US retail giant Macy’s is the epitome of bricks and mortar, but even they are having to yield to a digital presence. Here’s a look at how they have embraced the digital age. 

Every country has a store like Macy’s, but whether that be a Myer, David Jones or Harrods, each is having to come to terms with a new digital age.

Ecommerce sales in Australia reached a record high in the year to November 2012, with consumers spending some $12.6 billion online, according to National Australia Bank.

The value of online sales in Australia is forecast to increase further during 2013 which is a major call to action for retailers which have conventionally relied on in store revenue.

Consumer insight has proved to be the biggest magnet for retailers online, with more data than ever available to mould decisions and tailor offerings. In-store cards have served as information portals until now, but with a wealth of data being generated on the web, bricks and mortar staples such as Macy’s are looking to extract more insight by going digital.

What’s more, in an age where consumers are more connected and demanding multiple touchpoints in which to make a purchase, having an omnipresence will be the only way in which retailers can survive.

How did Macy’s adapt?

Macy’s has been outperforming the major retailers in the US particularly at Christmas, where the chain logged a 4.1 per cent December gain in same-store sales, led by a 52 per cent increase in online sales.

“We have taken a number of steps to make the shopping experience online mirror the stores, and vice versa,” said Jeff Kantor, chairman of Macys.com. “We want customers to be able to shop Macy’s whenever, wherever and however they prefer. Reaching customers through stores, online and mobile gives us a lot of flexibility.”

By diversifying the number of touchpoints in which consumers can engage with the brand, Macy’s has opened up new avenues which have turned into proverbial cash cows. For other retailers looking to do the same, here are a few insights into how the bricks and mortar staple gave way to digital omnipresence:

1. Expand online:

Macy’s has diversified its online offering by making services available across several platforms. To support this growth, it greatly improved its inventory strategy by building new warehouses and drafting nearly 300 stores to act as e-commerce fulfillment centers.

2. Innovate in store

Omnipresence requires innovations to be carried out across all platforms, and Macy’s has modernised its in-store experience by adding new technology. The Herald Square flagship, for example, uses tablet devices in its shoe department as cash registers to streamline the checkout process.

3. Keep a track

To make this a legacy investment, obtaining data and putting the information to use will be essential for retailers to understand what consumers like to do and where. In a digital world, modernisation means a constant evolution of company processes, and having good insight on hand is essential in making this work.

4. Have a plan

As a retailer – particularly if you are yet to engage in e-commerce you need to have a clear strategy. Furthermore retailers need to be able to effectively engage across multiple channels and have the capabilities to measure this engagement. This can be complex in a world where consumers are engaging across multiple channels and expecting seamless integration every step of the way.

If you would like more information on the latest trends in the digital marketing download our latest report “The 2013 Digital Marketer”

Download here

The marketing industry is abuzz with how content is being created in the form of arresting, powerful images that need to summarise the values of the brand, the look of the store’s front window and capture its latest products and services.

Images, videos and infographics are among the most talked about tools in reaching and engaging consumers this year.

We now need to create visual content for the little sisters of social media that have suddenly grown up and are gaining the attention of marketers, Pinterest and Instagram. Luckily, most have learnt a few good lessons from Facebook. The change to a more image centric view in 2012 has meant we’ve practiced using strong images coupled with short, sharp copy to reach followers.

Pinterest is hugely popular right now in Australia. Experian Hitwise data shows that it has grown 328% in the past year. The site’s sharing platform enables users to ‘pin’ images, and then categorise them to create a virtual pinboard or scrapbook per themes such as: cooking and recipes; entertaining ideas; DIY ideas for winter and so on. The images found (or searched for) are from brands such as retailers, re-pins of images on their friend’s boards and others that they follow.

It means brands should look to adopt the mindset of a publisher, in which images of products and services, experiential activity, brand ambassadors and previews of upcoming advertising campaigns can be posted on these social platforms.

Luxury local brand, Oroton, has added a series of its old print advertisements between 1951 and 2002 to show its heritage and how its product lines have maintained their high-end essence. It’s simple and clever. The astuteness of it is not needing to create any new content, but instead drawing on existing collateral to develop a board – to add to their other 15 – of nostalgic, fabulous images that are an important part of the brand’s history and are a ‘stamp’ on Australia’s fashion over the past 60 years.

Another luxury retailer, Burberry, has a board of images of London, showing iconic landmarks, city scapes, sunsets over the Thames and patriotic photographs; think strings of flags and bunting strung up for the Queen’s Jubilee. Again, simple in execution, but it does build on the brand’s overall social identity for the audience and create an engaging and emotive experience with Pinterest users.

Some may question, why should we bother doing this? How does it show ROI and at the end of the day, create more satisfied customers or generate more sales?

My response would be that it’s important to create valuable ways to connect to your audience, both online and offline. The examples of Oroton’s and Burberry’s Pinterest boards provide audiences with the choice to decide how they will interact with the brand, without advertising and marketing tactics jumping up and down and shouting ‘buy me now’ to consumers. Consumers are tired of the hype, ads at every turn, the flashiness of the past few years.

Enter this year’s biggest consumer trends: authenticity, simplicity and meaningful engagements.

Achieving this may take some experimentation – to successfully marry what works for each audience group – and what works for the brand.

At SXSW in March, Pinterest announced its new Web Analytics tool that will track how users are interacting with brands on the social scrap booking site and measure how many users have pinned items from their sites, how many others have seen those pins and how many people clicked from Pinterest through to the brand’s website.

The tool will allow SMEs to gain insights and data; for larger retailers and enterprises, they may need to rely on third parties for deeper level information.

One of the biggest changes that marketers will need to grapple this year is the power of the image. And also being comfortable with ‘art directing’ images that rely on few or no words to build consumer custodians of their brands.

In 2010, Hong Kong’s Privacy Commissioner found Octopus Holdings to be contravening the Data Protection Principles by selling personal data of approximately 2 million of its reward card holders to third parties for use in direct marketing campaigns.

The company wasn’t punished (Octopus undertook to cease activities considered to be in contravention of the DPP) but the case prompted new rules on direct marketing to be issued.

The Personal Data (Privacy)(Amendment) Ordinance 2012  was formally adopted in July 2012 and with it came a new set of guidelines for individuals on their right to opt-out of direct marketing. The majority of the Ordinance came into effect in October 2012, but the specifics concerning the new direct marketing regime took effect on April 1^st 2013.

Previously, there was limited regulation on the use and transfer of personal data for direct marketing purposes. However under the new Ordinance there are much stricter guidleines. The top 4 to be aware of:

1. Individuals must give explicit consent before their data can be used in direct marketing activities (note ‘consent’ also includes “indication of no objection”)
2. Personal data cannot be transferred to third parties for use in direct marketing unless consent is given
3. An opportunity to opt-out must be clearly available
4. Marketers must take specific actions before using personal data in direct marketing in an easily readable and understandable manner.  This should include:
   • The type of personal data to be used
   • The classes of marketing subjects in relation to which the data is to be used
   • The classes of persons to which the data is to be provided, etc

A fine of up to $1 million  Hong Kong dollars for failing to comply has led to many companies contacting customers asking if they wish to opt-out of receiving future communications, although the approach to this appears to wide and varied. (Some are providing an ‘unsubscribe’ option via an internet link, others are requesting written requests to the company’s data officer).

More information about the Ordinance can be found here: http://www.pcpd.org.hk/english/publications/files/ordinance2012_overview_e.pdf

Negative publicity for companies who do not comply is as likely to be as much of an impetus not to take a risk with the new rules, as the financial penalty itself. The Octopus Holdings case demonstrated that Hong Kong takes its data privacy seriously and the Privacy Commissioner will likely be happy to demonstrate that the new rules are not there to be tested.

We will make sure that our clients are aware of the essentials of the new rules and ensure there are no concerns about choosing Experian as a data services provider.

One of the most interesting changes  from last quarter was the most popular flight destinations. The top 3 changes this quarter for flight destinations:

1. Melbourne regained the top spot from Bali and significantly extended its lead in the market
2. London, Phuket and Adelaide all significantly increased their share of searches
3. Hawaii shot up a staggering 55 places!

So, grab your lei as we delve a little bit deeper into the state of beaches, volcanoes and mai tais!

Hawaii was a fast mover between July and September last year, before dropping back down in the final three months of 2012. In this quarter in particular January there was a surge of consumers searching on Hawaiian-related content.

Some of the key topics that consumers searched on more this quarter compared with the end of 2012 included the following:

•  ‘hawaii accommodation’ and ‘hawaii holiday packages‘. A key site taking advantage of the increased interest in Hawaii holiday packages was My Hawaii, which specialises in these products
•  ‘jetstar flights to hawaii’. In August last year, Jetstar announced $199 fares to Hawaii
•  ‘kauai hawaii’. The fourth largest island of the main islands, Kauai is known for its cliffs and canyons and looks pretty spectacular to me!

Another strong recipient of Hawaii related traffic is Go Hawaii, with information on all of the islands and key activities. Comparing March 2013 to 2012, it’s increased 78% in Total Visits! Could Hawaii be the next Bali?

Did I make you want to visit Hawaii?

If so, or if you have anything to add, please leave a comment below – we’re always happy to hear from you!

Download a copy of the latest Hitwise Quarterly Travel Report now to check out the latest insights and trends.

Australian Travel Quarterly Report, Q1, 2013

As consumers become more sophisticated in using mobile devices, a trend is emerging: organisations sit in two divided camps, either ‘mobile first’ or ‘mobile mainstream’.

A recent report by Econsultancy and Kontagent found that mobile mainstream organisations use mobile services but depend more on desktop or storefront sales for profits. Mobile first organisations place mobile at the heart of their business – they count mobile sales as a main revenue stream, and use it as a primary channel to connect and reach customers.

Whether you’re of the view of mobile first or mobile mainstream, marketers do need to recognise how consumers are interacting online. YouTube is one channel that is being taken up by brands to connect with consumers in engaging ways.

One brand that has nailed this brief is Pepsi Max, belonging to the mobile mainstream category, with its ‘prank’ series. They have created video content that’s fun (no pushy brand message here), quick (videos are usually no longer than four minutes), and shareable.

One of the videos to go viral was a prank it pulled by disguising Jeff Gordon (professional stock car racing driver) and getting him to test drive a vehicle at a car yard, where an unsuspecting salesman was taken for a joy ride.

Highlights from the campaign:

• The video was viewed nearly 35 million times
• Eight million views from a mobile device
• Shared on Facebook 1,300 times
• Watched directly (using embedded links) one and a half million times
• Received nearly 6,000 re-tweets on Twitter.

Pepsi Max’s target demographic for the campaign were males aged 45 – 54 years based on video views, which aligns with Nascar’s and Jeff Gordon’s fan demographic profile.

While many brands may not be as outlandish as Pepsi, the point remains that marketers are still overwhelmed in knowing how to integrate traditional and modern channels, including mobile. There is a ‘wait and see’ ethos dominant in this market. A study conducted by Experian last year found 60 per cent of marketers are yet to take action and implement a mobile campaign.

In order to adopt this multi-channel approach, marketers and advertisers need to get more familiar in utilising technology that enables consumers to access their website or online store seamlessly between devices, whether they are on the go or on a fixed line connection.

How many times have you researched a new digital camera on your desktop, watched a YouTube tutorial on how to use the camera over your lunchbreak, and then when you went to purchase, continued to compare prices once you’re in-store?

In the same Experian study, less than half of marketers confirmed they use mobile as a way to drive sales online and offline. Clever companies are using mobile marketing as a way to drive customers in-store, where face-to-face conversations – and conversions – can take place.

Another US study by Linkable Networks found that the retail ‘bricks and mortar’ experience and customer service are still vital in the digital age. Although many price compare while in-store, consumers said any saving online that is less than 20% isn’t enough to warrant abandoning their in-store purchase for an online deal. This challenges the popular theory that consumers have a single minded view of finding the best deal – irrespective of whether it is online or offline.

Before testing the waters, understanding how consumers are interacting with brands on mobile, fixed line and offline should be the first port of call when creating a campaign and will be one of the keys to success for marketers this year.

For more information on the Mobile market in Australian download the free report The Digitised Pocket; embracing the mobile age:

“Our business is infested with idiots who try to impress by using pretentious jargon.” So said David Ogilvy sometime in the 1960s, and the phrase is even more powerful today. Regular readers of my columns will know that I have little patience for jargon, despite the fact (or perhaps because) I’ve worked in buzzword-heavy industries my entire career. As a former scientist, the one I really object to now is ‘data scientist’.

Science is nothing without observational data. Therefore, every scientist who has ever lived is by definition a type of data scientist, but not necessarily vice versa. Please understand I’m not a snob. It’s not that I object to you statisticians or glorified business analysts using the title ‘scientist’. But if you’re going to call yourself one, make sure you behave like one.

So much of our industry is focused on collecting huge quantities of consumer data—behavioural, psycho-demographic, transactional data—combined into massive repositories that, mined by data scientists, will help our clients secure that consumer and increase wallet share.

What many advertisers and marketers seem to miss is that in making data your unrelenting focus, you might miss the forest (knowledge) for the trees (data).

Too often digital marketers and their agencies set about gathering data with no clear idea of what they want to do with it. Even Anjul Bhambhri, vice president of big data products at IBM, says,

 “A data scientist is somebody who is inquisitive, who can stare at data and spot trends.”

But making observations is only the first step of the scientific method. The critical part is asking an interesting question and framing a hypothesis to test it.  And this goes way beyond split testing, which might tell us which creative has a higher conversion rate, but never explains why—and therefore never becomes knowledge that can be re-used.

In his article, “Eyes bigger than stomachs: Data glut“, Jim Meskauskas observes that,

“Data is turned into information, and information is turned into knowledge. Sometimes though, data is meaningless and provides useless information that results in inapplicable knowledge.”

For example, last month I cited Facebook research that correlates a penchant for curly fries with high intelligence. I’m not sure anyone knows how to really monetize this factoid. And it is not solely the role of the data scientist to ask the interesting questions; this responsibility lies with marketers, who could benefit from using the scientific method in their daily practice.

I know this sounds like heresy from a data-driven marketer. But sometimes there are diminishing returns from mining the data vein too deep.

The industry is engaged in, as Meskauskas puts it, “a frenzied gathering of bits, collecting any and all manner of jetsam and flotsam. There is a subconscious belief that the marketer will know what it is that they are looking for once they find it.“

But without some sense of where the data might lead, the resources expended to collect it might be better spent on more media to send more messages, he adds.

Meskauskas recognizes that more data isn’t better, and in fact can be worse. Vast expanses of data have a way of lulling organizations into a false sense of security. It is easy to believe that the answer to virtually any business question will be available because all available data has been collected.

Whilst I was shopping in The Times Book Shop on the weekend, I stumbled upon the latest novel from one of my favourite authors, Will Self. And then I thought, “Why haven’t I seen this on Amazon? And why doesn’t Amazon know my favourite authors and musicians? Why have they never asked me? And why can’t I simply get email notifications from Amazon when their works are released?”

It’s well known that Amazon’s recommendation service accounts for at least 30 per cent of its sales, so I’m not criticizing the company’s approach. My point is that we shouldn’t forget in this world of big data that some simple things like preferences still have relevance and power. If Amazon had the knowledge that I buy everything Will Self and Martin Amis publish, I’m confident within two standard deviations that its share of my wallet would be greater than The Times.

• The national media are talking about its potential to change our lives across a huge range of areas (the BBC has had 7 separate programmes focusing on Big Data since November last year
• Specialist technology websites such as my favourite, The Register, which  published more than 20 stories related to big data in the first 2 weeks of April alone
• Amazon lists 332 books related to “big data” – over a third of these were published in 2013 and over 80% were published since the beginning of 2012

It seems that even the most simple analysis above shows this is an accelerating trend so I thought it would be interesting to see how one of Experian’s powerful Big Data assets could tell us about people’s interest in the subject over the past year, how it’s changing and how it varies between countries.

The Experian Hitwise tool enables us to track representative behaviour across all internet users in a country including search insights from across all search engines  (I should stress that this a small subset of the many other insights that can be created!).

I checked the proportion of all search terms that included the expression “big data” over the past year for 6 key markets:

This data highlights some key points about how the concept of big data is gaining interest. Big data is often referred to as being very important, but has only really started increasing in interest across search engines from all individuals online in the last 6-8 months:

• There has been over 200% growth in searches across a broad range of countries
• Searches for “big data” showed no significant increase for any of the markets between April and August 2012

The period when interest started increasing varied between markets:

• China, Australia, New Zealand & Singapore started increasing between August and September 2012
• Interest in the US only started increasing in November 2012
• Interest in the UK has had pretty steady, but smaller, increases over the whole of the past year

One particularly interesting point that comes through though is the peak in interest in Australia. The latest search share is actually 24% lower than its peak at the beginning of December 2012.

Challenges related to big data and questions about the extent to which it is being hyped are common in media coverage and are also reflected in search term variations for Big Data that we can track with Experian Hitwise. Is Australia ahead of the curve or is there even more interest to come?

One thing that is clear is that Big Data has sparked a huge interest in its potential across a large number of businesses. If you would like an overview of some of the ways in which Experian can help achieve this potential contact us at Experian Marketing Services

This time round, the website didn’t crash. This may have been related to the improvements made by Click Frenzy on the site – however, it’s more probably that it was because of the significantly reduced number of Visits to the site. The chart below depicts the Total Visits to the site on the day of each frenzy:

Total Visits to Click Frenzy

As you can see, demand was dramatically less. Interestingly, there are another three Click Frenzys planned for this year – rest assured that we’ll be watching to monitor their performance.

The retailers who partnered with Click Frenzy do appear to have benefited from the relationship. After visiting the Click Frenzy site, many consumers subsequently moved to Bonds, Myer and Target, all of whom were participating retailers.

Chemist Warehouse were an affiliated partner who also received a high volume of traffic from the site. On the other hand,  The Good Guys aren’t listed as an official partner – however, they took advantage of a PPC opportunity to bid on the term ‘frenzy’, as can be seen from the screenshot below.

Appliances Online also bid on the term, although they were an authorised retailer.

All in all, Click Frenzy represents an opportunity for retailers. Whether it is sustainable will depend on how consumers respond to future events and how retailers choose to interact with Click Frenzy.

This is probably a no brainer when you consider the smaller screen size of smart phones and tablet devices compared to desktop PC’s and the notion of using the internet on the go.  Until now, we have not been able to measure just how much shorter a mobile visit actually is and what impact this has to marketers competing for the eyeballs of Australians using these devices.

But children (and adults alike) weren’t the only ones to benefit from the delicious holiday festival. Many online players took advantage of the seasonal celebrations as an opportunity to get in front of consumers searching for Easter related products.

Searches of key Easter terms were up 6.1% compared to the same time last year. Some key terms are included below (I’ve removed terms related to the Easter show which dominated the results).

A few things jumped out of these ‘Easter’ variations for me:

• The Easter bunny was significantly more searched for than Easter eggs!
• Last minute shoppers wanted to know when Coles and Woolworths were open – this may have resulted in somewhat rushed Easter egg hunts
• For parents concerned about high sugar levels, the next best presents for children were ‘easter colouring pages’, as well as the alternative American spelling

Surprisingly the success rates for many terms were below 60%, suggesting consumers weren’t finding what they wanted and refined their searches. There may be opportunity to improve this next year.

So who took advantage of the additional Easter traffic? Below are the top ten recipients of the key Easter Search terms.

The Royal Easter Show was number one, with over 5.8% of all Easter related traffic. Other notable appearances include:

• Facebook, possibly appearing due to searches on ‘Easter pictures’
• Coles, which received nearly twice as much Easter traffic as Woolworths Online. The latter paid for nearly all of its Easter-related traffic on terms such as ‘easter eggs online’. The Woolworths main site also attracted 1.95% of all Easter related traffic
• Kidspot Australia, which did well with respect to traffic from Easter colouring pages

Ultimately, my recommendation to digital marketers is to make sure you’re ready to rank for these key terms over key holiday periods. And for everyone else, don’t leave your Easter egg hunt planning too late – your family will not appreciate it!