Many businesses invest heavily into eCommerce technolgoies, digital marketing, AI and many other online growth initiatives, yet still struggle to build meaningful commercial momentum.
Why?
Because digital growth is not simply driven by more technology, more platforms or more complexity.
In most cases, businesses already have access to the tools they need, but struggle to identify the strategic priorities that create the greatest commercial impact.
This often leads to:
- Fragmented decision-making
- Slower execution
- Operational eCommerce complexity
- Disconnected digital strategies
The businesses that digitally evolve fastest share three common characteristics...
- They have access to a high degree of eCommerce competency.
- They have the ability to rapidly apply change: speed to market.
- They understand the way to build commercial momentum is activating the right changes iteratively.
All three work cohesively together to create what I call, The Three Jewels of eCommerce Success.
Breaking Down the Three Jewels:
To help businesses understand what these jewels look like, each are broken down below...
1. eCommerce Expertise:
Experienced strategic guidance helps businesses simplify complexity, reduce friction and make better and informed digital decisions faster.
Without experienced eCommerce thinking, businesses often:
- Pursue disconnected and/or irrelevant initiatives
- Invest and activate the wrong priorities.
- Poorly execute all changes
Expertise creates clarity and clarity accelerates the digital evolution
2. Speed to Market:
Businesses underestimate how much competitive advantage is created through the process of identifying the need for specific change and activating it rapidly.
Complex decision-making structures, fragmented digital ecosystems and operational friction slow organisations down significantly.
The businesses evolving fastest digitally are those capable of:
- Making clearer decisions faster
- Have confidence in these decisions (see eCommerce expertise above)
- Adapt quickly
- Leverage technologies that enable quick updates
- Execute these changes under best practice frameworks (see eCommerce expertise above)
Speed creates momentum and momentum compounds over time
3. Iterative Evolution:
Successful digital businesses rarely evolve through large one-off transformations.
Digital evolution is iterative by nature. Consider the term "evolution" literally...
It's a gradual process of continuous change and development from a simpler or lower state to a more advanced, or better state.
This definition applies to the development of the eCommerce channel. The evolution of laggard to leader is iterative.
Success in the eCommerce channel comes from small commercially-grounded improvements, implemented consistently and successfully, over time.
The key to success of this "jewel" is honouring the concept of evolution and ensuring the process of continuous change always focuses on the right priorities.
To be clear, it's not iterative change, it's the RIGHT iterative change (see eCommerce expertise above).
The Research:
Research proves when businesses can harness the three jewels, they produce higher conversion rates, and a sustainable competitive advantage.
McKinsey Research:
McKinsey research confirms the top-performing businesses are found to be four times faster at digitally evolving direclty as a result of these three jewels.
McKinsey goes on to say this method nurtures a "test-and-learn" culture, but more importantly, this culture becomes highly effective because the access to eCommerce expertise super-charges the "tests".
In isolation, the "test-and-learn" activity becomes an exercise in vain without the right level of eCommerce competency guiding what is to be tested.
Science Direct:
Academic literature published by ScienceDirect confirms that organizations activating the three jewels creates sustainable competitive advantage for two reasons...
- These businesses become better equipped to respond to consumer preferences.
- They have a greater capacity to leverage new technical trends. AI adoption becomes more impactful.
Why This Matters More Than Ever
Incorrect AI adoption and changing customer expectations are harming digital channel performances.
This produces an increased pressure on businesses to evolve faster. However, the typical organisational response to this pressure is to simply add more technology.
In reality this is slowing businesses down by increasing ecosystem complexity, which results in the creation of fragmented digital experiences for customers.
Comma Consulting Created Consulting Sprints
Consulting Sprints were created to make the Three Jewels accessible to businesses of all shapes and sizes.
Rather than relying on large and often intimidating consulting engagements, Consulting Sprints provide a simpler and lower-friction way for businesses to access strategic eCommerce expertise, which can enable speed to market and activate a practical iterative digital evolution.
Because in modern eCommerce environments, strategic clarity, speed and iterative momentum are the new competitive advantage.
This article was as tagged as Digital Strategy , Digital Transformation , eCommerce Consulting