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.
Retailers, Brands and Agencies Need Proof
Measurement of ROI proves that PaperBoy (eg localized rich media display ads) and other digital formats that are circular content based are an effective medium for the primary goal of driving in-store sales. While this helps companies save money and increase top-line revenue, it also serves to:
- Develop the right budget for online advertising
- Establish the right marketing mix
- Create a performance baseline for continuous improvement of online advertising
In the past retailers and ShopLocal have turned to the following types of measurement approaches to try and close this elusive “loop” of web influenced offline sales by using:
- 3rd party research
- Web specific coupons
- Surveys
- Registries
- Store label credit cards
- Custom 3rd party studies that IRI, NPD, comScore, Nielsen or other research houses conduct
Matched Market Testing
While there is a place for the above methods, many of them are more sophisticated and costly ways of testing than matched market type tests. Rather matched markets tests are an effective method for an advertiser to understand their ROI and establish a baseline for performance. Matched market testing has been used for decades to measure ROI across many advertising channels. Methods like media mix modeling and panel studies should be considered after establishing an ROI baseline.
It's as easy as three steps to final measure the effectiveness of digital advertising on offline store sales
Making Testing Easy
ShopLocal and PointRoll have teamed up with veterans in the retail measurement space, including Nielsen and NPD, to allow for retailers, brands and agencies to measure PaperBoy and other circular driven digital mediums return on media spend (ROI for short). ShopLocal can guide the process to select test and control markets, configure campaign parameters, execute the tests and measure the results, all in a matter of a few weeks. And here is the best part. What does it cost? Free for all the consulting and study setup service. The only “price” in this equation is the cost of the online media buy, which we all hope will have a positive ROI to your business.
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