With Christmas only weeks away the clock is ticking for retailers vying for a spot under the tree. Just as kids are sent into a frenzy of presents, and adults into a frenzy of too much ham and Champagne, retailers selling clothing, appliances, accessories (optimal gifts) are in a frenzy during this limited period to reach consumers, drive awareness, consideration and purchase.
In fact, a third of Aussies don’t even start thinking about gift shopping prior to December – making that timeframe even tighter.
If retailers are to truly capitalise on this December madness then they must focus on what I term ‘actuality’; that is buyers or doers not dreamers or browsers.
In the world of digital marketing, achieving actuality is not clear cut.
Firstly, the technology used to understand consumer behaviour online has historically been built on early indicators of intent, such as clicks or page visits. To go beyond browser metrics and reach buyers can be tricky. In fact, it’s pretty grey, advertisers are demanding quality and transparency for their dollars spent. I liken this to what’s happening in the ethical foods business where consumers are demanding quality and transparency in terms of where their food comes from. Have you noticed how everything these days seems to be ‘free range’, or ‘ethically sourced’. How do you really know it’s free-range? Ecoeggs ‘Chook Cam’ is a great example of this. You can literally manoeuvre the camera around their chook pen, satisfying yourself that the chooks are truly free-range. A simple idea that adds trust to the buyer’s decision-making process and cuts through the noise. Just like ‘Chook-Cam, there should be an expectation from retailers this Christmas that their digital marketing is being informed by facts, not guesswork. That is, actual purchase behaviour, either online or with a credit or debit card payment. If you’re not on board with this type of targeting or measurement yet it’s readily available and can be applied to almost all ad formats, even your out of home ads.
With this in mind we looked at one of the top three Christmas purchase areas; fashion.
More than 50% of shoppers consider clothing, apparel and accessories for their friends and family at Christmas time.
Of those purchases, shoes, jewellery and accessories were most prominent. Basically anything that has a standardised measurement and doesn’t require trying on. By contrast, females are much more comfortable transacting online in fashion, buying a range of products across this category. Coming back to the males though; as a fashion retailer they make up a potential 40% of your digital budget yet with minimal returns, at least those that can be measured via a website or app. By comparing the behaviour of browsers to buyers* we were able to uncover some quick wins. The first fact we observed was that males aged 25-64 comprise over 40% of browsers but less than 10% of buyers recorded where an email purchase receipt was received.
So what are the options?
If you are an e-commerce retailer you will no doubt be looking at simplifying the path to conversion and introducing more tactile ways of experiencing the product with flexible payment options (‘Afterpay’ for example) and guaranteeing express delivery to ensure gifts are received on time for the big day.
Bricks and mortar retailers have other options, leveraging offline data partners to look at sales made in-store with a debit, credit or loyalty card and linking online ad engagement to in-store sales. It’s important to note that 51% of Aussies still prefer in-store browsing when planning their Christmas purchases. 37% of respondents indicated they spend less when shopping for Christmas gifts online. It can also be difficult to buy fashion products as gifts, particularly when sizing is variable.
This behaviour is not unexpected. Adding to this, retailers are keenly aware of the value of ‘Neo-Millennials’, considered those aged between 14-17. As a buying group they are 85% more likely to shop online according to Roy Morgan’s recent Supermarket Survival Survey’, and are happy to do so across multiple categories including grocery.Short of all this, you may choose to reduce the online budget weighting on demographics that aren’t converting, in terms of fashion this would be males ages 25-64. This is risky (and the least preferred option in my opinion) as the impact on sales will not become apparent until after Christmas. Overall though men generally do not like to buy their fashion online. Males aged 18-24 are the only male demographic group who feel comfortable transacting regularly online in the fashion category and make up a large part of this buyer audience.
Bringing all this together there are a few ways retailers can better utilise the data at hand to improve performance this Christmas.
Firstly, using past purchase behaviour as a guide, e-commerce retailers can focus entirely on buyers not browsers. As an online store you own the entire value chain.
Secondly, for bricks and mortar it’s time to lock in your measurement plan linking your online ad expenditure to an in-store sale, or visit. This is now much easier than it used to be, with a lower cost of entry due to increased number of loyalty/transaction data monetisation companies in market.
Finally, consider if it is worth removing some demographics altogether from your online targeting strategy. For some demographics, such as males aged over 34, it is all about the in-store experience, and rarely will they make an exception. So attracting them in-store via online ads is key.
So there you go – give yourself and your business the gift of buyers, not dreamers, this Christmas. And if all else fails, go back for another serving of ham.
By Yahoo7 and Yahoo Platforms NZ head of data and targeting, Dan Richardson