Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference.   Is one really better?   Is it just slightly better?  Or does it just seem better?   And is “slightly better” worth the cost?

Are you going to be able to live with the decision you are making?  And what DOES the fine print say?   Do you need to know or care?   

When evaluating eCommerce providers and their solutions, you would be ill-advised to make a decision based on a quick look.  You need to dig deeper to better understand what you need and to better assess who can provide it.   You DO need to read the fine print.  There’s a reason they say “the devil is in the details”.  Most solutions will give you 80% of what you need.   What about that remaining 20%?  How important is it, how much is it worth?  Are those things must-haves or can you live without them?    You cannot answer these questions if you aren’t really “seeing” what these solutions do and how they do it.

Be rigorous in your analysis by first taking the time to define your requirements.   Then, research the solutions that seem to map to your requirements.  See their presentations, ask questions, understand their timelines and deliverables, contact their clients.  Then, narrow your list down to two or three and dig a little deeper, still.  Pay attention to what you don’t see — where are the gaps?  What aren’t they telling you?  Lastly, negotiate and select.   Be as certain as you can that what you see IS what you get.

Fast forward two years.  I have put my Manolo Blahnik collection in storage (ok…not really) and have become one of “those” people who speak in acronyms.  Lately, I’ve seen that many of the retailers and brand manufacturers looking to make changes to or, in some cases, launch their eCommerce business are in the fashion space.  We seem to hear the same stories from these retailers.  They have outgrown their current platform (they didn’t really understand exactly what it was that they purchased two years ago); they do not really understand the providers in the market; they don’t really know what it is they need.

And those are the experienced fashion eRetailers!  What about established, successful brick-and mortar stores with years of retail experience who are looking to launch their online business?  Their stories are quite reminiscent of my own from a few years back: “I know all there is to know about retail… how different could this eCommerce stuff be?”  Fortunately for me, I was only changing careers, not spending a sizable amount of money on eCommerce technology.  Providers are making assumptions that they’re always selling their solution to a retailer who is savvy about webstores.   While the retailer may be very successful and smart, it doesn’t necessarily follow that they know every eCommerce acronym and buzzword.  I guarantee that there will be a minimum of three acronyms used during the first ten minutes of their sales pitch that require translation.   Don’t be afraid, my fellow fashionistas, to ask questions and get explanations.  Better yet, do your eCommerce research before you go shopping for a provider.  And throw out some acronyms and buzzwords of your own!  Let’s see if they know WWD or where ‘the tents’ are!

Count on yourself

That is even more true today. Gone are the days of someone working at General Motors until retirement. More than at any time in the past, you are in charge of your career. Today’s resume can have 5 jobs on it during a 15-year period without that necessarily sending up a red flag. We are in a much more fluid work environment and people must rely on themselves and their skills, rather than seniority. It is up to you to keep on top of the marketplace, to stay abreast of new trends, and to keep your skills current. Last but not least, you need to ‘advertise’ your talent – internally and externally.

Today’s tools make it easy

Building your brand gives you more weight within your company and also more credibility outside of it. Social networking is certainly a part of this. People promote themselves on LinkedIn, on Facebook, etc. They blog and speak at conferences. In FitBase, they contribute to the community by publishing articles and user or expert opinions on topics to share their experiences and show their acumen. Availing yourself of these opportunities lets you establish yourself as a recognized leader in your space. Not only will you have more value to your company but you will also have more career options, should you need them. There’s a great book by William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson called “Career Distinction: Stand Out by Building Your Brand” (learn more at reachcc.com). Bottom line, leverage all the tools available to you and you can better control your fate.

You shouldn’t try to implement an eCommerce solution without detailed business requirements, either.   You might end up with functionality you don’t need, with features you can’t manage and with critical functionality nowhere to be found.   And you might end up paying way too much money for way too little value.

No matter what eCommerce project you’re undertaking, thorough requirements are the cornerstone of success.  And we’re not talking about just a wish list of needed features and desired bells and whistles.  You’ll need business, functional and technical requirements.  Oh, you’re not done yet.  You’ll also need best practices, competitive analysis and prioritization.  Use cases.  Workflows.  This may seem like a great deal of work.  But we guarantee that NOT doing all this will cause a good deal of trouble and expense down the road.

As many of us have experienced firsthand, requirements left unaddressed now will come back to haunt you - and at what cost?  Will you have to go back and start from scratch?  That is very expensive - in time, lost opportunity costs and hard dollars.   Or will you do kludgey, quick-and-dirty patches that you will end up living with for far too long?   That will cause every enhancement, every new point solution, every additional integration to be two or three times as costly and problematic.

Earlier today, we gave a webinar with Elastic Path.  This one-hour session covered 10 Steps to Requirements Diligence, a way to ensure project success:

1. Align with Business Objectives
2. Know Relevant Best Practices
3. Perform Competitive Analysis
4. Define Functional Requirements in Detail
5. Prioritize and Time Phase Requirements
6. Document Use Cases
7. Diagram Workflow Designs
8. Apply Creative Design
9. Test and Adjust Requirements Again and Again
10. Keep Requirements Updated Always

Yes, there is a lot to think about and do.  But planning is always time and effort well-spent and a good way to avoid mistakes.  There’s a reason they say: Measure twice, cut once. 

The webinar replay and the results of two surveys taken during the presentation are now available here .

For some of the attendees who came to the Exhibit Hall of the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition in Boston this week, that pretty much said it all.

They were dazed and impressed by the sheer scale of the 170,000 square foot exhibit hall as seen through a mezzanine-level pool-length glass wall, and by the variety and comprehensiveness of 350+ provider booths.

And then they were confused.  Confused as to how to figure out what to do, who to talk to, how to maximize the time they have, how to make sure that this trip results in concrete and productive next steps.

Enter the IRCE Exhibit Hall “Navigation Desk”, powered by FitForCommerce. For the second year, our team managed the IR help desk at the entry of the exhibit hall, helping attendees navigate their way to the providers and solutions that might fit their needs. Our purpose was to give attendees direction and to help ensure that the whole experience is a little less daunting and a lot more rewarding.

“Overwhelmed by eCommerce Decisions and To-Do’s? VENT HERE (seriously)” said one of the signs at the desk. And vent, they did. Sometimes the conversations were about the many wonderful yet overwhelming choices in eCommerce technology. Sometimes, we chatted about the challenges in prioritizing and managing an even tighter budget while still needing to invest in technology. Sometimes, we were just a shoulder to lean on and a sympathetic ear to vent to.

We answered everything from “Where’s the popcorn station?” to “Which providers can help me take my search marketing to a new level?” to “How do I figure out if I need to re-platform?”

Many online and multichannel retailers are indeed confused. They are overwhelmed by the decisions they need to make and the options in front of them. And, they are stressed by the urgency to stay profitable in this challenging economy.

We felt their pain.  The eCommerce industry is growing and morphing so quickly, it is hard to keep up.

One consumer electronics retailer who stopped in was trying to determine which point solutions would give them the biggest bang for the buck; how best to wisely invest his limited budget this year.  Everyone seems to be struggling with how to do more with less.

We also saw some folks who we saw at IRCE in Chicago a year ago.  It was great to see them again.  The problem was that they had yet to make any progress in making decisions for their webstore.  That is not because the right providers were not there for them to ask questions of and to get help from. The real reason was they had a bad case of ‘analysis paralysis’. Too much information and not enough knowledge.  While understandable, sometimes the worst decision is no decision.

All in all, it was a great show. The vendors we spoke to were really pleased with the turnout and felt that they had connected with some great potential clients.  And most of the retailers felt that they had a lot of good choices to consider.   Dazed and confused, yes.  But, in the end, satisfied.

We’re on a mission.

Impossible, you say?  We think not.  Difficult, we grant you. But not more difficult than trying to make heads or tails out of all the information and options out there. And these decisions should be a good deal more than a coin-toss.  The odds of making a costly mistake are considerably greater than fifty-fifty.  Taking that risk usually results in a lose-lose situation -for the retailer AND the provider.

We know this.  We have been there and done that.  We’ve been retailers and marketers who’ve made right and wrong choices with strategies and solutions.  We’ve been providers working to ensure that the retailer gets what they want and wants what they need and understands the difference.  We’ve been technologists building and supporting eCommerce software.  And we’ve learned that this is harder than it looks.  That providers and retailers alike need easier access to clear and unbiased information.  That the more transparency there is in the marketplace, the more success there will be for all involved.

And that’s why we are on our mission.  To help retailers and providers make the ‘right fit’ decisions, we created FitForCommerce consulting.  To provide knowledge-sharing and unbiased information, we created FitBase.

With both, we’re betting that our mission will be accomplished… and so will yours!