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Holiday E-retail: Fueling a Toasty Fire with Lumps of Coal Vol I, Issue VI By Andrea Learned |
| With the U.S. economy in near-recession,
and in the war-poised aftermath of the September 11th terrorist attack,
we might be anticipating an un-merry few months.
As the marketers of products and services that sell big during
the holidays (as a fair number of you readers are), how about focusing
on turning those lumps of coal into a nice warm fire to get us through. According to a February 2001 study by customer service provider PeopleSupport, 63% of those who shop online more than once a week are women. And, according to Greenfield Online Inc., women make the majority of online purchases (they surpassed men in making online purchases for 3 consecutive quarters in 2000/2001. In order to inspire all those online-spending women to purchase from your site, especially at a time when people are re-grouping and consuming less, zero in on some of the less flashy, relationship strengthening things you can do. For example: Consider cause-related marketing - Long-term commitments and more strategic approaches demonstrate an authentic connection of company-to-cause, and will strengthen relationships with women consumers, employees and business partners. If your company isn't already involved in such efforts, you are a little late to keep up with CLIF Bar's longstanding relationship with the Breast Cancer Fund and the NFL For Her "Fight the War Against Breast Cancer" program, but now is the perfect time to begin building such a relationship. Build marketing and merchandising strategies that are ultra-flexible - "...part of the beauty of the web is that it allows retailers to change their marketing strategies immediately in response to what's selling or not selling," wrote Mary Wagner in "A Very Wary Christmas" (Internet Retailer, September 2001). Respond to the signs and the feedback as quickly as possible with better-targeted wares. If you've had a number of inquiries about a certain model of wine-opener, for example, and you don't carry it, you know what to do. You can also prepare for all different types of buying behavior by providing gift certificates for the time-crunched, and gift-wrapping and card extras for the last-minute shopper, among other things. Focus on proven products and relationships - You already know what your big sellers are during any given season, so stick with those, promote them and don't try anything new if you don't have to. Few women will make risky/ultra-trendy purchases this season (so, it wouldn't be a good year for a Pet Rock. De-emphasize costly promotions that get people to your site (such as freebies or major discounts) - It's just not as important to build traffic in times like these. Focus on the proven ways to make solid sales. Enhance your site to ease the search-to-checkout process - Time-saving, solution-oriented tools (offer options like "buy this outfit," or toys categorized by age, etc. - as I mention in my latest ClickZ article about intuitive web site usability) are always important for women in particular, so now's a worthwhile time to make sure you've got your bases covered. And, holiday season or not, the top incentives for online purchasing are:
Online consumers in general, women and men, are becoming much more web savvy. Add that to the dampened economy and our post-tragedy non-consuming mindset, and e-retailers face a greater uphill battle than ever. The best solution may be to consider this holiday season a learning ground, and do your best to maintain the loyal shoppers you already have. Big, black, chalky lumps of coal, when sparked with creative thinking, can and will become warm fires over which to roast chestnuts. Links: http://www.peoplesupport.com http://www.greenfield.com http://www.clifbar.com http://www.nfl.com/nflforher/001026release.html http://www.e-tailing.com (I couldn't get the link to the Internet Retailer story to work, so look for the article at this URL: http://www.internetretailer.com/article.asp?id=4925)
Faithful readers: We haven't been publishing that long, but already
we will be tweaking the Reaching Women Online a bit (Thanks
to some things I've learned along the way, and my personal observation,
of late, that there is no way I can find the time to read all the info-packed
e-newsletters I get·). |
| Yes, please do! Forward this newsletter, in its entirety, to a friend or colleague. |
| "No matter how many Christmas presents
you give your child, there's always that terrible moment when he's opened the very last one. That's when he expects you to
say, 'Oh yes, I almost forgot,' and take him out and show him the pony." - Mignon McLaughlin from The Second Neurotics Notebook, 1966 |
| For more information
on cause marketing: see the July 2001 issue of EPM's
"Marketing to Women" newsletter.
(It's a traditional paid- subscription newsletter, but sometimes
you can find them at large city libraries. More interesting e-tailing stats/facts: • This just in from a holiday e-retail study conducted by Fry Multimedia in Ann Arbor, MI: Retail traffic spikes between 7:00 p.m. and midnight. A-ha! Good reason to consider distributing e-newsletters or promotions during those hoursE-Commerce in 2003 • 68% of all US web users shopped online in 2000, with more than 3/4's projected to purchase online by 2003. |
| info@reachwomen.com Oregon office: 541.685.9400 Washington office: 360.715.0681 |