No-Line-Commerce

No-line commerce currently represents the highest level of development in e-commerce. All online and offline sales channels are networked with each other in terms of information technology and, together with the marketing channels, form an overall picture.

The behavioral principles of no-line commerce relate primarily to the use of the Internet and mobile commerce. The focus here is on information procurement and individual product information. The actual purchasing process, on the other hand, is a mixture of multi- and cross-channel: no-line commerce presupposes a certain consumer behavior on the part of the customer, in which the customer no longer subconsciously perceives the boundaries of the individual sales channels, unlike with omni-channel (no-line). For the customer, there is no separation between the virtual (e-commerce) and real world (stationary retail); for them, there is only the shopping experience.

Customers no longer differentiate between channels and no longer buy specifically online or offline. Instead, they look for different ways to access their store: on the Internet, via smartphone – or even via the brick-and-mortar store in the city center.

Prof. Dr. Gerrit Heinemann, Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences

The aim of no-line commerce is to ensure that consumers can easily switch from offline to online and vice versa at every stage of the information and purchasing process without any loss of shopping experience. Smartphones and tablets support them in this process and provide them with the information they need.

Challenge for retailers: The customer researches and decides on a product in practice. From now on, their decision is price-oriented and usually independent of online or offline channels. However, this makes the retailer less relevant to the potential customer; in the worst case, the retailer is only perceived as a PoS. The reason: information is available on the Internet in greater quantities and therefore provides the greatest benefit for the customer – for the provider, information will therefore be the most valuable part of its value chain in future. This is the only way for providers to increase their customer reach. The classic regular customer will no longer exist in the future.

 

No-line commerce is “still” product-dependent

The current no-line strategy shows that customers research certain products online before completing the purchase process at the PoS, for example. Inform online, buy offline (or vice versa) applies to consumer electronics and computer hardware, for example. In addition, checking the availability of products online in brick-and-mortar stores is becoming the practice of no-line commerce.
If, on the other hand, customers are interested in music, books and fashion, the Internet is the main medium for research and the subsequent purchasing process – cosmetics and shoes, on the other hand, are preferably inspected and usually purchased in brick-and-mortar stores.

Further information on the topic of e-commerce can also be found under the last mile and under loyalty to online stores.

 

Teaser image: Author: Jason Howie / License: CC BY 2.0