E-Commerce: Is It Time to Drop the ‘E’?

E-commerce. A term the industry is very familiar with, but has recently come into question.

Much like the ‘digital’ in ‘digital agencies’, the ‘e’ in ‘e-commerce’, some believe, is now outdated. As the industry has evolved with the technological advancements that followed the rise of the internet, commerce as a sector has grown to encompass every touchpoint of marketing - so why even make the distinction anymore?

This is the question that LBB’s Ben Conway posed to some of adland’s most prominent commerce experts, on a journey to find out what the future of commerce looks like - with or without the ‘e’.

Providing their insights are Beth Ann Kaminkow, global CEO at VMLY&R COMMERCE and CEO at VMLY&R New York; Anish Daryani, founder and president director at M&C Saatchi Indonesia, chief growth officer, Southeast Asia; Julie Austin, chief digital officer for Everymile at Wunderman Thompson Commerce & Technology; Benedict Ireland, chief experience officer at UNLIMITED; Julie Clark, VP, creative director​, US at Momentum Worldwide; Sanne van Ettinger, head of strategy at Build in Amsterdam; Jayna Kothary, global chief technology officer at MRM; Asher Wren, VP, growth at BASIC/DEPT® and Adam Cleaver, founding partner at Collective.  

“Commerce is opening up, and is this incredible canvas of creativity,” says Beth Ann Kaminkow, global CEO of VMLY&R COMMERCE and CEO of VMLY&R New York. “So many of the newer expressions of creativity - which brands are going to be leveraging to drive both brand equity, consumer engagement and, ultimately, sales - are going to be in the commerce space. It's disrupting marketing as we know it, and in a really inspiring, incredible way.”

Beth Ann is just one of the experts who believes the ‘e-commerce’ division is “unhelpful” and narrows the commerce space to a small subset of the field, which she says needs to be fully integrated.

“The word ‘commerce’ today encapsulates so many more ideas, behaviours and transaction opportunities than it did even just a few years ago,” affirms Julie Clark​, VP, creative director​, US at Momentum Worldwide. “The previous silos of simply shopping in-store, online, on social, etc. have dissolved into just one word - ‘commerce’. It is omni-channel, omnipresent and all-encompassing.”

Anish Daryani, founder and president director at M&C Saatchi Indonesia agrees that it has become ubiquitous, saying, “Every touchpoint is a place to transact – from a QR Code in a billboard or end frame of a television commercial, to a form attached to a digital banner. The ‘e’ is still relevant. Just that instead of ‘electronic’ it now reads ‘everywhere’.”

This idea of ‘everywhere-commerce’ reflects how the modern customer journey is no longer a linear path, where siloed thinking doesn’t align with the channel-agnostic audience. This outdated approach, says Julie Austin, chief digital officer for Everymile at Wunderman Thompson Commerce & Technology, limits commerce success and creates a KPI clash where customer intent is ignored in a blind rush to convert. She reasons that instead, a customer-first approach, “with aligned KPIs that track across all the touchpoints, and a singular focused commerce success metric”, is now essential to unlocking growth and improved engagement.

Benedict Ireland, chief experience officer at UNLIMITED adds that, for the majority of consumers, the ‘e’ has been irrelevant for a long time. Whether they’re shopping online, in store or over the phone, he places more significance on the overall brand experience in driving commerce, as people now change commerce channels seamlessly from moment to moment without making a distinction themselves.

“This is being amplified by the way that various emerging platforms are blurring the lines of what we even mean by commerce,” he says. “From in-app purchases on mobile devices to real-life purchases of virtual properties in the metaverse, buying and selling can be done almost anywhere, and for almost anything.” 

One expert who stands against the grain, however, is Sanne van Ettinger, head of strategy at Build in Amsterdam, who says that it might not yet be time to eliminate the ‘e’. 

Despite acknowledging how blurred the division is today between online and offline shopping, she says that e-commerce setups still require a unique skill set from traditional retail - and any further conflation of the two may cause unnecessary confusion. Although she adds that the consumers’ hybrid manner, shopping with smartphones in hand, is breaking traditional boundaries and gradually making the ‘e’ redundant.

This fluidity between mobile retail and other avenues of commerce is a hallmark of Gen Z’s shopping habits. 

Beth Ann believes that, as the generation becomes more prominent as both adland creatives and as consumers, Gen Z’s acceptance of commerce in all aspects of their lives will continue to tear down commerce’s silos. A significant portion of this is rooted in more authentic, personal influencer marketing, which has taken commerce on social platforms to another level.

This desire for authenticity has fuelled the commercial rise of platforms like TikTok, where youngsters are sourcing credible reviews and opinions from voices they trust and relate to. “They are also candid and open about sharing their experiences with brands on social media, and land up influencing their peers in the process,” says Anish.

While Beth Ann adds that consumers are “very open” to these creative experiences and deeper engagement, she says that they don’t want the purchase journey to be made more difficult. Therefore, new technologies like AI and augmented reality will be playing a key role both in front of and behind the scenes to make the commerce experience less painful.

AI, for example, will address annoyances by enhancing supply chain management and improving the anticipation abilities of brands - helping their systems align to different consumers in real-time. 

On the other hand, the augmented reality space - having proven its usefulness in the gaming and luxury worlds after a disappointing introduction to the metaverse - is “making us rethink and reimagine the shopping universe.” This is something Anish dubs ‘Shoppertainment’ - a transaction that has become its own enjoyable experience, assisted by emerging technologies and platforms like TikTok and WeChat.

“What was once a simple transaction in store has evolved into a complete brand experience for some brands,” adds Julie Clark. 

Build in Amsterdam has always aimed to bridge this gap, says Sanne, who shares that the company has used AI and first party data to create ‘size passports’ for brands like SuitSupply to make the in-store experience seamless with its digital counterparts via - and, importantly, a more enjoyable experience. 

It’s this blending of retail, digital and all other commerce siloes that makes Jayna Kothary,  MRM’s global chief technology officer, so adamant that dropping the ‘e’ is long overdue. “Agencies need to pivot and make commerce the job of every discipline and business leader.  However, it is time to go further than this,” she says. “It’s time to stop thinking of commerce as a department, a channel or a transaction. People no longer ‘go’ shopping, they are always shopping.”

She continues, “The real differentiator will be creative commerce with an effectiveness lens -  creative that converts. Partners that can use big creative ideas that evoke emotion, create connections, and build relationships with brands will win.”

This strategy for a successful future in commerce without the ‘e’ is shared by Asher Wren, VP, growth at BASIC/DEPT®. “We live in a culture of refinement,” he says. “Everything is designed to beat the algorithm. To drive conversion. Notice how cars all look the same; cell phones all look the same; successful LinkedIn posts are all structured the same… everything is optimised for performance, based on data.” 

“This is equally true of e-commerce experiences,” he continues. “Many of the biggest retailers are built upon the same two or three enterprise commerce stacks. They leverage the same handful of software libraries. They adopt the same conversion-oriented UX best practices. And as a result, they all look the same. And it's boring.”

Adam Cleaver, founding partner at Collective describes how this “cookie-cutter” approach has squeezed out brand and design from the process. “Put your hand over the logo and you could be on anyone’s site. It’s fine if you are BA, but most brands haven’t been around for 50 years.” For Adam, the solution is simple: put brand back at the heart of everything.

This sentiment is shared by Jayna and Asher, who see the future of commerce as not just creative-forward but actively being led by brave brands who are willing to take risks. “The fearless brands, powered by new composable commerce platforms, will embrace storytelling and brand building through commerce,” says Asher. 

“They’ll bring moments of surprise and serendipity. They’ll embrace creativity over conversion.”