Multi-channel precision marketing is an integrated solution to handle on-going dialogs with customers, over time, across channels as customers’ behaviors change. By presenting targeted offers and customized promotions at the individual shopper level, WebSphere Commerce Version 7.0 enables companies to design and fine tune on-line shopping flows, content and e-marketing messages that resonate with the target audience, and help to make the brand stand out over the competition.

Precision marketing capabilities drive flexible, automated, one-to-one ongoing interactions (“dialogs”) with shoppers based on attributes like preference, purchase history and shopping behavior. With IBM’s Precision Marketing engine, companies can sense trigger events like abandoned cart, order placement, social media participation, search term, or referring URL, and take actions to target shoppers with offers such as custom landing pages, mobile SMS text messages or targeted product cross-sells and up-sells.

Key Features

• Dialog activity builder for defining and managing triggers and actions
• Dynamically assign and reassign shoppers to and from segments
• Deliver marketing messages via SMS
• Support for advanced promotions including promotions based on product attributes, and caps on discount amount
• Provide choice of awards
• Best deal support
• Build precision marketing customer “dialogs” quickly with best-in-class business user tooling

Key Benefits

• Help increase customer satisfaction and loyalty
• Improve customer experience with personalization

Management Center VS. Accelerator

• Accelerator
  • Create content spot and schedule
• Management Center
  • Moving forward, no separate object for content spots, will be phased out
  • Content spot was originally created for performance reasons,
  • New caching of e-spots eliminates need for content spots
  • Now, changing from static (content spot) to dynamic (e-spot) content does not require change in code/jsp
  • Previous in Management Center – Campaign, Web Activity, Marketing Experiment, Email Activity, Promotion, Content
  • New in Management Center – Customer Segment, e-Spot, Dialog Activity

Extended Sites Support

• Sales Catalog is new in Mgmt Center
• All marketing capabilities available to all store models (B2B, B2C)
• No changes in catalog tool in Mgmt Center

Workspaces

• Only in Accelerator – synchronize workspaces

Assets

• Fully supported by MC, including MC-only features not available to Accelerator
• Contracts, Inventory, Vendors, Change flows, … – only in Accelerator

Usability Improvements

• Change password during logon (previously not available)
• Time zone support (set in preferences)
• Text editing
  • spell check
  • display in html or rich text button in text editor field

• Working with lists
  • Edit directly in the list
  • New context options:
    • Edit Column
    • Select rows you want to change, and make simultaneous change to same column in each selected row
    • Copy to Clipboard
    • Select All

• Accessibility by people with disabilities
  • Use screen-reader software JAWS to hear what is displayed on the screen for Web 2.0 store and Info Center
  • Operate all features using the keyboard instead of the mouse for Web 2.0 store and Info Center
  • Perform a silent-based installation and configuration

• Other improvements
  • Keyboard accessibility (key shortcuts)
  • Mobile store preview
  • Case insensitive search (across all tools in MC)

New Capabilities for Customization

• New property to conditionally enable tabs
• New service PostSaveService – example: after saving customer segment, automatically activate it (save time for business user)

Catalog Tool Improvements

• Sales catalog supported at asset store level
• Do not have to save products before creating attributes for them
• Offer price validation – warn about duplicate or overlapping offers
• Product name and image in utility search

Sales Catalog Limitations

• Cannot reuse category across catalogs
• Cannot link into inherited category (category from catalog asset store) – creates too many options

Stay tuned for the next topic – Mobile Commerce

Mobile store model optimized for smartphones including iPhone and Blackberry to provide end-to-end shopping flow including stock locator, store locator, and buy on mobile and pick up in-store.