eCommerce Strategic Planning
A structured process to support the launch of new initiatives
Building A New Digital Presence
Our approach to strategic planning is to take a holistic view of your current business, identify opportunities for improvement, and prioritize activities that can be implemented in concert with the primary goals of your business.
The desired outcome is to methodically prioritize the must-haves versus the nice-to-haves when considering investment, return and capabilities. The output will provide a focused set of options for building your company’s new digital presence by analyzing the following capabilities:
Channel Partner Analysis
Product Assortment
Design and Creative Services
Organization & Hiring Plan
eCommerce Platform & Plugins
Software Applications
Digital Marketing
Customer Service
Existing Software Systems
Business Intelligence & Reporting
Agency & Vendor Relationships
Migration of Customer, Order History, Product Data
Generating Your Desired Outcomes
Customized
If there isn’t enough diligence performed, the proposed recommendations will be too generic to be helpful.
Thorough
While 100% foresight is impossible, no major surprises or gaps should be uncovered during the plan’s rollout.
Trusted
If stakeholders feel heard and understood, they will have a vested interest in the plan’s outcome, even if they encounter difficulties, because they understand the level of diligence in preparing the deliverable.
Why Work With Us
We understand the market deeply
We have decades of eCommerce experience
We are independent outsiders
We work on your timeline
Our Approach To eCommerce Strategic Planning
Discovery & Assessment
At the start of the project, the Consultant will speak with the Client’s management team and key employees to gain a greater understanding of the business. This phase aims to perform a detailed analysis and discovery of the Client’s current business to build a new strategic direction. This will include reviewing the people, processes, and technology relevant to the effort.
Concept Creation
This phase will take what the Consultants have learned from the Client and marry that to the firm’s extensive experience in eCommerce and peer benchmarks. We then craft 2-3 unique ideas to inform a new strategic vision for the company. A report will be created that outlines a few different strategic options for the firm. This report will also compare and contrast the various options.
Strategic Planning
This phase aims to develop and finalize the planned engagement deliverables. More detailed plans will be developed based on information received from follow-up interviews and discussions. The final deliverable is a written strategic options document (document or presentation) designed to answer the critical questions outlined throughout the engagement.
Common Challenges that Require Strategic Planning:
-
Unsure of Investment Needs
You have a revenue target for the next three years but are unsure how to reach it. Where do you need to invest and how? What capabilities will you need to develop? RMW Commerce will help determine a realistic ambition for your growth strategy and set high level priorities to help you reach your goals.
-
Scaling a Marketplace Business
One of the most important milestones is proving that you can acquire customers profitably. You also need to think about how to get products to these customers, and how to attract new sellers and buyers on both sides of the marketplace model. To build an idea of what is valuable, we’ll help answer critical questions such as “What is this marketplace about? What are the benefits? Who are the actors in the marketplace?” and “What are the benefits to each of the actors of participating in the marketplace?”
-
Competing Ideas
Many organizations struggle with differing ideas internally when discussing how to move the company forward. This affects B2C as well as B2B businesses. You could benefit from an outside, global perspective on the strengths and weaknesses of the current business relative to other successful growing online businesses. The goal is to align on a shared vision to accelerate the business.
The Value We Bring To Our Clients
Britax
-
Britax engaged RMW Commerce to develop a phased plan with a focus on Direct to Consumer activation on the current site so as to exceed forecasted revenue in 2022
-
Through a phased approach, we delivered key insights relating to the strengths and weaknesses of the client’s current website and the opportunities and threats in conjunction. From there, we were able to generate a robust DTC growth plan that allows the business to exceed their goals.
Villa & House
-
Villa & House (formerly Bungalow5) engaged RMW Commerce to lead the company through a structured process to support the launch of the new business within the next twelve months.
-
The development of a detailed plan in order to thoughtfully enter the market in a partner-friendly way, with the right assortment, and appropriate organizational capabilities.
Additionally through a guided process, we were able to uncover the Client’s needs, develop and execute a Request for Proposal process with Website Design/Build vendors, and execute a contract with the selected vendor.
Find The Right Service
-
Supply Chain & Logistics Planning
You are a Retailer with B2B-focused selling and wish to add a complementary B2C business. RMW will assist with executing your supply chain initiatives.
Deliverable: A comprehensive operating solution and roadmap to address your short-and long-term operating needs.
-
Direct to Consumer eCommerce Growth Plan
You need to assess the current state of your D2C business in order to identify growth opportunities and determine a realistic strategic plan.
Deliverable: A strategic growth plan that includes 2-3 major strategic directions to take the D2C business.
-
Go-To Market Planning
Intended to assist Software Companies with establishing clear messaging & strategies in the eCommerce and supply chain ecosystem.
Deliverable: A strategic plan that contains a number of elements to help software companies grow faster through improved strategy, positioning, marketing, and partnerships.
Related Insights
FAQs
-
A complete strategic planning engagement typically takes around 10-14 weeks including assessment and discovery. Of course, this can be tailored to fit your company timeline.
-
At the start of the project, we would like to speak with your essential employees and stakeholders to gain a greater understanding of the business. Often this involves the heads of major departments like marketing, merchandising, technology, supply chain, and finance.
-
In addition to the time of your employees (usually 2 meetings per involved employee is required), we also request the following types of data:
Company presentations and goals
Sales projections and unit forecasts by customer and channel
Contribution margin information on the category or SKU level for the past 2 years
Supply chain cost data
-
Expect at least weekly meetings during the strategic planning portion of the engagement, along with consistent e-mail communication.
-
By the end of the engagement, RMW Commerce will have completed an eCommerce strategic plan which presents a long-term vision for the company. The strategic plan will also contain a detailed financial plan outlining project revenue and costs for the initiative.
Got A Question
Follow Us:
Ready To Talk?
When growth is elusive, I am an expert at asking incisive questions to surface the real issues and then present straightforward ideas that your team can actually implement.
Mistakes are expensive. They cost money, of course. What’s worse is the opportunity cost. I work with investors and management teams worldwide to help them get a handle on their digital business plans to execute a clear path forward.