For retailers today, eCommerce is about a lot more than just having a website. It’s a key part of how you build and strengthen relationships with your customers — especially when it’s connected with your brick-and-mortar stores and everything else you do.
According to FieldStack founder and CEO Brett Wickard, there are a handful of ways a strong eCommerce strategy can improve those relationships, but the most important piece is clear: personalization.
“One thing we know in retail is that personalization drives connection,” Brett said. “The more personalized the experience — whether it’s digital or physical — the deeper the relationship a customer feels with your brand.”
In practice, that means connecting all of your systems and data so that your customer actually feels known.
When your eCommerce site, your point-of-sale, and your mobile app all talk to each other, you’re able to personalize the experience in a real way — not just by slapping someone’s first name on an email, but by understanding what they’ve browsed, what they’ve bought, and what might help them next.
“When those systems don’t connect, it breaks the experience,” Brett said. “If I shop in your store and then go online and it’s like I’m a stranger? That doesn’t feel good. You lose that feeling of, ‘this retailer gets me.’”
Brett pointed to a recent example in the pet retail world, where a power outage caused problems for customers placing online orders during a storm. Orders were placed through an integrated third-party company, but when the delivery driver showed up at the store, they couldn’t fulfill the order because the store’s system was down.
“You can just imagine how frustrating that is,” Brett said. “Now the customer’s wondering — next time there’s a storm, will it happen again? Can I trust this retailer?”
It’s the kind of moment that turns into a lasting impression. When the digital experience falls short, people don’t just remember the glitch — they start to question whether they can rely on you next time.
On the flip side, when everything works — when it’s smooth, consistent, and personal — that trust gets stronger.
To Brett, authenticity matters just as much as technology. Personalization doesn’t mean stalking your customers around the internet or guessing what they want. It means showing that you actually know them — because you’ve built systems that let you do that in a way that respects their time and preferences.
“It’s about genuinely personalizing the experience in an authentic way,” he said.
And it’s not something you can fake. Shoppers know when they’re being treated like a number. A thoughtful recommendation, an easy reorder experience, or even just remembering what they bought last time — those are the small, connected moments that make people come back.
Follow the FieldStack blog for weekly thoughts on smarter retail, unified commerce, and building customer loyalty that lasts.