How Discovery Commerce is Transforming Online Shopping Journey

With consumer lifestyles increasingly going digital, online channels dominate their preferences for media consumption as well as shopping. A Google/Ipsos study revealed that people are actively shopping for more than six categories online at any given time. Not only are consumers choosing online over offline when it comes to shopping, but the way they shop is also changing. Rather than being in shop mode only when they are on Amazon or Flipkart, they are now always shopping. A report by Meta found that over 60 percent of shoppers surveyed stated that they made purchases based on what they unexpectedly found when browsing online.

What this means is whether they are scrolling on Instagram, seeing videos on YouTube, or even searching on Google, brands need the ability to create moments of discovery of products that these consumers care to buy. Serendipitous discovery can make a huge difference in convincing consumers to go down a path to purchase. Unlike traditional advertising, this is more organic and extends their searching, seeing, and social moments into shopping moments. In addition to fostering product discovery, brands can help consumers with information to make it easier to complete purchases. For example, access to pricing/discounts, customer reviews, and cross-store price comparison ranked high in a Google/Kantar study on factors that influence Indian consumers when they buy online.

To facilitate such discovery by the right consumers, and translate that into actual demand for their products and services, brands will need to address three key elements:

1. Reach people across popular media channels and use the right data and signals to target audiences that are more likely to be interested in a conversation with the brand. This helps increase ad relevance to the people who see them in their news feeds.
2. Make ad impressions more effective by using creatives that are product aware. This helps them discover the brand and inspires them to consider the purchase of products featured in the ad.
3. Curate storefronts that are personalized to the audience, and deliver branded shopping experiences that blend content, catalog, and comparison shopping to facilitate seamless purchases.    

Discovery Commerce collapses a complex multi-step journey (learn, research, compare choices and prices, and eventually purchase) into a single, seamless shopping experience for consumers. This also helps brands and retailers optimize their cost of customer acquisition, and build equity and lifetime value with shoppers.