Masha Sajdeh of Arc Worldwide presented a great piece of brand new multichannel research at the In-Store Marketing Expo that took place here in Chicago last week. This studies methodology and sample was a solid:
- 3 countries
- 5,609 respondents
- 60 minute online survey
- 20 categories of products examined
- 10 unique channels probed
The entire Arc multichannel study is worth a careful read, but due to it’s length (57 pages) we’ll only examine a few portions that pertain to better understand which channel different types of multichannel shoppers are using and why.
For those not familuar with the concept of what multichannel shopping is all about, this is a great visual explanation.
So first let’s examine a few of the insights uncovered around how much time different multichannel shoppers spend per channel on a monthly basis. Surprisingly, the circular is the channel that showed the highest usage across all of the different types of mutlichannel shoppers (excluding a retailer’s own web site and store).
Note how the circular across all types of multichannel shoppers plays a critical role in adding the shopping process.
If we take a closer look at just the medium and heavy mutlichannel shoppers, the picture becomes even more stark. A retailer’s own web site and physical store are used heavily and fairly equally by both types. However the usage pattern around circulars is very different with heavy multichannel shoppers (arguable the most desirable and profitable type of shopper) using the circulars 95% of the time, which is higher than the retailer’s own web site. Even the more moderate mutlichannel shoppers are using the circulars at pretty hefty rates of 61%, which when again compared to a retailer’s own web site usage of 69% clearly demonstrates the continued importance of the circular to multichannel shoppers.
Wow, circulars are nearly as used by heavy multichannel shoppers as a retailers own physical stores!
Finally let’s try to get to the bottom of the ‘why’ – in this case, the ‘why’ is what causes these multichannel shoppers to use which channel when. Not surprising, circulars are all about saving money. Catalogs on the other hand are all about providing shoppers with inspiration.
Every single channel has a unique use and value proposition to a multichannel shopper.
The Rimm-Kaufman Group suggests that insights from online circulars and catalogs generalize to effective print circular and catalog presentations in a white paper from 2008. The team here at ShopLocal has been preaching this exact message for years to retailers, so its great to see other great minds agree. This article puts forth five possible benefits, of which I want to focus in on just a few:
By taking the learnings that the online catalog and circulars produce, one can optimize their offline print to generate higher readership and response rates.
- Discover which specific products and offers are generating the most interest and/or response
- Discover which specific pages of one’s circular/catalog are receiving the most interest
So what would that look like in reality? Here is an actual example taken from a Jo-Ann Stores online sales flyer of how these two insights came to life.
This is an image of the front cover of the circular page, as it would have appeared both online and in print.
Here is the same circular front cover, with an heat map overlay being applied to it. With a score of 100 being the index midpoint, one can easily see that some offers are basically ignored while others see tons of interest and action.
This type of analysis is so visual and easy to read, which is how this type of ad design and product assortment data is quickly becoming one of the most requested types of custom analysis the ShopLocal team has been producing lately. With such wild swings in how shoppers ignored some offers (like the one with an index score of 19) and how others shoppers couldn’t get enough of (such as the one with an index score of 408), this information really needs to make it back into the print circular creation teams and processes, so that future print ads can benefit from these real world learnings.
Seasonality is a huge factor in many retail businesses. In hardware & home improvement, spring and summer are the months that really matter the most. So within the combined The Home Depot Weekly Ad AND Guides & Catalogs site a new enhancement was just rolled out that further gives the retailer more control over which content gets displayed initially to a user. In the past, there was only one method available – alphabetical ordering. Now retailers can choose which types of promotional content to display when. So in The Home Depot’s case, instead of “Doors & Windows” promotions always showing up first (as it was first in an A – Z sort order), the default selection can now be set to “Outdoors” so as to better capitalize on the seasonal demand for these types of items. It’s choice and control great?
The Home Depot team can now have non-alphabetical ordering of their promotions. This is to help give the retailer back some controls to promote the right content at the right time in the year.
So back on Oct 31, 2008 I wrote about the beginning of the holiday toy wars that retailers are waging. Here are few more recent shots at the consumer’s wallet in an effort to be first to capitalize on the last few dollars left in the typical debt-burdened US consumer has.
- Wal-Mart – Well the print catalog hit my doorsteps on time, but when it came to trying to find the corresponding online promotion the hunt began. Finally after much searching, I found it. If you are lucky enough to find it, below is what you will end up seeing. No real theme in design or messaging. It really does seem like there is just too much going on there and it results in just a huge wall of clutter and noise. Nothing stands out.
So after a long hunt, I found the single spot on the Walmart.com site that promotes the holiday toy catalog - one click off of the homepage and well below the fold. Not even a graphic. Just a small text link
A rather bland and non-thematic online catalog landing page is what visitors have to look forward to if they can actual find this site
- Target - So everything you would expect. Well designed and integrated campaign firing on all cylinders. It started with a well timed print drop of their Holiday Toy catalog to a ton of homes. The same day Target.com was loaded with strategically placed and very visible spots promoting this key holiday sales driver including their home page (www.target.com) In addition, the online version of this catalog is highly integrated into the useful TargetLists tool as well as a local inventory check called ‘Find It A Target Store’.
Large homepage placement within the flash driven content area promoting the Holiday Toy catalog
Nice matching interactive (online) catalog that offers those folks not lucky enough to get one mailed to their house to still experience and share in the great toy deals
So the zero-sum race for the consumer (toy) dollars has begun. The first three retailers (specific to the toy market segment) out of the gate this year are…
1. Toys “R” Us – Great example of a well coordinated multi-channel campaign supporting the launch of their Toy Book. It included:
A direct mail campaign with coupons / incentives:
and then a very prominent placement on ToysRUs.com
as well as custom landing page on ToysRUs.com as well
topped of with a great micro-site experience that brought the toy catalog to life
2. Kmart – A much more shallow start so far that does not promote the Toy Store catalog very much. After some digging, I was able to actual find the promotional book
3. Sears – Finally it looks like both halves of Sears Holdings are deploying a similar toy promotion strategy to get into market early but to keep the promotion around these catalogs down to a minimum as a sort of soft launch strategy. Sears has launched both the Wish Book Toys as well as the more adult orientated Holiday Wish Book
Almost as interesting as whom is live with their toy promotions already is whom is NOT live yet. Absently noteworthy are the number 1 and number 2 players in this space: Wal-Mart and Target.
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