Wearable technology trends and the future of digital selling
Until what seems like very recently, wearable technology has remained on the fringes of consumer consciousness, with most people unsure what to make of it. 'What’s the point in moving the user interface two inches from my pocket to my wrist?' people rightly ask. 'But I’m terrible at multitasking, those glasses will just be another distraction…' Although wearables still have yet to gain widespread popularity, interest is stirring and 2015 may just be the year it turns a corner.
According to a recent report from Juniper Research, wearable advertising spend is estimated to reach just $1.5 million this year, but by 2019 is expected to hit a slightly more impressive $68.7 million. That’s a huge new market, and one that online marketers would do well to embrace.
Source: …
How does email compare to other channels in driving customer acquisition and sales?
We can see the importance of email marketing by using the excellent Custora Ecommerce Pulse - which is updated monthly to show the impact of different channels on sales across $40 billion of US retail transactions from retailers who are clients of Custora. Here are three data points showing the importance of email marketing:
1. How many orders does email drive compared to other media?
In 2015 Email remains one of the top three channels driving sales, not far behind organic and PPC. This position is mainly because of sales to existing customers. The latest data from May 2015 shows that email marketing now accounts for 15% of all sales.
All of the top 3 have fallen a little compared to 2014 as Affiliate prompted sales have grown.
For all of our interest and attention on social media this…
By
19 Jun 2015
The challenges and changes shaping the etailing environment
E-commerce sales growth continues to soar with forecasts projecting even bigger numbers for the future. All seems rosy in the world of online commerce. So why are analysts concluding that 'retailers have their work cut out for them' in the coming years?
According to eMarketer's latest forecasts, worldwide business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce sales will increase by 20.1% this year to reach a whopping $1.5 trillion.
Forrester estimates that US online retail sales alone will total $294 billion by the end of the year, and will grow to $414 billion by 2018. These are some mind-boggling numbers, but then there are powerful forces driving them, and these forces will define the future of retailing .
For instance, rapidly expanding online and mobile user bases in emerging markets are super-charging sales. This year, for the first time, consumers in Asia-Pacific will spend more on e-commerce purchases than those in…
A new in-depth report on consumer retail purchase behaviour
In 1999 Paco Underhill published Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping. The first edition focused on offline or in store consumer retail behaviour. Although it was updated in 2009 to include online retail behaviour, it was still strongest for offline shopping.
This new retail research by Webloyalty and Columnino who specialise in the retail sector compares online and traditional shopping behaviour. We're recommending this in-depth report for retailers since it's a combination of consumer research, secondary research and market forecasting. The consumer research in this report is based on a survey conducted with a UK nationally representative poll of consumers. 2,068 consumers interviewed during January 2015.
How and when do consumers shop?
The report assesses the well-known consumer buying process:
Browsing - Gathering Ideas - Checking Product details & Prices - Leading to buying the product
It compare cross-channel behaviour and use of different devices. According to this research, 87% of…
A recommended wireframe and best practice examples for retail Product Details Pages
In part four of our review of best practices for different types of retail site pages we will cover the Product Details Page (PDP). Of course, the product page template is an essential page in the conversion path and when visits are aggregated across all product pages, this often represents the largest chunk of total views or 'footfall' when viewed in analytics.
Product details pages are accessed both as part of a wider online purchasing journey, for example browsing a category page and then navigating through to specific product, such as campaign or landing pages.
It’s therefore important to understand the different user needs as not everyone who visits a Product page will be ready to buy, so the page also needs to provide as much relevant and useful information as possible.
Sometimes large catalogue retailers use more than one template design because optimisation teams…
Optimising and connecting customer touch points
Marketing expert Dr. Jeffrey Lant, says that in order to penetrate a consumer’s consciousness with your brand, and to make significant penetration in a given market, you have to make contact with the prospect a minimum of seven times. These seven “touch points” don’t have to be dedicated sales outreach, but refer to the different ways consumers interact with your brand: browsing your mobile site, for example is a touch point, as is receiving a flyer or trawling through your social channels.
Although this “Rule of Seven” is not absolute, it gives marketers an idea of the kind of effort and variety it takes to make an impression on a potential customer.
With the dawn of the digital age, the numerous channels and devices available for interaction mean that optimising each consumer touch point is more important than ever. It has…
Holiday marketing planning for retailers
Marketers, we know the struggle. We know that taking into account the holiday seasons are vital to your retail strategy and it's not just having an idea of what you will do, it's having a plan, a system and a course of action. Without these things, you’ll be left in the marketing dust. Timing is everything.
At Fathomdelivers.com, we have created this infographic and content, to give you a framework that you could work to for the year. If you are looking for management buy-in, it can help to have a visual calendar to show your plans - whether it's for a quarter, a six month period of the year ahead and also a great way to show your results if you don't have an analytics dashboard.
Here are some ideas of how we have used it to plan from October - January, for a retailerr.
October - SEO…
It’s Christmas Ad Season – but what emotions are leading brands playing on?
Yep, it’s that time of year again, that time when in true festive style we all become a little child-like, eagerly awaiting this year’s fresh batch of Christmas ads to see what beauties lie in store for us. You know it’s true don’t you? These Christmas themed ads give us a warm, cosy feeling inside, making us feel a whole range of different emotions right across the spectrum… happiness, nostalgia, thankfulness, warmth, protective, loving…..the list goes on.
However, despite watching and experiencing some of the above mentioned emotions, the question that we never stop to consider is simply, why do we react in this way? What, precisely, is it that makes us feel the way we feel when watching these ads, and what is it that makes us want to watch Christmas ads, when we quickly skip over any…
Creating a strategy for integrated in-store digital retail
'Consumers are 'center stage' in their relationships with retailers. The idea that a bricks and mortar store can simply 'pile it high and sell' are increasingly waning. The in-store experience needs to compliment and work with the ecommerce experience by adding a sense of magic and hyper personalization that is so perfect to each individual that it can't be found elsewhere. Retail needs to be the theater!'
Nelson Freitas, Chief Strategy Officer, Wunderman.
Digital technologies inspired new visions for the future of stimulating engagement with retail customers while helping customers move along their purchasing journey. Initially Ecommerce left some retailers scratching their heads on what to do, with many questioning whether the Internet was just a fad. Although the growth of online retail ecommerce sales has been steady, it currently lies at just 8% of all retail sales in the US.…
A 5 step tutorial on using SEMrush and other tools to improve SEO and PPC keyword targeting for online stores
When growing your online store, every bit of knowledge you can get counts. Any mistake, money spent on wrong keywords perhaps or landing pages not delivering what your customers are looking for can cost you a lot. But sometimes that knowledge lies with your competitors. They are the people who potentially have been running their business longer than you. Or at least have already tried various strategies you want to employ now.
By conducting a clever competitive research, you can tap into their experience and discover strategies that are worth considering for further use. A properly conducted competitive research offers great benefits for your online store:
It will help you keep pace with the changing market. Markets change over time. Chances are…
