Home and interiors lovers rejoice – Freedom Furniture is now offering online shopping to New Zealand consumers following the implementation of a full eCommerce solution by eStar.

eStar's Digital Strategist Greg Randall debates whether retailers should present products on the home page.

The customer journey is getting longer. Google in 2010 stated five digital touch points in an average customer journey, in 2015 this increased to thirteen. The flagship store is no longer on Pitt Street or Castlereagh Street. The biggest impact on your customers – for awareness, consideration and buying – is your digital store.

An eCommerce platform is fundamental to the success of a retail business. It is the foundation of your online channel and needs to complement the bricks and mortar side of the business instead of competing with it.

As online retailers tackle an ever-changing business landscape requiring frequent platform upgrades, hardware upgrades and technical team overheads, moving to a fully supported, cloud-based, end-to-end ecommerce solution makes more and more business sense.

Senior omnichannel and eCommerce manager Mark Appleford tackles etail decision making.