Channel Audit

In our day-to-day, we're often posed the same challenges from our clients:

How do we accelerate our eCommerce growth?
What capabilities do we need to win in eCommerce?
Should we sell on Amazon - and how?
Are we focussing on the right initiatives?
How can we benchmark the performance of our initiatives?

In response to these challenges, VML Commerce has developed a framework to rapidly assess where the biggest opportunities lie for your brand (or multiple brands), and how to overcome the challenges that are slowing down your digital progress.

Through digital commerce, brand manufacturers have the option of multiple routes to market. In dealing with the various options, brands often find it tricky to work out where to invest their limited resources, time and budget. And that’s the role of Channel Audit – defining and guiding the focus for brands, giving them direction, identifying the priorities – and barriers – to address, in order to accelerate growth. This video offers a more detailed view:

How does it work?

The service applies a best-of-breed human + machine approach marrying the expert insights of our eCommerce consultants, combined with machine learning and automation, using our proprietary Commerce Intelligence Platform - providing you with repeatable benchmarks across all digital execution. Four key areas are analysed as part of the process:

Consumer & Insight	Competitor/Category Benchmarking	Cross-Channel eCommerce Best Practice	Organisational Capabilities
→ Personas → Shopper missions & mindsets → Category insight → Consumer experience journey map → Consumer feedback e.g. surveys, enquiries	→ Market leading competitors & challenger/disruptive brands → Adjacent categories → Legal restrictions	Comparative analysis of: → Browse & Search → Product Information → Content-inspiration & advice → Up-sell/cross-sell → Basket & Checkout	→ People (org structure, skills, knowledge) → Process and Ways of Working → Technology (platform & tools)

Consumer & Insight

Competitor/Category Benchmarking

Cross-Channel eCommerce Best Practice

Organisational Capabilities

→ Personas

→ Shopper missions & mindsets

→ Category insight

→ Consumer experience journey map

→ Consumer feedback e.g. surveys, enquiries

→ Market leading competitors & challenger/disruptive brands

→ Adjacent categories

→ Legal restrictions

Comparative analysis of:

→ Browse & Search

→ Product Information

→ Content-inspiration & advice

→ Up-sell/cross-sell

→ Basket & Checkout

→ People (org structure, skills, knowledge)

→ Process and Ways of Working

→ Technology (platform & tools)

A proven framework for multiple brands & sectors

For a multi-national drinks brand: We supported a multi-brand drinks company, assessing their performance across key digital distribution channels and providing strategic recommendations for how to optimise each of these. Through a series of prioritisation workshops we created a roadmap for each brand, and in tandem with an analysis of their People & Processes, we developed an executional framework to enable better ways of working in future.

For a Premium Spirits business: We shaped the balanced channel strategy for a number of well-known brands owned by the same organisation. We delivered an eCommerce roadmap for each based on their brand strategy and capabilities, and we continue to support their brands and market teams.

For a Home Security brand: This pioneering manufacturer engaged VML Commerce to assess its eCommerce strategy and D2C capability, and to provide recommendations on organisational structure. We delivered an eCommerce strategy in line with their goal of delivering greater consistency and improved CX throughout EMEA for their brands..

Free Channel Assessment

We are offering a free channel assessment for a limited period, providing a topline view of your current channel mix undertaken by our consultancy team. Contact us to apply.

For a more detailed guide on our Channel Audit service, click the button below.

Channel Audit is part of our eRetail suite of services, helping brands execute seamlessly and profitably across all digital channels.