E commerce businesses became very complicated. Significant competition and new Relevant technologies require stores owners to be experts in many disciplines.
The most important (relatively new) roles in the Industry is Shelf Manager.
Here are main capabilities & expertise that this role needs to have:
- The main insight that Shelf managers should think about is – The paradox of choice- this is an observation about the fact that having many options to choose from, rather than making people happy and ensuring they get what they want, can cause them stress and problematize decision. This insight can impact the product offerings strategy of companies and businesses.
If you are a store or a company with a lot of products, you will have to switch to working with customers in the form of a “limited personal shelf”. No more flooding of options but building a lean portfolio of products or services for consumers, based on first party data that enables you to control customers interests, needs and purchase history.
- Shelf managers should prepare their catalog to the Voice Search age – which is already beginning to be significant in some categories. This format actually moves the interaction from a search configuration to a request request configuration
It means that consumers ask the personal Voice Assistant for information about a product or service and get one recommended result – instead of the hundreds of options to which we have become accustomed in the textual search interaction.
How should shelf managers can prepare themselves to the new search format ? Mainly by building hierarchical and dynamic product catalog (varies from consumer to consumer) so that you can always promote one product – with clear advantage – to the forefront against a specific consumer’s request .
- Shelf manager should also be an expert in technologies such as Augmented Reality –AR provides customers with a comprehensive information regarding product ingrediencies. How an outfit really look like on the customer or how a television will appear on customer’s wall.
Shelf manager should think about ways to effectively visualize products in customers own space and also virtually enables them to try clothing, makeup, accessories, etc.
- Shelf managers should be focused on Mobile Shopping and even consider to implement a Mobile First Strategy. The availability of branded shopping apps, 5G wireless and social media shopping, are driving more and more people to shop on their phones. Shoppers can now use the “buy now” buttons on social networks. M-commerce is unlocking new marketing opportunities. Shelf Managers should become an expert in the M shopping and M- Engagement field