Holiday results: finishing strong in the final stretch

December 20, 2012 by Leave a Comment

With Christmas just days away, data from the MarketLive Performance Index shows continued gains compared with last year’s results. As shoppers rushed to complete purchases for on-time delivery, performance across the board rebounded: whereas for the prior week conversion lagged the same time period in 2011, for December 10 – December 16 conversion was higher by more than 25%, engagement was up more than 6% and even cart abandonment dipped slightly — signalling that merchants are successfully executing sophisticated strategies.

Bolstered by the week’s strong performance, the overall numbers for the season continue to show marked gains. Both revenue and traffic are up more than 27%, while conversion is up more than 8% and engagement is up 3%. Meanwhile, the cart abandonment rate has now risen less than 0.5%, indicating that merchants have stemmed the tide of lost sales by successfully convincing shoppers to complete purchases. And average order value has dipped by less than a percent, suggesting merchants have avoided resorting to bargain-basement pricing as a lure.

Holiday data from the MarketLive Performance Index

Now that the holidays are entering the home stretch, merchants must make transition messaging from pre-holiday gift-buying to post-holiday promotions. While steep discounts typically lure shoppers to return to stores after Christmas, merchants should also message:

Self-gifting. With 74% of consumers planning to make non-gift purchases for themselves or their families, according to the MarketLive Consumer Shopping Survey, merchants should put the spotlight on indulgences for shoppers to buy themselves. Last year, glassware maker Simon Pearce urged shoppers to treat themselves with New Year’s-themed creative showcasing sought-after items and a flat-rate shipping offer.

simonpearce_treatyourself



Stocking up. To offset steep discounts and keep average order sizes high, merchants should urge shoppers to buy multiples of popular items and replenishment products. Apparel company Eddie Bauer last year offered a “stock up event” featuring low prices on essentials such as T-shirts and jeans.

eddiebauer_stockup

Accessorizing gifts. Merchants should showcase items that complement popular gifts to encourage shoppers to further outfit themselves and maximize the enjoyment of what they received. Last year, Wayfair promoted “gifts for your gifts” in an email featuring items such as tablet covers and TV stands. The message promised to help make “holiday gifts feel at home.”

wayfair_gifts4gifts

What creative messaging are you planning to boost post-Christmas sales?

Filed under Client Innovations, Seasonal Selling Tagged with 2012 Holidays, MarketLive Performance Index

Using holiday content to build brand value

December 18, 2012 by Leave a Comment

As we’ve reported for the past three weeks, results from the holiday season so far give merchants cause to be optimistic, with double-digit growth in revenue. Even better, success isn’t limited to national brands and mega-merchants; small and mid-sized retailers are holding their own, thanks to well-orchestrated campaigns and communications.

One strategy we’re highlighting as a means of competing with Amazon and other big brands is to communicate value — a concept that goes beyond prices to include service, brand reputation and uniqueness of products. Value topped the list of product and price factors that influence purchases, according to October’s MarketLive Consumer Shopping Survey, with 87% of survey participants saying it’s important — just ahead of product price alone, which 85% of participants said was a priority.

Now that the season is underway, merchants are successfully communicating value — and one key way they’re doing so is through the use of custom-created content. Specifically, this holiday season merchants are using content to:

Underscore the uniqueness of product offerings. In addition to providing comprehensive content on function, fit and usage, merchants are creating product stories to showcase unique attributes such as one-of-a-kind materials and craftsmanship. MarketLive merchant Cost Plus World Market showcases a section called “Global Holiday Treats & Traditions” that explains the history behind favorite holiday foods, such as the tidbit that fruitcake was once “outlawed throughout Europe for being ‘sinfully rich.’” (Who knew?) Links to related products beneath the descriptions make the connection from content to commerce.

Holiday example from World Market

Help shoppers find gifts attuned to their lifestyle. Buying guides authored by brand experts are nothing new, but this year merchants are going beyond the standard offerings of “shop by price” and “shop by recipient” to offer increasingly targeted and selective gift suggestions. These collections are part look book, part buying guide, and are often curated by an authoritative, and opinionated, personality. Outdoor merchant Moosejaw features a gift guide for “the eclectic and outdoorsy girl” on its blog, featuring picks from a staffer named Margo. The seven items are presented in a magazine-style layout, with callouts such as “love the faux fur and tribal pattern.”

Holiday example from Moosejaw

Promote stellar service. Brands that offer personalized, responsive customer service stand out from the pack — and for the holidays, savvy merchants are showcasing service-oriented content alongside products and promotions. In addition to must-have information about shipping cutoff dates and return policies, merchants are promoting services such as gift wrap and personal shoppers. Apparel merchant J. Crew is promoting its “very personal stylist” service as part of its holiday gift guide, letting shoppers know free round-the-clock consultations are available via email and phone as well as in stores.

Holiday example from J. Crew

For more content ideas to implement now and in 2013, our content webinar from earlier this year and download the related whitepaper. What content are you featuring this holiday season?

Filed under Client Innovations, Seasonal Selling Tagged with 2012 Holidays, Content

Holiday results update: enticing researchers to buy now

December 13, 2012 by 1 Comment

The final countdown is on for the 2012 holiday season, and our weekly snapshot from the MarketLive Performance Index shows that merchants have much reason to rejoice. By and large, key performance metrics such as conversion and average order size are holding steady, allowing merchants to capitalize on increased traffic to win double-digit revenue gains both for the week and the season as a whole.

Comparing last week to the same time period in 2011, merchants saw traffic increase by more than 25% and revenues jump nearly 14%, with average order size remaining steady. For the season to date, top-line performance is even stronger, with both visits and revenue seeing gains of more than 27%.

Key performance indicators have slipped slightly as shopping research has intensified and shoppers began completing purchases offline to ensure gifts are in hand on time. This week, conversion and engagement both dipped, although season-to-date performance is still up compared with last year. For the second week in a row, cart abandonment rose — by 2.2% last week and 1.8% this week — nudging average cart abandonment for the season higher than last year’s rate by 0.7%.

Holiday data from the MarketLive Performance Index

While the results are rosy indeed, merchants could realize even stronger gains by capitalizing on increased traffic more effectively to drive higher conversion and staunch abandonment rates. Indeed, the most successful merchants are successfully negotiating the end-of-season frenzy by:

Stepping up messaging about delivery options. As discussed in our post on Free Shipping Day, cutoff dates for holiday delivery should be prominently highlighted across touchpoints. But beyond that, merchants should communicate other methods for shoppers who complete purchases online to receive their gifts in time. Key services and options to promote include:

  • Fast shipping. Consider offering a free shipping upgrade or even free expedited shipping to help reassure shoppers that gifts will arrive on time.
  • In-store pickup services. Merchants with physical locations who can offer the ability to buy online and receive merchandise in-store should not only promote availability of the service in general, but highlight specifically how short the timeframe is between order and pickup. Sears offers same-day in-store pickup of items ordered online — a service promoted in a global banner, in promotional slots on category pages and on product pages, where shoppers can view in-store in-stock status for multiple locations.

Holiday example from Sears

Putting the emphasis on scarcity. Merchants who highlight exclusive products or limited-edition items, and who flag unique gifts that are going fast, give shoppers an incentive to complete purchases immediately rather than continuing to click around the Internet doing research. To step up the urgency, merchants should:

  • Put unique items front and center. Merchants should highlight exclusives in email, social and paid search campaigns, and let shoppers sort and filter on-site search results to focus on items not found anywhere else. Helzberg Diamonds uses email to promote the exclusivity of its “limited edition” line by touting the small number of items produced and the unique packaging, which includes a certificate of authenticity.
  • Holiday example from HelzbergUse in-stock status to promote urgency. On the product page, rather than simply communicating whether an item is in stock, merchants can make transparent quickly-dwindling inventories of hot items by letting shoppers know exactly how many remain once the number drops below a certain point. Merchants can even create a sense of further scarcity by limiting the number of purchases per customer, as Toys R Us does with this item from its “Hot Toys” list, which is additionally flagged with a banner letting shoppers know it’s an exclusive.

Holiday example from Toys R Us

How are you encouraging holiday shoppers to move from research to purchase?

Filed under Acquire, Convert & Retain, Client Innovations, Seasonal Selling Tagged with 2012 Holidays, MarketLive Performance Index

Free Shipping Day last-minute tips: Navigating the discount merchants love to hate

December 10, 2012 by 3 Comments

The peak holiday season is underway, and merchants are rapidly approaching the finish line for 2012. With holiday purchasing going full throttle, the approach of Free Shipping Day on Dec. 17 is likely to cause anxiety as well as anticipation.

There’s no doubt that for shoppers, free shipping offers are the brass ring of holiday promotions. According to the 2012 MarketLive Consumer Shopping Survey, free shipping with no conditions is the discount most likely to spur purchasing, with 85% of shoppers saying they’d be likely to take advantage of such a promotion. Last year, Free Shipping Day generated more than $1 billion in sales, more than Black Friday, according to measurement firm comScore.

For merchants, of course, free shipping is another story altogether. While a free shipping offer can boost overall orders, margins suffer — and especially this late in the season, there’s a risk that delivery issues will prevent gifts from arriving on time, causing customer dissatisfaction. To successfully negotiate the potential pitfalls and score sales wins on Free Shipping Day, merchants need to promote what discount they offer widely, while at the same time clearly communicating deadlines and limitations. Consider incorporating the following tactics into your strategy:

Go deep and wide to promote your free shipping offer. Merchants should make the most of the free shipping offer they’ve devised by prominently promoting it throughout the brand experience. That includes:

  • Signing up on the official Free Shipping Day Web site, freeshippingday.com.
  • Highlighting the offer throughout the eCommerce store. Merchants should not only promote free shipping on the home page, but also
    • on individual product pages. Help nudge shoppers toward the add-to-cart by listing free shipping offers prominently on the product page. If there’s a threshold, indicate whether individual items qualify on their own, as Moosejaw does on its product pages. Not only does the global header state the site’s policy of free shipping on orders over $49, but the message is reinforced on the product page by flagging qualifying items, such as this child carrier, with the note “Free shipping on this item.”
    • Shipping example from Moosejaw
    • in the drop-down global shopping cart. If merchants employ a global cart that displays the contents, add a flag letting shoppers know a free shipping offer is in effect, and what the threshold is, if any, so they can be sure to qualify. Lifestyle merchant Gaiam’s global cart highlights the site’s free shipping offer, including a link to detailed information that includes delivery method and the offer end date.
    • Shipping example from Gaiam
    • on the main shopping cart page. If possible, merchants should help shoppers do the math and calculate how much more merchandise they need to add to qualify for any threshold.
  • Sending the offer to email subscribers. Let them know free shipping is available and, if there’s a threshold, highlight items that qualify. Be sure to message the expiration date on the offer prominently to create a sense of urgency, as Beauty.com does in this promotion from last year. Not only is the offer flagged as being available “today only”, but the message text restates the deadline of 11:59 p.m.
  • Shipping example from beauty.com
  • Sharing the offer socially. Let brand followers know about the free shipping offer and include links to qualifying items or categories.
  • Flagging the discount for mobile shoppers. Highlight the free shipping alert on mobile devices with a prominent display on the mobile Web site, as beauty merchant H2O Plus does on its mobile home page.
  • Shipping example from H2O Plus

 

Step up visibility of delivery timelines and deadlines. With the holiday countdown clock ticking, merchants should use Free Shipping Day as an opportunity to let shoppers know now is the time to commit to their final gift purchases. If they aren’t already, delivery deadlines should now be accessible from everywhere the free shipping offer is promoted. In particular, consider:

  • A global element on the eCommerce site. Use the global header and/or footer to communicate shipping deadlines and link to detailed delivery information to ensure that shoppers can access the information from everywhere on the site. Last year, the Gap included a reminder to order by December 20 in its global header alongside its free shipping offer.
  • Shipping example from gap.com
  • A reminder in the eCommerce shopping cart. Reinforce delivery timelines in the cart by spelling them out explicitly. The Sharper Image includes estimated delivery dates alongside each shipping method’s cost, helping shoppers select the timeframe that meets their needs.
  • Holiday example from The Sharper ImageTimelines in email marketing. Add to the sense of urgency of the Free Shipping Day offer by displaying shipping cutoff dates as part of the marketing message, as Garden Botanika did last year by headlining its offer “Last Day”.
  • Holiday example from Garden Botanika

Reassuring shoppers with trust-building elements. In addition to clearly communicating delivery timelines, merchants should message reliability throughout the shopping experience to let shoppers know their Free Shipping Day order will be in good hands. Consider boosting the visibility of customer service contact information and product guarantees:

  • In the cart on the eCommerce site. Help shoppers at this crucial juncture on the path to purchase by messaging reliable delivery and easy access to customer service, as ThinkGeek does with a banner headlined “Ordering from ThinkGeek is safe and awesome.” The message stresses “secure shopping, fast shipping and super friendly customer service” and the accompanying display includes third-party certification badges as well as information about payment methods accepted.
  • Holiday example from ThinkGeek
  • On social outposts. Convince brand followers to take advantage of Free Shipping Day offers by stepping up customer service messaging and highlighting it prominently, as Land’s End does on its Facebook page. The summary information about the brand includes its trademark product guarantee and 800 customer service number, while a prominent link to customer service information leads to a page outlining further details about the product guarantee and messaging 24/7 support, free returns and other crucial holiday information.
  • Holiday example from Lands' End

Are you participating in Free Shipping Day? What offers will you promote?

Filed under Connected Commerce, Seasonal Selling Tagged with 2012 Holidays, Shipping

Holiday results update: spending continues apace

December 7, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Like most merchants, we’re tracking holiday performance closely, and so far, the data continues to show strong growth. As the season heads into its frenzied final weeks, merchants in the MarketLive Performance Index have earned double-digit revenue gains for this week and the season as a whole.

Year-over-year weekly results show revenue up 18.9%,while visits soared by almost 26%. Conversion and engagement slipped by less a percentage point, while average order size increased nominally. Cart abandonment crept upwards by 2.2% as shoppers intensify gift-buying research, leaving behind items in the cart as they hop from site to site.

Combined results for first two weeks of the holiday season show even stronger gains. Total revenue is up almost 38% compared with 2011, driving by an increase in conversion rates of 4.8% and engagement rates of 4.5%.

Holiday data from the MarketLive Performance Index

As the final week begins before on-time delivery options begin to narrow, merchants are pulling out all the stops to offer shoppers an array of gifting options. As we reported earlier, it’s not just the mega-merchants offering bargain-basement prices who are seeing gains; brands that communicate value are winning big with promotions of unique products and stellar service as well as attractive pricing.

When merchants do offer discounts, they should make the most of them by communicating them consistently along the path to purchase — not just at checkout. This tactic not only motivates shoppers to buy, but it takes the guesswork out of price calculations as they add items to the cart.

eBags offers a “Happy Hour” promotion of 30% off and free shipping over a threshold to email subscribers. The offer expires at 11 p.m., roughly 14 hours after it was sent — giving shoppers ample incentive to shop and purchase immediately, tapping into the “daily deal” mentality, and helping eBags avoid the sinkhole of offering constant and ever-deeper discounts.

Holiday example from eBags

Once email recipients click on the promotion, the deal is reinforced throughout the eCommerce site with a global banner which dynamically displays the offer (as opposed to non-subscribers, who see a lower discount offer).

Holiday example from eBags

On the product page, the price has been dynamically calculated to include the discount, which is called out in the text above the “Add to Cart” button. The item qualifies for the free shipping discount, which is also flagged prominently.Holiday example from eBags

Finally, in the shopping cart, the discount is again displayed and the “final price” is highlighted.

Holiday example from eBags

How are you making the most of holiday discounts?

Filed under Acquire, Convert & Retain, Seasonal Selling Tagged with 2012 Holidays, MarketLive Performance Index

WordPress SEO fine-tune by Meta SEO Pack from Poradnik Webmastera