Retailers Join Forces to Develop Mandate for Commerce Technology Providers
Industry outlines technology requirements for meeting the demands of today's consumer
Burlington, Mass. – October 18, 2011 – Today, a mandate to commerce technology providers to help retailers and brands exceed expectations of the new and empowered digital consumer was revealed. “The Digital Directives: A Commerce Technology Manifesto” was collaboratively developed during a workshop initiated and facilitated by Demandware®, Inc. preceding the Cross-Channel Retail Executive Summit in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Shoppers experience the brand through the lens of technology, however most retailers are unable to innovate at the same pace of today’s digital consumers. Recognizing that drastic changes must occur to meet these escalating expectations, 20 leading marketing, ecommerce and IT executives across multiple segments including footwear, apparel, sporting goods and other specialty retailers, convened to outline clear marching orders for technology vendors.
“The Digital Directives” calls for vendors to fundamentally change their traditional engagement and delivery models and partner in a more meaningful, strategic and sustainable way. Bending under stress from consumers, participants asserted that technical interoperability, flexibility and usability from their commerce technology is required to deliver a harmonized brand experience across all shopping interactions, including websites, social networks, mobile devices, tablets, kiosks or in-store.
With a unified voice, these retailers established seven interrelated directives that ask the vendor community to deliver capabilities and innovation required to excel in front of consumers. The Digital Directives are:
- 1. Deliver ongoing success beyond the software sale.
- 2. Solve business problems; don’t sell products.
- 3. Ensure technology is interoperable and extensible.
- 4. Enable faster innovation to consumers.
- 5. Extend commerce capabilities easily into any application, channel, or device.
- 6. Unify brand experiences for digital consumers.
- 7. Enable merchants to do their job with minimal reliance on IT.
Yul Vanek, VP of IT at Deckers Outdoor and one of the 20 participants, illustrated the importance of these directives by saying, “Internal teams must be allowed to focus on business enablement, user experience, and systems integration. We don’t want to be in the software development business.”
“While the burden largely falls on our shoulders from a vendor standpoint, I was encouraged that the retailers and brand manufacturers acknowledged that there is also an opportunity for them to redefine relationships, share strategic direction and focus on collaboratively solving business and consumer problems,” said Rob Garf, VP of product and solutions marketing for Demandware. “There is tremendous momentum and excitement behind these directives and we look forward to sharing how Demandware will help to address these challenges.”
Influence the Mandate: Join the Discussion
Over the coming months, Demandware will hold a series of panel discussions in various cities where retailers and brands can discuss and debate the implications of “The Digital Directives.” Representatives of retailers and branded manufacturers are invited to attend these exclusive events and influence the mandate through these open discussions.
The first events will take place in New York City on October 25 and in San Francisco on October 27. Each will consist of a panel of retail executives and industry influencers and will be moderated by Jeffrey Rayport, operating partner with Castanea Partners, during the New York City event and Cathy Hotka, principal with Cathy Hotka & Associates, during the San Francisco event.
For more information about The Digital Directives and these events, email digitaldirectives@demandware.com. The Digital Directives manifesto can be found at www.digitaldirectives.org.
About Demandware
Demandware is a leading provider of software-as-a-service (SaaS) ecommerce solutions that enable companies to easily design, implement and manage their own customized ecommerce sites, including websites, mobile applications and other digital storefronts. Customers use our highly scalable and integrated Demandware Commerce platform to more easily launch and manage multiple ecommerce sites, initiate marketing campaigns more quickly, and improve ecommerce traffic. For more information about Demandware, visit www.demandware.com, call 888-553-9216 or email info@demandware.com.
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