Online biggest driver of brand engagement for Retail brands

Newsflash: Retail

A recent study from IAB has identified that online ad spend delivers the biggest impact for retail brands within the media mix. Online was seen to drive 40% of brand engagement, whereas Press received 31% and TV 19%.

Another interesting statistic was that the retail brands surveyed spend 2.5% of their marketing budget online, seems pretty low considering these statistics.

See further details on the brand engagement study from the IAB here:

Brand engagement measurements for the store brands reviewed are listed below, the results indicate that store reputation and whether they could associate themselves with the retail brand (Affinity) provided the highest %.

If it is affinity they want (only women surveyed) then it is my opinion that online is place to give it to them, with opportunity to segment, talk in their voice, get them chatting to you (Blogs, Facebook Fan pages etc etc).

I am confident that we will see the brand engagement level for online rise this year, as more retailers turn to the web for their online promotions.

It was only yesterday that I found myself completing an online competition for Primark to win a £200 shopping spree (times are hard!).

Interesting brand engagement measurements and results from the New IAB study on retail brands:

Affinity (24.3%) - whether the store has a good reputation, and is for 'people like me'

Quality (19.3%) - that the store sells well known, high quality brands ·

Fitting one's needs (16.5%) - relating to store convenience, and whether it suits a consumer's particular tastes ·

Presence (14.7%) - a readily available, traditional store, with a national high street presence

With recession looming and purse strings tightening, businesses may want to cut back on marketing spend and for retail sites, this study indicates that online is the way to go especially as you have the ability for tighter targeting and of course have the ability to truly measure the ROI of your marketing efforts.

Ebay Optimisation

Useful Ebay stats

• Ebay was founded in 1995, Ebay UK was launched in 1999.
• Ebay has a global consumer base of 244 million registered users (as at 10/9/07)
• At any given time ebay UK has 3 million items listed and growing.
• Ebay UK is the 2nd most popular site in the UK with 2.51% market share.See: http://www.hitwise.co.uk/datacenter/rankings.php
• The most expensive item sold on eBay to date is a private business jet for $4.9 million.
  

Two strategies for using Ebay

1. Sell products

2. Use as a customer acquisition tool, and sell products at minimal profit, grow customer base.

Making Ebay a customer acquisition tool

Advice is to include a link to the off eBay website in the: “About me” page. You can also place on opt-in form in there to collect people’s e-mail addresses, so you can build relationships with customers and promote products to the customers in the future. The “About Me” page is the most important area, some do’s to use this page properly.

1. Include link to the off ebay website in the ‘About me page’ – and encourage visitors to see other products.
2. Include an opt in form on the page, to encourage sign up add promotion, newsletter, something free.
3. Also in the auction listing encourage people to visit the ‘About me’ page. Possibly ask them to read FAQ – about shipping & delivery.
4.When someone does buy something from ebay, important to get in the habit ofsending out a ‘thank you for your custom/order’, if available invite them to sign up tonewsletter, so that you can then get this customer on the ‘opt in’ list. Important tonever email, without ‘opt in’ as the customer could complain and ebay will close theebay shop.

Make sure you follow the ebay rules:

• Don't include any links to your off-eBay website in your auction listings.
• Don't include any links to your website in your eBay store or custom pages.
• Don't include an opt-in offer in your auction listings or eBay store.
• Don't automatically add your auction customers or visitors to your opt-in list.

Basically the above means don’t try and send people off eBay or collect their information for marketing purposes on your auction listings, your eBay store or any of your customer pages.

How do you take advantage of eBay?

1. Recommended: Selling Manager Pro

Monthly fee – this application will: automatically list and re-list items for you plus:
Inform buyers by auto notification
Let you know when payment has been received
Tell you what items you have shipped
Provide Auto feedback upon buyer payment
Allow the scheduling of items
Offer Reporting
Allows you to Design Professional Listings
Restock alerts

It also allows client to create professional & business like listings which are similar to company website. Mimic the company website for integrated brand communications. Example of company using Ebay as a successful sales and customer acquisition tool:

Ebay shop example - good integration from ebay shop to site

Shop
About us section
Public website

EBay Shop set up – four quick steps via Ebay

1. Build and customise shop (Your online marketing agency can assist with this)
2. Manage listing and sales
3. Promote shop
4. Track shop traffic & sales.

Useful Ebay Firefox Addon