The Trends and Roadblocks in Retail e-commerce: A Recap of the 2012 etail West Conference by Mogreet

Transcription

1 The Trends and Roadblocks in Retail e-commerce: A Recap of the 2012 etail West Conference by Mogreet Each year, as technology and consumer adoption continues to evolve, retailer e- commerce teams are facing new challenges. By 2012, CMOs will spend more money on technology than CIOs. This year the nation s leading multi-channel and online conference, etail covered a wide range of e-commerce related topics and challenges facing today s retailers. The event showcased five core themes: 1. Are you mobile ready? - Massive impact mobile will have on retail in the next 3 years. 2. Optimize your website for mobile, yesterday! - Mobile landing pages 3. Diversify the campaign - Multichannel integration 4. Think before you leap - Social media: strategies before tactics 5. Every customer is unique - Personalize customer experiences through optimized content Are you mobile ready? In 3 years, it will not be technology leading the retailer to mobile marketing, it will be the consumer. This powerful statement from Mickey Khan, editor in chief of Mobile Marketer gave etail attendees pause. And it should. Eventually the first interaction with a brand will be through mobile. What experience are today s retailers providing there? There are 2 billion people online today, and 8 billion connected devices. By the end of the decade, forecasters estimate 8 billion hand held devices will be in use. Considering the mobile phone is the primary POS research tool, and that mobile consumers have different needs, marketers need to design a strategy to meet consumers where they play, and the mobile phone is the playground. It is key to note that mobile messaging means being sensitive to the consumer. By providing customers with content of value, brands gain customer trust. Customer trust is critical for establishing a long-term relationship between company and customer. For maximum success, companies need to create targeted mobile content and distribution strategies for reaching specific audiences. So who is using mobile marketing? Walmart has millions on their mobile mailing list, Victoria Secret, Charlotte Russe, Steve Madden, Dominos and Armani to just name a few. Want to see how it works? Text ETAIL to Standard msg&data rates may apply.

2 Should my company focus on tablet or mobile phone marketing? Both! etail saw its share of discussions surrounding mobile phones vs. tablets. The truth is, marketers should be creating landing pages for both. The mobile phone is the first device used in the morning, tablet usage is strongest at night and the usage rates are skyrocketing. Optimizing your content and the experience for both device types is a must. Shoppers who own both a tablet and a mobile phone spend almost 60% more money online than the average user and are 2x more likely to make a purchase using their mobile device. App usage also differs on phones vs. tablets: 85% of phone users access apps, while only 61% of tablet users access apps on a regular basis. And the driving reason behind mobile purchases? Consumer downtime. Yep, they re bored and browsing your site so every day your site remains not optimized for mobile, the more users and customers you re losing due to a poor user experience.. Additional mobile marketing statistics cited at etail, include: 98% of phones in the US can receive mobile messages 90% of phones in the US can receive MMS (multimedia) messaging By 2015, mobile shopping will account for $163 billion dollars worldwide mcommerce is predicted to reach $30 billion, in fact, PayPal mobile volume grew 500% from 2010 to % of US retail sales are influenced by web research, and much of that research is being done at the point of sale [via mobile] 63% of mobile phone users would give up chocolate over their mobile phone 40% of all retailer s are being read on mobile devices 60% of tablet owners browse online shops with their tablet, 47% buy 60% of mobile phone owners browse with their phones, 29% buy Start thinking mobile today: To be prepared for this huge shift in consumer behavior, discover what your customers want by using internal data and customer feedback. Use that information to craft your mobile program and begin growing your mobile database as soon as possible. And don t forget to measure your efforts! Implement, measure, repeat. Although ROI in mobile tactics is a not a standard set of numbers, some metrics that can be used including site traffic, purchases, open rates, and subscriber database growth. Establishing mobile landing pages How does a company establish a mobile program? First step: a mobile landing page! Why? A mobile optimized site is more effective in longer page visits, which lead to more purchases or desired actions via e-commerce than an app. It must come first before any mobile programs are implemented.

3 With 41% of purchasers citing bad mobile purchasing experiences, it is clear that mobile shoppers have high expectations for mobile retail experiences. The critical metric for mobile shopping is speed. The average mobile landing page takes 7-9 second to load, the average desktop page takes 3. If a mobile user is browsing a site that hasn t been optimized for mobile, the user or customer has to zoom in and out to find the navigation and page they were looking for. Retailers must reduce this friction to drive purchases in the moment of impulse - cut back the number of clicks to purchase to three. Top tips for a strong mobile website: Understand your mobile customer s journey and intention Create a consistent, relevant and targeted cross-buying experience to fully engage the customer Design for the five minute experience Tailor the user experience to the device being used (handset optimization) Mirrored online interface to provide a consistency for your consumer Implement advanced share tools such as Facebook/G+ comment box, tweet, and moshare to allow the customer to evangelize your brand Hyper-personalize each shopper s experience Simplify checkout, create accounts with easy checkout and use market basket analysis to recommend items based on their past purchases or recent items viewed Keep it simple for the consumer Keep as much information above the fold (space on the site before you have to scroll) as possible Consider HTML5 as it provides a richer consumer experience, Flash players pose a barrier on ios devices A/B test everything Multichannel Integration One of the top themes that emerged at etail each day was the need for retailers to implement multichannel integration. Speaker after speaker presented case studies showing how a more integrated approach drove higher sales, better customer experience and the foundation for customer loyalty. With customer personalization becoming the norm, retailers are looking at multi-channel integrations to create custom experiences for each customer based on previous interactions in-store, online and in social media. Cross channel customization requires data collection includes everything from the first click to matching multi-channel purchases, acquiring address and mobile numbers, and multi-device cookies. Utilizing commerce APIs allow brands to extend reach into new platforms and consumer touch points. Socializing each shopping experience has shown to be a great tool as well. Give your items a share to Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or moshare button to let your customers easily send and share the product to their friends and family members.

4 Keep in mind, customers ultimately do not care about the channel they re on, they only care about the retail experience they get through each channel. Using Big Data Most companies are still struggling with how to use big data to drive customer personalization. In fact, it is the number one discussion topic in Silicon Valley right now. Why? Because there is a huge amount of private AND public brand and user generated content being created and shared out across the web. How are brands going to collect and use this information to provide the ultimate customer? Big data challenges for brands include storage, usage, analytics and reporting. It is important to note that customers are more nervous than ever about privacy. Before you start gathering data, be sure you are transparent about it. Let customers know how they will benefit from your data collection through personalized content. Remember, customer trust is critical. Social Media Activation or Engagement Social Media is simply a tool brands use to interact with customers. As such, the number one requirement is to make sure your social program is customized for that experience and the consumer s needs, not just a recreation of another platform. Retailers are still struggling to see how Social Media affects e-commerce. Platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Pinterest and Fancy allow consumers to discover, buy and share products. But how does a brand maximize their presences, cutting through the clutter of social content? The first rule is to start listening to what is being said about your brand. If you can identify your consumer s pain point, you can begin to make the changes needed to reduce the barrier to purchase. If TOMS shoes sees a customer comment about a damaged shoe on their Facebook page, their community manager immediately responds with information on how they can get this issue resolved. This action and visibility does wonders for a retailer s reputation and customers confidence in repurchasing. The last few years, social media has been about trying a variety of tactics with high price tags and low results, including F-commerce, buying likes, haphazardly placing QR codes, online discounts and coupons. To truly be successful in social in 2012, one must think strategically, listen to the customer and build a personalized social experience and social offering that drives into additional programs and platforms.

5 This was a terrific show with some strong predictions on e-commerce trends, especially mobile marketing. We look forward to seeing how brands react to the advice provided at this show! For additional notes or information about etail, please contact Serena Ehrlich, director of marketing at serena.ehrlich@mogreet.com About Mogreet Mogreet is the leading provider of mobile marketing solutions for the retail industry worki ng with such brands as Bloomingdale s, Gymboree, Steve Madden, Vans and Charlotte Russe. Using Mogreet s proprietary technology platform, top retailers build loyal mobile subscriber databases, driving higher retention, increased purchasing and stronger loyalty among target audiences using MMS, SMS, mobile video, coupons and QR codes. Founded in 2006, Mogreet is the only mobile marketing provider featuring exclusive, award-winning social media integration with Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. Mogreet also works with leading companies in a wide range of industries including entertainment, media, consumer products, QSR, and real estate.