World War E – The Battle For Online Retail Supremacy

Competition for survival in the online world of eCommerce retail has always been fierce. However, the online war for retail dominance can be won by bringing in experts who know how to read the terrain and who will find the best path for advancing towards, taking control of and, ultimately, holding new ground. Any eCommerce company worth its weight in conversion data knows the only way to successfully dominate in the online retail world is to employ, at the bare minimum, the skills of qualified and experienced statistical analysts with gung-ho attitudes. Companies with a more serious drive for dominance will employ an entire team of online marketing experts, each specialized in their field.

The online retail world of eCommerce is a battleground. Armies of specialized forces are being amassed. Borders are being drawn, defining controlled territories. Trenches are being dug and manned to protect those borders. With all this going on, the reality of a long, cold eCommerce stalemate grows imminent. Don’t be caught unprepared.

With entrenched eCommerce warfare, there is nowhere for conversion statistics to move and, subsequently, there is no way to gain ground. With the exception of attrition, which would involve weakening the competition by offering soldiers incentives to change sides of the battle, all other things being equal while dug-in on the frontline, eCommerce faces the real possibility of becoming an extended plateau of zero growth with zero gains.

Online marketing experts, such as statistical analysts, are frontline soldiers in the war for eCommerce growth and online retail supremacy. The experienced eye and creative thinking of a properly educated analyst are powerful weapons that give an online retailer the edge to make gains while their competition stagnates. Inch by inch, at a point of a percent at a time, the trained statistical analyst can be the difference between a company making or defaulting on expected quarterly gains. When it’s the unfortunate case of defaulting, the losses can be devastating and the ground lost forever. On the flip side, making or exceeding quarterly expectations can result in rewards that are astounding and permanent. In the heat of battle, it is the clear-headed competency of the experts assigned to the tasks that will make the difference.

One of the important jobs of the statistical analyst is to find safe paths for advancing the end-goal of driving qualified consumers to the company’s website. Once a consumer is visiting the site, the task switches to converting the consumer into a paying and satisfied customer. It is a statistical fact that a satisfied customer is highly likely to return again as a paying customer, perhaps tell their virtual and real world friends about their experience, and possibly even leave a positive online review.

From online marketing strategists developing plans for advancing the company’s objectives (war room), to statistical analysts mapping paths and SEO experts clearing obstacles (pathfinders and bomb disposal), to social media professionals cultivating the company’s online culture (propagandists), to usability and user experience experts building bridges between products and consumers (engineers), the successful eCommerce company of today populates their chessboard with an army of internet marketing experts who are specialized, loyal and able to think outside the box. When all sides are entrenched with nowhere to advance, it is the online marketing experts who manage to figure out how to either out-flank, fly-over or dig-under the competition’s line of defense who will break the stalemate, allowing their company to become the dominant force of World War E.