Virtual Trade EventA case study of Abra and turbo-charged sales

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Abra Virtual Trade Event – Case Study

The Problem

With the massive growth in digital in the Wholesale Sector fewer retailers are visiting bricks and mortar depots.

This means that wholesalers and brands are finding it harder and harder to communicate with retailers through traditional channels of POS and in-depot promotions.

Abra were therefore looking for a way to overcome this barrier, as well as encourage usage of their new app and communicate remotely with this increasingly important audience.

if people don’t visit depots to see it!

can’t workPOS

Abra Virtual Trade Event – Case Study

Once downloads of the app were maximised, a series of push notifications were sent out to customers telling them about the Virtual Trade event and allowing them to preview offers from brands such as Gordon’s Gin, Coca-Cola, Huggies, Walkers, Surf and Heinz.

During the day of the Virtual Trade event a number of push notifications were sent to highlight the fact that orders needed to be completed that day. By telling people how many hours were left of the event we created a sense of urgency and drove up participation.

The Solution

The idea for the industry’s first ever Virtual Trade event was born. Abra turned to their mobile strategy partner RNF who had recently built their ordering app. RNF have their own bespoke wholesale mobile customer engagement platform BEAM which is fully integrated with the ordering app. The platform enables wholesalers to communicate with their app users through push notifications and in-app advertising in a highly targeted and relevant way.

The first part of this campaign was about driving up as many downloads of the app as possible. This was done through a simple text message sent out to the entire Abra customer-base encouraging people to download the app with the promise of exclusive deals at the Virtual Trade Event.

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Brands could either take an ad within the

app or just have a promotional

listing

Abra Virtual Trade Event – Results

Incredible Power

Rob Mannion, RNF Managing Director said, “It’s great to be involved with an industry first like this and to be able to demonstrate to the UK wholesale sector the incredible power of mobile marketing campaigns. Not only are apps allowing wholesalers to offer their customers a true choice in how they do business with them, they are also opening up significant opportunities to engage with their customers in a personalised and relevant way”.

David Gilroy, who works with both businesses and came up with the initial concept said, “We all know that wholesale is about relationship building. RNF’s Beam technology brings relationships right up to date through digital engagement. This is an effective, exciting and practical application of mobile marketing”.

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443%Active app users

increase

217%Daily number of orders

increase

96%Transactions

increase versus daily average

50%of orders came from new users

58%Transactions

increase versus weekly average

47%Basket size

increase versus previous month

Craig O’Connor, Abra’s Managing Director said, “Our app is a key component of our growth strategy. We are just at the beginning of the journey of discovery and the opportunities for both Abra and our suppliers are limitless. We intend to use the technology to drive sales across a the whole spectrum of ranges going forward”.