Gemma Spence is the Founder and CEO of OMG Transact, Omnicom Media Group’s new specialist practice, built for improving ecommerce sales performance.
Who is your digital hero?
My university friend, Claire Henderson, who set up Oh Polly, a global ecommerce fashion brand for women, which has a turnover of more than $21 million and 300+ employees.
What has she done to win hero status in your eyes?
Apparel and fast fashion are hard industries to enter and even harder to win in. With a clearly defined strategy focused on both social and D2C, Claire has not only entered it but is now dominating the category.
Building and owning each element of the supply and value chain is tricky, and Claire has built a sustainable business model which taps into the core needs of her loyal customers whilst delivering desirable clothing in an agile, convenient and affordable way. In fact, it was Claire’s ability to tap into the emerging trend of social commerce that really caught my eye.
How has her heroism helped drive digital?
Claire tackled some of the most difficult challenges in digital and performance media, in one of the most unlikely places for it to succeed.
She focused on the needs of her core customers and looked at the most effective routes to build trust and ensure repeat purchases. And it has clearly paid off!
What the biggest challenges in media we need another hero to solve?
For me, it’s trust. From how customer data is being used, the constant worry of being stalked online, to who people can actually trust in the digital world. It’s a huge challenge the entire industry is facing.
Almost every digital touchpoint has been monetised, publishers want to sell inventory and brands want to maximise impressions…. But to what cost? The shopper’s trust?
When putting their trust into a brand, people are looking for relevant, personalised experiences which are authentic to the brand in question. And in a crowded marketplace, this is vital to encourage repeat purchases, customer satisfaction and brand loyalty.
In ecommerce, trust is the interaction with a digital platform despite an element of uncertainty e.g. when shoppers share sensitive banking and personal information.
Therefore, trust in this respect is ultimately convenience-led. The value of trust is determined by the ease with which customers can make repeat purchases or refill their basket with preferred items.
With the continued fragmentation of data and ongoing breaches and hacking, it is crucial for brands to humanise their digital retail strategies by ensuring that safety and trust sits at the heart of it. Only then will customers have the peace of mind that their data is protected and is being used in an ethical way.
What is your most heroic personal achievement so far in digital?
Without a doubt, it has been the creation of OMG Transact, our new ecommerce consultative offering, which is powered by Omnicom Media Group. Over the past 16 months we have been busy building the proprietary technology, developing key partnerships as well the operations for our clients.
We now have 35+ ecommerce consultants across 19 markets in EMEA and work as part of a team of 250+ omnichannel retail experts with over 700 Amazon-accredited performance specialists.
We have already built a solid client base and have achieved over 30% sales growth online for some of them. 2020 is set to be an exciting year for Transact as we take our offering out to market and look to grow our client list further.
