NEW YORK, Sept. 9, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Summer may be over, but the start of a new school year isn't all bad. There's nothing like the feeling of a fresh start, and with back-to-school spending expected to reach more than $27 billion this year—roughly $519 per student—it's an equally exciting time for retailers. But the smartest ones already have their sights set on the next big buying period. It may seem premature, and maybe even a little inappropriate when stores are decked-out in holiday decor the day after Halloween, but considering 1 in 5 consumers begin their holiday shopping by the end of September, retailers should already be focused on their holiday campaigns—and their digital strategies are no exception.
Although brick-and-mortar stores still play a role in many consumers' paths to purchase, brands have reached a point where digital shopping can't be ignored. If retailers want to compete, they need to align themselves with consumers' changing habits. More than ever, they're moving online, and this is being reflected during key buying periods like the holidays: Worldwide more than 40 percent of consumers prefer to do their holiday shopping online.
To stand out in the digital space, retailers need to provide potential customers with better products, more personal offers, and a seamless shopping experience. During high-stress times like the holidays, or even back-to-school, offering convenience should be an even bigger priority. But retailers don't need to overhaul their ecommerce set-up to accomplish this. With interactive ad platforms like Contobox, they can integrate a few simple features into their digital display ads to bring more personalized offers and a convenient check-out process to consumers, wherever they are. We spoke with Christine Carey, GM, SVP US at Contobox, to learn more about these features and how retailers can use them to support their digital campaigns during the year's biggest buying periods.
How can shoppable ads support retailers' digital campaigns in the coming months.
"People shop online for lots of reasons, but the main driver is convenience—and that's an even bigger factor for stressed-out holiday shoppers, or busy parents getting their kids ready for a new school year. In instances like these, retailers can't afford to wait for consumers to browse their site and leave before retargeting them with the right creative. But our shoppable ads can bring a retailer's offer directly to consumers while they're browsing, conducting research or price-matching online. They allow consumers to learn about a brand, browse through specific products, and immediately add items to their online shopping cart without leaving the page, which makes it possible to engage users at every stage of the funnel and drive them to conversion with a single ad."
"They're like an extension of a retailer's website, and based on the campaign data collected so far, there's real payoff: Consumers are four-to-five times more likely to begin shopping in an ad unit than to click through to a brand's website, which has led to a 33 percent increase in user interactions and a 21 percent increase in time spent. But it's not just big ecommerce retailers that benefit from features like these: Virtually any brand can take advantage of our new add-to-cart functionality through third-party sites like Amazon."
"Of course convenience means little to nothing if you're not offering the right people the right products. When retailers build digital campaigns with Contobox, they can utilize any open-market third-party data or first-party data to target consumers with personalized creative based on their interests. And once clients build interactive ad units that give their audience multiple ways to interact, those brands can capture even more data, which can then be combined with first-party online and offline data based on users' website visits and previous purchases. This can help them identify and rank user interest in specific products, features, pricing or other content, to rule out unengaged users and accidental clicks allowing for more effective retargeting strategies."
"As the holiday season gets closer, particularly in the last couple of weeks, retailers need to ensure the right products are also the available ones. During busy shopping seasons like these, inventory is in constant flux, but that's no excuse. Consumers' expectations are higher than ever and promoting unavailable products definitely won't give users that seamless experience we just discussed."
Is it possible for retailers to keep that kind of information up-to-date in their display campaigns?
"It's possible, given the right technology. Retail clients regularly switch out the products they feature—all they need to do is provide the Contobox team with an updated list of SKUs. Retailers can work with established templates to launch new creative every week, which means they never have to change things mid-flight."
What about all of those last-minute shoppers where shipping is out of the question?
"There are some great solutions for retailers targeting those consumers on the market. Features like Virtual Wallet let users save promos and coupons to their mobile wallets directly from a brand's ad unit, which effectively closes the loop between online ad exposure and in-store purchase for multi-channel shoppers. Retailers can use the data they've collected from shoppable units—which include insights like the average number of items in a user's cart, final basket size, and which items are included—to retarget consumers with special promotions."
"Once users have added the offer to their mobile wallet, retailers can take advantage of time- and location-based notifications to drive them in store. This is essential during the final week before Christmas when there's little to no time left for shipping—especially given how many consumers shop during this period. Virtual Wallet is also really useful for building loyalty strategies, which is definitely something more retailers need to invest in, particularly around the holidays."
Can you expand on why this is so important?
"More than any other time of year, retailers can expect to see new customers during the holidays. In a recent post-holiday poll conducted by Google and IPSOS, nearly 60 percent of shoppers said they were open to buying from new retailers during the holiday season, and nearly half of them did. People tend to be less loyal to brands than they once were, and in high-stress times like these, they're more willing to stray from their favourite retailers if there's a more helpful or convenient offer in front of them."
"With such a huge influx of new customers during this period, retailers are doing a huge disservice to themselves if they're not building loyalty strategies into their campaigns. It's easy to consider conversion the final step, but the real key is keeping consumers coming back. Most retailers know that customer loyalty is a worthwhile investment, but they don't always build strategies to reflect that."
"Research has shown that increasing customer retention rates by 5% can increase profits anywhere from 25 to 95 percent, and retargeting existing customers with special in-store offers—and a simple way to redeem—is particularly beneficial the week after Christmas. People are already in stores returning gifts or expecting to find deals, and their wallets are typically stuffed with gift cards. This makes it the perfect time to re-engage those one-time buyers and turn them into repeat customers."
Contact Contobox™ for more information about Shoppable Ads, Virtual Wallet and interactive ad units.
SOURCE Contobox
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