Unified Commerce services prove to be extremely attractive in acquiring new customers

Berlin, November 8, 2023

• Declining consumption in the fashion industry is forcing unified commerce strategies for competitiveness.
• Retailers rely on software for a seamless customer shopping experience between online and offline channels.
• Versatile payment options, especially "Buy Now, Pay Later", encourage customer spending and minimise purchase hesitation.

The fashion industry continues to face the challenge of declining consumer behaviour. However, unified commerce services are creating new incentives to buy. The integration of different sales channels is supported by innovative software solutions, while a wide range of payment options makes the purchase decision easier for customers.

Unified commerce is proving to be an effective lever against the tense consumer climate in the fashion industry. The new study by ECC KÖLN in collaboration with Unzer entitled "Fashion industry under pressure to act: How unified commerce and Buy Now, Pay Later can help" impressively shows how much trust retailers place in unified commerce services to successfully counteract the ongoing consumer restraint in this segment.

At the same time, 66% of the companies surveyed are convinced that they will not be able to remain competitive in the long term without unified commerce. The vast majority of 74% consider it to be much more effective for acquiring and winning new customers than investing in innovations such as metaverse or blockchain. In addition, 79% emphasise the importance of a robust unified strategy to increase sales and retain customers in the long term. The linking of sales channels also plays an important role for 77% of the retailers surveyed.

Speaking of unified commerce: If you don't want to fall by the wayside as a fashion retailer, you have to make the link between online and in-store as simple and customer-friendly as possible.

Cassandra Bolz, Project Manager at ECC KÖLN

For customers, the merging of online and offline is already a shopping reality: purchase preparation, decision-making and fulfilment are not limited to stationary or digital, but move dynamically between the channels. For example, 31 per cent of consumers surveyed stated that they regularly redeem discount vouchers from the shop online and vice versa, or use the same customer card in both channels (21%). Retailers are responding to the trend: Half of the fashion retailers surveyed (51%) are already implementing channel integration in their company and using centralised software for this purpose (49%).

Buy Now, Pay Later offers many advantages for both retailers and customers. However, to capitalise on this, retailers need to raise awareness and provide sufficient information about the offer and its benefits.

Pascal Beij, Chief Commercial Officer at Unzer

About ECC Köln

As a subsidiary of the renowned IFH KÖLN (Institute for Retail Research), ECC KÖLN has been a driving force in e-commerce since 1999. Our aim is to offer retailers, manufacturers and solution providers a unique and exclusive knowledge, consulting and networking platform to make them fit for the future of retail. With our ECC CLUB network, we have created an inspiring and highly networked community from all retail sectors. Our strategy professionals around ECC NEXT accompany companies strategically into the digital future.

About Unzer

Unzer provides payment and commerce solutions to European merchants. With Unzer’s unified commerce platform, businesses can view, monitor and use customer, sales and product data in one place and in real time. This helps merchants to better understand their customers’ wishes and demands and gives customers the most relevant, consistent and timely experience possible. Customers can choose how, where, and when they would like to pay, while all transactions and inventory changes are tracked and updated in the cloud.  

More than 85,000 merchants from all over Europe are already using the financial services provided by Unzer. The company's employees work in eight offices across Germany, Austria, Denmark and Luxembourg.  

About the study

The study "Fashion industry under pressure to act: How unified commerce and Buy Now, Pay Later can help" analyses the status quo of the fashion industry and possible levers for a smoother customer journey. It was conducted by ECC KÖLN in collaboration with Unzer, which offers payment and retail solutions for 85,000 companies across Europe. The main focus here was on the implementation of a cross-channel shopping experience, the use of centralised software for channel integration and the communication of the "Buy Now Pay Later" payment option to customers. 102 fashion retailers provided their expert opinion in mid-September 2023, and the interviews were supplemented by further studies by ECC KÖLN and IFH KÖLN.