Pattern a provider of eCommerce acceleration solutions has published its first Ecommerce Strategy Snapshot. The report is an analysis of the most common growth challenges facing consumer brand leaders and where they plan to invest in the near future.
Among the major findings, the survey revealed executives plan to increase their financial investment in eCommerce by an average of 17% over the next 6-12 months. 27% of brands reporting a planned increase of 25-100%. Just 10% of leaders surveyed plan to decrease their overall financial investment during the same period.
Key report headlines
- 90% of executives plan to maintain or increase their investment in ecommerce over the next 6-12 months.
- Brand leaders are cautious but undeterred as they push to uncover opportunities for growth.
To compile the snapshot, Pattern conducted an in-depth survey of nearly 200 founders and eCommerce executives at brands in Europe. The study reviewed dozens of product categories — including Beauty & Personal Care, Sports & Outdoors, Home & Kitchen, Tools & Home Improvement, and more. Respondents represented consumer brands in 18 countries across Europe with revenues ranging from just a few million euros to billions of euros per year. Average yearly revenue for brands in the survey was 32 million GBP.
The findings shed light on a number of questions facing eCommerce executives, including:
- Are my peers experiencing the growth blockers I’m facing?
- How does our short-term growth strategy compare to others?
- What investments am I overlooking?
“Every brand is more successful when they can make data-driven decisions, but brands have historically not had access to good data on what’s impacting their peers and how they are planning for the future,” said Pattern Europe General Manager Torsten Schäfer. “This snapshot ensures that executives don’t have to rely on conjecture alone when making critical decisions about how to shift their strategy for 2024 and beyond.”
Investment suggestions
Some of the most commonly cited investment areas brand leaders cited:
- 42% of executives plan on increasing their investment in product imagery, video, and copy for online listings.
- 41% are increasing in expansion to other online marketplaces and platforms.
- 41% are set to increase their investment in international expansion.
- 36% are upping their financial commitment for influencer marketing.
Growth impediments for brands
The most commonly cited growth impediments include:
- 1 in 3 executives say rising shipping costs and inability to maintain inventory levels are key impediments to their growth.
- 1 in 3 brand leaders are struggling to get unauthorised sellers and distributors under control. This erodes their sales and wreaking havoc on their growth strategy.
- 1 in 3 also say an inability to expand to recruit good talent is stymying their growth.
Pattern’s report is in line with similar research published in June 2024 by Celigo which suggests enterprise IT and operations leaders are realising positive results from early AI deployments. Benefits include greater productivity and efficiency, enhanced customer experience and reduced costs. As such, 97% of global enterprise IT and Operations leaders will increase their AI expenditure over the next 18 months.
Enterprise Times: What this means for businesses
This report is interesting and explores the forces impacting enterprises eCommerce growth and how leaders are planning for the future? It is interesting with well rounded points raised in the document. Many teams tackling online commerce are small and have never dealt with more complexity. This means opportunities are left on the table. Resource-constrained brands wanting to maximise online growth will likely need to leverage new technologies, AI, and outside partnership to scale.
The report suggests the rising cost of logistics, the proliferation of fraud and scams are major operational issues. In addition to the inability of some brands to reach new consumers, threaten brand growth for many in 2024. As a result, driving traffic to company’s digital real estate has become more vital. Furthermore, converting more of that traffic — has never been more important to brand leaders. They also want to expand beyond their core marketplaces and attract consumers both domestically and internationally.
