e commerce trends 2015

Ecommerce Trends

By: Chris Middings

Chris Middings

Marketing

Indri.co

Some Recent Observations

How Weather Affects Consumer Behavior

Google Shopping Amazon's Strategies Digital Drive to Retail Retargeting

How Weather Affects Consumer Behavior

How Weather Affects Consumer Behavior

How Weather Affects Consumer Behavior

How Weather Affects Consumer Behavior

Both winters and summers are getting more unpredictable

Larger numbers of people are affected by storms

Weather influences consumer behavior more than ever

More “event level” storms

How Weather Affects Consumer Behavior

Weather impacts the types of products people search for ice scrapers, winter coats, snow day activities sunscreen, air conditioners, umbrellas

Could you improve sales if you included weather in your marketing mix?

How Weather Affects Consumer Behavior

Run promotions on seasonal items: mention the storm as the reason for the promo

Increase bids based on the weather, and follow the weather pattern geographically

How Weather Affects Consumer Behavior

Consider advertising on weather-related sites when the conditions are perfect for demand to peak

Increase in impressions can deplete budgets quickly — be sure you budget enough for the duration of the weather event

How Weather Affects Consumer Behavior

Make Remarketing lists based on weather — crank up exposure when appropriate

After the storm, drive foot traffic back to brick-and-mortar stores and be sure to prominently display any changes in store hours

How Weather Affects Consumer Behavior

Categorize Google Shopping products related to weather and deploy when appropriate

With people stuck in their homes, amplify search and display to tablets and mobile (especially if your stores are closed or unreachable)

How Weather Affects Consumer Behavior

Use a weather-related event to provide tips and promotions on social media Listen for potential consumer touchpoints like

hashtags that might provide more opportunity for engagement

Customer Service – be ready for shipping delays and questions on delivery (especially on social)

Google Shopping

Google Shopping

Why is Google Shopping so successful? Much more visually compelling than a

text ad or organic search result Click-through rates are 130% higher

than non-brand text ads

Google Shopping

Google Shopping

Shopping drives over 50% of non-brand Google paid search clicks Brand terms seem to be on the

horizon

Google has long dreamed of showing ads with no keyword buying

Google Shopping

How should you think about Google Shopping? Think of it as a separate channel

Not really search Not really display Not really a comparison shopping

engine

Google Shopping

How do you win on Google Shopping? Only an algorithm determines

placements Clever product description writers will

win the game Keep a watchful eye on negative

keywords

Google Shopping

Will Shopping become Google’s Marketplace? Competing with Amazon Shopping ads already show on

Walmart.com AdSense for Shopping will expand

their reach to millions more

Google Shopping

Will Google add a “Buy” button to Shopping Ads? Will it add 2-Day Shipping?

Something to think about: “Why can’t I buy a product directly

from an ad without ever leaving the site I’m on?”

Amazon’s Strategies

Amazon's Strategies

Amazon.com sells more than its 12 biggest competitors combined

Amazon's Strategies

80% of online shoppers say free shipping is “very important” to them when making a purchase online 45% said “most important”

68% of e-commerce transactions now receive free shipping

49% of consumers have walked away from a purchase due to shipping costs

Amazon's Strategies

Amazon's Strategies

Cross Selling

Amazon's Strategies

Upselling

Amazon's Strategies

Creating a sense of scarcity

Amazon's Strategies

Creating a sense of urgency

Amazon's Strategies Other consumer thoughts

More Information Makes My Experience Better

Images Matter (and I Want Lots of Them) What Other Customers Say is More

Important than What You Say 77% of consumers read reviews before

purchasing online

Mobile Needs to Work As Well as My Computer Nearly 60 percent of Amazon.com customers

shopped using a mobile device last holiday

Amazon's Strategies

How do you compete? Brand yourself as a specialist Develop exclusive products Provide the kind of experience that supersedes

price Consumers look for authenticity, sustainability,

uniqueness Marketing used to be about creating a myth &

selling it, now it’s about finding a truth & sharing it Amazon doesn’t do anything like that (and never will)

Make precise promises to customers If all else fails, use Amazon’s Marketplace to out-

David Goliath

Digital Drive to Retail

Digital Drive to Retail

94% of retail sales still happen in person

32% of consumers say location-based search ads have led them to visit a store or make a purchase

There’s a direct correlation between someone seeing an online ad and then going into a brick-and-mortar store

Digital Drive to Retail

4 in 5 consumers use search engines to find local information

74% of shoppers want to see how much inventory there is for a product at a nearby store

70% say it’s important to have directions and a call button in ads

18% of local smartphone searches led to a purchase within a day

Digital Drive to Retail

Store-level focused geolocated display advertising

Retargeting ecommerce shoppers who didn’t convert and driving them to their local Retail store

Retargeting

Retargeting

Retargeting — showing ads to people who have visited your website or other online property — is a huge opportunity

88% of marketers use it 56% of those who don’t plan to

Retargeting

Google is at the top of the retargeting ecosystem, with 91.5% of market share

Retargeting

Track products or product categories in separate cookie pools Feature those same products/

categories in ads and on the landing pages

Retargeting

Use Google Shopping to target ads based on products viewed Combining Google Shopping with

Remarketing gives you the best of both worlds

Retargeting

Set Frequency Caps Without setting how often ads will

show to each visitor, you may create a negative view of your brand

Be strategic with how, how often, and when you serve retargeting ads

Retargeting

Retarget to customers differently than prospects Some decide to stop showing

retargeting ads to people who convert But you can still use retargeting to:

Cross-sell Upsell For replenishment of consumable

products To introduce new products to existing

customers

Retargeting

Bid more on shopping cart abandoners Chances are, these visitors are

further down the conversion pipeline

Bid less on visitors who didn’t view products General website visitors might just be

browsing for a vendor, not (yet) picking a product out to buy

Retargeting

Adjust bids based on: Gender Age Parental Status Device Geo Website

You might notice conversion rate differences along any of these variables

Questions?

Chris Middings Email: chris@indri.co Twitter: @cmiddings