Jason Hayman, partner at Portaltech Reply, spoke to Information Age about how value can be driven from Digital Commerce capabilities, and discussed a recently established partnership with Spryker

When it comes to maintaining customer experience today, organisations of all sizes need a strong, intuitive e-commerce system and strategy. Efficient service must combine with personalisation in line with particular customer needs, ensuring that users are able to receive a consistent experience, wherever they are.

But with customers’ demands always changing, it often proves challenging to retain their loyalty in increasingly competitive markets. Indeed, the slightest misstep in service delivery or customer experience can be costly with a global population exponentially reliant on digital platforms.

One IT service and consulting company dedicated to helping businesses maintain strong e-commerce services and best of breed solutions is Portaltech Reply. Specialising in Digital Commerce solutions such as SAP and Spryker, Portaltech has been taking organisations across the world on commerce transformation journeys since its inception in 2000.

Portaltech Reply partner Jason Hayman spoke with Information Age, to expand on how success can be driven with e-commerce, the company’s recently established partnership with e-commerce provider Spryker, and future trends that are likely to occur in the coming years.

>See also: Top priorities when creating or migrating to a new e-commerce site

Keeping up with customer demands

For Hayman, the biggest challenge that Portaltech’s clients tend to face from the outset of an e-commerce journey is meeting the quickly changing needs of customers. Markets are seeing more and more Gen Z consumers looking for products online, who aren’t nearly as likely to stay loyal to a company if technology lets them down. With this in mind, constant innovation in line with commerce trends is vital.

“In an ever-changing commerce environment, customers are looking for a seamless journey that provides the best customer experience possible,” said Hayman.

“Companies are finding the way in which they operate has to adapt to market demands and trends. For this reason, online marketplaces need to be easy to use and intuitive especially for B2B, B2C and D2C transactions.

“Organisations are also seeing business models change as some traditional B2B companies are offering products on a B2C or D2C model.”

Diversifying offerings with Spryker

Portaltech recently obtained Solution Partner Status with e-commerce company Spryker. This will mean that Spryker solutions implementation and support services will be offered across B2B commerce, enterprise marketing, B2C and unified commerce.

Explaining Portaltech’s goals for the partnership, Hayman said: “Portaltech is looking to diversify their technology solution offerings. Spryker offers customers a new and evolving solution and has been gaining Gartner recognition over the past couple of years.

“Being selected as a Solution Partner is a great accolade for Portaltech. This demonstrates not only are we technically capable of implementing more core solutions but it also demonstrates our understanding of commerce businesses and the challenges in the market.

“The partnership with Spryker will enable Potrtaltech to offer an alternative solution to customers. This will lead to net new logo business, an increased footprint in the Commerce marketplace and increased revenues.”

With Spryker just emerging in the UK market, Portaltech was among the first partners to be offered Solution Partner status.

Future trends

To be successful as a Digital CX services and consulting company, it pays to keep an eye on current and prospective industry trends, and this is no different at Portaltech.

According to Hayman, online commerce experiences will only increase in importance in the coming years, defining success or failure for businesses. As more transactions are performed online, customer experience will be key.

“A poor online experience will drive customers to transact with companies that have a simple and streamlined customer journey,” he said.

“Changing buying behaviour can derail revenue if organisations do not adapt their sales and marketing approach to reach online consumers and position themselves for success.

“B2B tech shoppers use digital channels to help them through the decision-making process which helps them embrace digital too. Organisations who accommodate and embrace these increasingly common behaviours are positioning themselves for growth and ultimately survival.”

The value of commerce market experience

During its 20-year experience in the e-commerce market, Portaltech has demonstrated a strong track record in landing what Hayman claims are “some of the largest deals in the UKI marketplace in recent times”. It’s this extensive and evolving experience that lends itself towards helping businesses achieve the strongest possible online customer experience and e-commerce services.

“Our customer satisfaction ratings are high, and we are always looking to diversify our offerings to meet market and customer needs,” Hayman added.

Offering diversity of e-commerce capabilities, now and in the future, is vital towards ensuring that organisations across all sectors can meet the specific and ever-changing demands of their customers.

This article was written as part of a content campaign with Reply.

Related:

Looking beyond digital marketing — Farhad Koodoruth, partner at Threepipe Reply, spoke to Information Age about how organisations can look beyond digital marketing.

Social commerce has a bright future, but not on social media — Alexander Graf, co-founder and co-CEO of Spryker and co-author of The E-Commerce Book, discusses why the fortunes of social commerce lie outside of social media.