Beyond Transactions: The Ecommerce Site as a Brand Epicenter

In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, the role of ecommerce sites has transformed dramatically. No longer just platforms for transactions, these digital storefronts have become the epicenter of a brand's identity. As brands navigate an ever-growing number of sales channels, from social commerce to marketplaces, the owned ecommerce site stands out as the ultimate canvas for brand expression and engagement.

The proliferation of sales channels offers brands unprecedented reach, but it also presents challenges: 

1. Brands must work within the constraints of the channel’s design and functionality. PDP’s, checkout flows, and upsell strategies are optimized for a large ecosystem of products and customers on that particular channel. While there are best practices implemented throughout, a brand cannot expect the same customized user experience that it can provide on its owned storefront. It can make brand expression hard and brand differentiation even harder.

2. A tailored user journey relies on customer data and insights. Brands rely on third-party channels when it comes to the actionable customer data they choose to withhold and provide. Along with restricted data, it is difficult to draw insights across the aggregate of channels because the user experience can be drastically different. For example, buying a t-shirt through TikTok Shop vs Spotify’s Merch Hub. Your owned storefront offers an opportunity to collect and control your data.

Aligning Your Digital Storefront with Brand Values, Customer Insights, and Market Gaps

An ecommerce site is more than just another sales channel; it is a holistic representation of a brand’s ethos, values, and personality. It’s where brands can tell their story without limitations, providing immersive and uniquely branded moments that resonate deeply with consumers. From the design and layout to the content and interactive features, every element of the ecommerce site contributes to a cohesive brand narrative.

Here are three high impact ways to start optimizing your digital storefront into the brand epicenter it should be.

1. Know Your Why: If you have a brand book, pull it off the proverbial shelf and dust it off. While the brand codes and identity will be important to review, what is far more important are the brand values and the reasons to believe that are often housed here. The why. Your roadmap should be prioritized and guided by these principles.
2. Customer Insights + Data: While the digital storefront needs to reflect and represent the brand, it needs to do so in service of its customers and potential customers. It is vital that you understand who this experience is for and what their needs are. 
3. Gap Analysis: Direct-to-consumer (DTC) continues to get more and more competitive, and your brand needs to stand apart. It is important to consistently assess what competitors are doing, not to follow them, but to see what gaps exist in the market and how your brand can fill those gaps. How can you own the white space?

The Why + Customer Insights + White Space = Digital Strategy

A digital strategy is the North Star that ensures a brand’s truth comes through across all channels. It should be used to guide roadmaps on what to do within the digital space and influence how you do it. This is a helpful tool for all teams across the organization—brand, marketing, product, and ecommerce—to march in the same direction.

Consider the work Verbal+Visual did for Andie Swim. We facilitated Andie’s shift from broad claims to a differentiated identity rooted in fit and guidance, creating space to stand out in a saturated swimsuit market. An outcome of this digital strategy work is the hypervisual PDP, showcasing the fit-inclusive variables- torso length, bottom coverage, bust support, leg cut. We’ve built an immersive visual experience that allows users to mix and match by colors, fabrics, and fit.

Consistency Across Touchpoints

Consistency is key to building trust with consumers. A cohesive brand presence across all touchpoints reinforces identity and values, making it easier for consumers to connect and engage. You want a user, no matter where they are engaging with a brand, to truly “feel” the ethos.

We have seen success when digital, marketing, and brand teams are integrated and collaborating closely. This ensures that teams are coordinating and amplifying cross-functional efforts. For instance, when a big marketing campaign is coming up, how do we ensure that the messaging is not just showing up in a hero banner on a homepage, but is properly represented throughout the buyer journey?

Patrick Ta, a viral beauty brand, finds new customers through influencers’ social channels. We empowered marketing and ecommerce teams to work closely with educational content modules and “Shop The Feed” product highlights that seamlessly integrate the user journey from social to storefront, maintaining a brand narrative based around user education and community engagement.

The Opportunity for Experimentation

An ecommerce site offers a unique opportunity to test and learn. It allows brands to quickly see what works and what doesn't, enabling them to expand upon successful strategies and pivot away from those that don't resonate. This agility is invaluable in a fast-paced digital market, allowing brands to stay ahead of trends and continually improve the customer experience.

At Verbal+Visual, we work closely with our brands to establish hypotheses for A/B testing. These may be conversion rate optimization (CRO) focused initiatives or other strategic experiments aimed at enhancing the user experience and driving growth. We typically recommend this be a healthy mix of small enhancements + iterations and bigger swings. Both have valuable learnings! 

Evolving With the Digital Landscape

In the past year, we've observed a growing number of brands leveraging their ecommerce sites not only to boost sales but also to serve as pivotal marketing and educational tools. These brands recognize that their digital storefronts play a critical role in driving awareness, educating consumers, and influencing purchase decisions across various channels.

The customer journey today is far from linear. Consumers interact with brands across multiple touchpoints before making a purchase decision. This fragmented journey underscores the importance of a strong, consistent brand presence across all touchpoints. However, each platform—from marketplaces to email marketing—comes with its own set of constraints. The ecommerce site, on the other hand, offers unparalleled flexibility, allowing brands to fully showcase their identity and values.

Is there something that is hard to get across on other channels that you can own on your ecommerce site? Is your site taking advantage of data + insights you can’t collect from other platforms? Is your digital strategy positioning your brand values in the white space of the market?

Brands answering these questions will be well-positioned to thrive in the competitive world of digital commerce.