purchasing period. In handling the system, the brand initially employed a multichannel service provided by an Indonesian startup.
Finding a New Multichannel Provider
However in 2018, the multichannel startup ceased its business. Love, Bonito then needed a new provider to continue sustaining a positive customer journey for their shoppers. However, the new provider should not only be effective at integrating their previously owned channels but should also be able to provide the service of creating a WhatsApp Business API channel. The brand had recognised that its customers would be very familiar with using WhatsApp as a mode of shopping.
Love, Bonito understands that the ability to contact a live customer service representative is an added value. By adding another channel, it may also possibly increase consumer satisfaction. According to observations by Invesp, an entity that studies online customer behaviour, 58 percent of customers find satisfaction when they are able to converse with a live customer service rep when transacting online.
How Qiscus is Helping
After some searching, Love, Bonito discovered Qiscus as the provider to fulfill its needs. The brand chose to use the Qiscus Multichannel Chat service to improve its customer experience online. Qiscus also subsequently arranged its previously owned channel to function optimally again. With the WhatsApp Business API now embedded onto Love, Bonito’s purchasing channel and the Qiscus Multichannel Chat system, everything was set to go.
With the solutions that Qiscus offered, Love, Bonito was able to increase its visibility via multichannel. Their awareness of customer habits while online shopping enhanced its relevance and presence as a trusted and approachable brand. More importantly, by adding WhatsApp as a new purchasing channel, Love, Bonito could stay true to fulfilling its customer’s needs.
This is aligned with findings in the UK that the modern consumer uses a variety of channels to make purchasing decisions online. Therefore, purchasing does not take place over one channel alone. In particular, the customer would purchase from both the brand’s website and the stores if both have listed their favorite retailers and preferred products such as fashion accessories, clothes, shoes, and sunglasses.
Contact Us
We hope that Love, Bonito’s story in leveraging its customer’s journey has shown you the capabilities of multichannel. As competition has always been tight in the fashion eCommerce sector, the use of multichannel chat would be a value-add especially in building and maintaining the customer’s conversational experience while improving conversion rates.
Should you need further discussion about the multiple purchasing channels, don’t hesitate to contact us here. You can also discuss about the Qiscus Multichannel Chat with us.
