Personalized marketing, as we know from our experiences as brand-lovers and as marketers, is the make or break of any e-commerce marketing strategy in a competitive environment

Personalized marketing is all about offering improved user experience (UX) by serving relevant content, or targeting key messages in the funnel, based on your customer’s e-commerce activities and behaviour. Personalized marketing unlocks tactics for retailers to form personal relationships with their customers during their online experience (CX), to nurture leads and drive more sales from digital marketing. During a global 2022 survey of consumers who purchased something online in the past six months, 62% stated that a brand would lose their loyalty if it delivered a non-personalized experience. This is no secret to marketers who have watched a growing trend of personalization customer expectations and e-commerce investment to match. In fact, the chart below shows current customer experience personalization and…

A three-step approach for your retail strategy: stand out and win more retail sales in 2024

It’s no secret that the last few years have caused chaos for retailers globally. To survive you need a robust retail strategy that focuses on long-term and short-term profit for your business.

According to the Centre for Retail Research forecast in July 2021, total retail sales in 2020 will fall overall by -4.6% compared to 2019 (or a reduction of £17,281m). The level of retail sales will not regain last year’s level (2019) until 2022.

With reduced consumer spending, competition for retail marketers converting customers is tougher than ever. Marketers need the right tools, and skills, to optimize a winning digital marketing strategy and cut through the noise to convert even more customers online. [si_learning_path_module_shortcode_block id=154071]

Of course, the rise of online is another major factor that has influenced the…

Website personalization, product, offer, and content recommendation services to help retailers and other businesses personalize their proposition to nurture prospects toward conversions

The website personalization tools we recommend in this article enable you to segment visitors and then deliver personalized messages of the 'next best product' or 'next best content' within containers on your website as with the classic Amazon personalized recommendations (read their published methodology from this fascinating whitepaper from back in 2003). I originally wrote this post in 2010 when there were fewer personalization options. I have updated it annually since with recommendations provided via social media - do get in touch if you have a suggestion. The latest update includes the new Google AI Recommendations framework that was introduced in January 2021. A serious new competitor has entered the market to disrupt competition and perhaps reduce fees for retailers. This is the latest update where…

What goes into the Amazon marketing strategy secret sauce? Our business case study explores Amazon's revenue model and culture of customer metrics, history of Amazon.com and marketing objectives

In the final quarter of 2022, Amazon reported net sales of over $149.2 billion. This seasonal spike is typical of Amazon's quarterly reporting, but the growth is undeniable as this was the company's highest quarter ever. There is no doubt that the e-commerce retail giant continues to lead the way in e-commerce growth. The Amazon marketing strategy we are familiar with today has evolved since it was founded in 1994. I've highlighted the Amazon marketing strategy case study in my books for nearly 20 years now since I think all types of businesses can learn from their digital business strategy. Their response to the pandemic is impressive but not entirely surprising…

What do the latest retail marketing trends mean for your e-commerce marketing strategy?

The biggest takeaway from our 2021 retail e-commerce marketing trends is that, with increasingly complex customer journeys in 2021, retailers need an e-commerce marketing strategy that integrates customer experiences. Customer lifecycle marketing is more necessary than ever, as consumers increasingly use multiple channels along their path to purchase. Therefore, to ensure you build a strong e-commerce marketing strategy to both reach and convert your customers, you need to consider the whole customer journey. We have marketing training and tools to refresh your omnichannel approach to e-commerce marketing strategy. Our popular RACE Framework structures your strategy across the customer journey process of plan, reach, act, convert, and engage. You can find out more about these resources and how to apply them to your e-commerce marketing strategy throughout this article. The…

Explore the essentials of a successful e-commerce marketing plan, with real-life examples. Plus find out more about our tools and frameworks to support your strategic planning across the omnichannel retail customer lifecycle

What does a good e-commerce marketing plan look like? What structures and frameworks help e-commerce marketers to accelerate their ROI? In this blog, I'll be covering the essential elements for you to apply to your online retail strategy, including a case-study of Clinique. Plus, find out how the RACE Framework will help you streamline your omnichannel marketing, so you can plan, manage and optimize every customer touchpoint in their journey to purchase. Omnichannel e-commerce marketing planning took the top spot in our recent 2021 e-commerce marketing trends report. Clearly, omnichannel planning is a hot topic for online retail marketers at the moment. But still, so many businesses are not doing it well. In this…

We are now in the e-commerce marketing optimization era. To maintain growth, businesses need to innovate their approach to e-commerce marketing. Stay up to date with the latest sector trends

It's not a surprise that this year's trending e-commerce strategies and tactics all center around making online shopping experiences and comms more persuasive. In 2021, e-commerce retailers need the tools and techniques to stay competitive and defend their market share. That's why we've put together our free retail e-commerce marketing 2021 trends guide for e-commerce marketers to optimize their marketing across the customer lifecycle. As always, we've integrated these trends across our popular RACE Framework of Reach, Act, Convert and Engage. While online sales continue to grow in importance, the days of easy double-digit, year-on-year growth (as online shopping grew in popularity) are ending. In the era of e-commerce marketing optimization, retailers are rapidly scanning the marketplace to outpace their competitors.…

What is e-commerce marketing and how is it different from other digital marketing? Discover opportunities for strategic optimization in an industry which has seen year on year growth like no other

2020 was the year of e-commerce. You don't need me to tell you that. Over the last decade, our marketing technological ability and sophistication have gradually improved, enabling increased e-commerce engagement and traction, as more businesses have begun selling online. However, it's the rapid change in social behavior during the global pandemic that is responsible for the peaks we've seen this year - such as e-commerce accounting for 16% of total sales in the US in Q2 2020.

Identify, anticipate and satisfy customer requirements profitably, online

So, your customer wants to buy from you online? Great. But how is…

Perception matters when it comes to pricing. By applying a few principles of human perception to price presentation, you can craft your copywriting to maximize the perceived value in your prospect’s mind

Lee Atwater is attributed as saying, 'perception is reality.' This is never truer that in the world of marketing in general, and Offer pages in particular. By applying a few principles of human perception to price presentation, you can craft your copywriting to maximize the perceived value in your prospect’s mind. The better you can do this, the higher your Average Order Value (AOV) will be - and higher AOVs translate into a higher revenue per visitor (RPV). Best of all, doing this requires only a bit of extra time and cost.

Pricing by stage of customer journey

If you’ve been doing digital marketing for some time, you know the buying stages by heart: Awareness, Consideration, Decision, Action. While your prospects don’t always…

Marketing departments are spending more online than all other channels combined to drive qualified traffic to their websites

There’s a chasm between UK retailers’ use of AI for marketing and the adoption of AI by UK retailers to optimize merchandising opportunities on their websites. Marketing departments are spending more online than all other channels combined to drive qualified traffic to their websites. In the process, they are embracing artificial intelligence (AI) in the form of machine learning and predictive analytics, to automatically sniff out and signpost the most likely converting customers. [si_guide_block id="137727" title="Making the case for AI in online merchandising" description="Read our full report, written with Apptus, about how AI can supercharge your online merchandising and transform your internal team."] I find it baffling that once those marketers have taken the horses to water, their merchandising colleagues are limiting the amount of water they are allowed to drink. Many merchandisers are just too…