May Catalogue Log

May 2013 represents the fifth consecutive month to show a decline in the number of catalogues promoting a sale or discount. Of the 86 catalogues we logged last month, only 23 (26.7 percent) featured a price promotion on the front page, compared with 33.6 percent in April 2013 and a whopping 50 percent in May 2012.

Discounts take a dive in May

At the same time, the popularity of free delivery continues. Eighteen out of the 86 catalogues (20.9 percent) offered free shipping—closing the gap between the two most popular offers we track. While that percentage is slightly down on April (23.5 percent), it’s more or less in line with May last year (21.2 percent).  Among the catalogues offering free delivery were Atterley Road, Great Plains, Joe Browns and Patra—and all did so without teaming up free p&p with a discount.

Discussing the issue with colleagues, we believe the continued decline of discounting in favour of offers like free shipping is down to cataloguers seeking to avoid devaluing their brand. With discounts so prevalent last year, perhaps some cataloguers are coming to realise that it’s not a race to the bottom. Offering money off trains consumers to expect to pay a certain price—and no more. Free shipping on the other hand, while still a burden on profits, does not cast the same shadow about how much goods are worth.

Only 7 percent of the catalogues we logged in May offered a free gift with purchase, compared with 8.8 percent last May and 10.9 percent in April 13. Usually the preserve of b-to-b cataloguers and gardening brands, last month we also tallied offers from apparel retailers; among them Witt, Seasalt and Madeleine Fashion.

Another decline we’ve tracked is the overall volume of catalogues we’ve received. At 86, May’s haul is the smallest of 2013 to date and down by a quarter on this time last year. Again, I feel this might be due to cataloguers keeping a close eye on mailing costs and removing unprofitable prospects from their lists. Saying that, we logged 119 catalogues in April 2013—28 percent more than the comparable month last year—so maybe the decline is more a seasonal choice than anything else. --MT

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December Catalogue Log

Last year must have been the anomaly. The exception to the rule. We tallied 110 catalogues in December 2011, compared with 66 in December 2010 and just 62 in December 2009. In 2012, we returned to similar volumes logging 76 catalogues last month. That’s the third lowest figure of the year.

I can spend all day speculating why the volume has declined December-on-December. Maybe we’ve dropped off some prospect lists. It could also be that last December was a test, with cataloguers experimenting with the option of mailing Christmas offers later and January sales earlier. Perhaps we didn’t buy as many newspapers last month, and therefore didn’t see as many inserts as last year—or it’s possible that there were fewer inserts altogether. Maybe more cataloguers migrated to email promotions this year—at a quick count I received more than 35 emails from multichannel retailers on Christmas Day, including one titled “Sale - Only 364 Days Until Next Christmas”.

Whatever the reason, while catalogue volume went down, the use of promotions rocketed. Almost two-thirds of the catalogues we received in December 2012 (64.5 percent) featured some sort of special offer on the cover. Incidentally, December was second only to June in the number of promotional cover lines.

December does however take the crown for being the most discount-driven month of the year. Some 59.2 percent of all the catalogues we received promoted a sale on the cover, including a significant number of furniture retailers such as DFS, Debenhams, Tesco, Barker & Stonehouse and Aspace. Other retailers choosing to publish their special price offers on the cover included Hawkin’s Bazaar, JoJo Maman Bebe and Maplin.

In December 2011, we experienced a steep decline in the number of catalogues promoting free p&p on the cover compared to the preceding month—falling from approximately 21 percent to 11 percent. In 2012, we saw no such drama. Roughly 18 percent of the catalogues we tracked promoted free shipping, more or less the same as August and September, and only marginally down on November’s 21 percent. We tallied free delivery offers from fashion label Me&Em, countrywear catalogue Joseph Turner and at gardening brand Thompson & Morgan.

In December, the least popular among the offers we track were free gifts. We counted just three catalogues, or 3.9 percent, promoting a freebie. Christmas not so much a time for giving, it seems…

2012 in catalogues

Here you go fact fans, a roundup of the headline stats of the Catalogue Log:

* In total, Direct Commerce logged in 1390 catalogues in 2012. That’s a 29 fewer than we received in 2011, representing a 2 percent drop. On the bright side, 2012 was up 4 percent on 2010.

* September was the month with the greatest volume, when a total of 204 catalogues were tallied. We received only 61 catalogues in January.
September was also the least promotional month of the year and the one with the highest number of business-to-business catalogues received.

* The most promotional month was June, when more than two-third of the catalogues we received (67.9 percent) mentioned at least one special offer on the cover.

* The most discount-driven month in 2012 was December when 59.2 percent of the catalogue covers we logged touted a price-based promotion. The least popular month for sales was September (23.3 percent)

* Free delivery was most popular in October (26.3 percent) but least popular in January (14.8 percent).

* Free gifts were appreciably less popular in 2012 compared with 2011. The month with the most freebies was April. The fewest number of catalogues promoting a free gift with purchase was recorded in July—just 2.9 percent. --MT

Dart’s data: the couch potato issue

If you are a retailer that sells through DRTV or are considering doing so, take note of some interesting research from IMRG and Thinkbox to help convert viewers into buyers.

According to the latest eCustomerServiceIndex, conducted by eDigitalResearch and IMRG, 80 percent of smartphone owners, 81 percent of tablet owners and 73 percent of laptop owners use their devices in front of the television in a process that has been dubbed “second screening”.

The study highlights retail websites were amongst the most popular sites to visit and browse as were social media sites and search engines. Almost half of users (41 percent) were encouraged to browse for a product after seeing something on a television programme or advert with nearly one third (30 percent) having made a purchase afterwards.

If this highlights the influence that TV has on consumer behaviour, another study by Ipsos MORI on behalf of Thinkbox really drives home the message. Its survey of 2,000 UK adults shows that 40 percent of people in Britain believe that programmes or adverts they have watched on television has inspired them to act more positively, such as donating to charity, being more environmentally friendly, eating more healthily or taking part in sport.

Breaking this down, the report shows 43 percent of those inspired by TV advertising have been encouraged to give to charity, compared to 33 percent for TV programmes. The study highlights that TV inspired positive behaviour more than any other medium with the internet (16 percent), newspapers (16 percent), radio (14 percent), magazines (14 percent), the high street (9 percent) and direct mail (6 percent).--JD

Spooktacular opportunities at Halloween

If you are a seller of sweets and treats, fancy dress costumes, food and drink, pumpkins and gifts you can expect an obvious BOOst in consumer spend this Halloween and Bonfire Night, but retailers who think that they will not benefit from the events should think again.

A recent YouGov Sixth Sense study has revealed that people in the UK are expected to spend in excess of £650 million celebrating Bonfire Night and Halloween this year.  But it also found that only 23 percent of UK adults are set to participate in the festivities, spending an estimated £268 million on Halloween alone. A slightly greater percentage of adults (29 percent) expect to participate in activities to celebrate Bonfire Night, held on Monday 5th November, spending an estimated £386 million—mostly on fireworks (12 percent) and food and drink for parties (12 percent).

The results from the YouGov research show that while a significant amount of money is expected to be spent on Halloween and Bonfire Night this year, currently only a small percent of the population is actively spending. What this means for retailers is that there’s scope to convert more consumers into shoppers at this time of year. And you don’t have to sell scary costumes to make a killing either.

An obvious example is a pet store, which could promote products to calm pets who may be distressed by fireworks. Petmeds, for instance, currently has a Bonfire Night landing page promoting its dog-appeasing pheromone products and herbal remedies for relief of anxiety and nervousness in pets.

Another, perhaps not so obvious example is a camera retailer, which could encourage customer engagement by running a competition for the best fireworks photo. The competition could be promoted via email and social media to generate brand awareness—and potentially sales.

For apparel retailers, how about an email to promote winter coats to keep revellers warm at a Bonfire Night party? Even kitchenware retailers could get in on the act by promoting social media campaigns such as vote for the best pumpkin pie recipes. Marie Chantal, an upscale retailer of childrenswear, has joined in with the spirit of things by inviting customers to send in their children’s drawings. All pictures will be featured on the brand’s Facebook and Pinterest pages. The best one wins a prize.

These examples are just the tip of the iceberg and show that retailers have a big opportunity to get more people spending and make the most of these two new key dates in the calendar.--JD

No tricks, just treats

Halloween sales from British customers are going to be scarily good this year according to Alibaba.com, an ecommerce platform for small businesses.

Last year it’s estimated that sales for Halloween-related merchandise hit £315 million in the UK, up from £280 million in 2010. No doubt retailers are hoping to smash that target this year and with UK consumers now the second-biggest buyers of fancy dress costumes in the world, there should be plenty of scope to do so.

Looking more closely at the research, what I found of note in Alibaba’s study is that the UK is the only country that the Professional/Uniforms category had more searches than the Animals/Insects category. Clearly Brits like more realistic role play, or they find animals too childish a choice? As one fifth of costume searches for babies and kids in the UK were for animal or insect outfits, this could be the case. Add to the mix the recent animal-related film releases of Finding Nemo 3D and Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted, which have no doubt had an impact on what children want to dress up as this Halloween.

It also seems that as a nation we’re ditching scary and opting for funny this Halloween. Alibaba says it’s seen a 19 percent year-on-year increase in online searches of zentai/morph suits, while other popular fancy dress suits in the UK include sexy costumes, cartoon mascot suits and TV and movie costumes.

In the battle for the costume and mask crown, it is the queen that is crowned the winner, accounting for 39 percent of enquiries, while witch (32 percent), princess (26 percent), king (3 percent) and prince (no searches) were much less popular—highly surprising, considering a certain Prince’s dressing up antics.

And if you don’t sell fancy dress? Never fear. Alibaba says it’s seen a 20 percent rise in online searches for event and party supplies, meaning that even if you don’t specialise in novelty clothing, you can still make the most of Halloween by selling seasonal gifts and party supplies.--JD

September Catalogue Log

Whereas August is traditionally a low volume month, September is one of the year’s best performers and 2012 didn’t disappoint. We received a whopping 204 catalogues last month, eclipsing August’s haul of 85. What’s more, 204 is the second-highest number we’ve tracked to date; September 2009 still holds the record with 212 catalogues received in one month.

To put it in context with the rest of 2012, in March, the month with the second greatest volume, we'd received 157 catalogues. Or, if you look at it another way, of the 957 catalogues logged during the first nine months of 2012, more than one-fifth (21 percent) were received in September.

I have to make an admission here, more than a third of the catalogues we tracked did not come through the post. We picked up 10 catalogues in-store, 22 inserts in the national and local press or magazines, and 39 catalogues were collected at the Autumn Fair or GLEE trade shows. The addition of those 39 trade catalogues contributed to the highest number of b-to-b catalogues we’ve tracked this year, 58 in total. In fact, 58 is the highest number of business-to-business catalogues to cross my desk in a one-month period since we began logging the catalogues for the purposes of this blog. The previous highest number was 49, received in July 2009 (When we received seven different versions of the Viking catalogue and eight versions of the Neat Ideas, now Staples, catalogue—make of that what you will).

While the number of catalogues received in September 2012 soared, the percentage promoting sales and discounts dropped dramatically, from 34.1 percent in August to 23.3 percent in September. Again, that’s a record-breaking figure—the lowest ever. Among those offering a discount were Ashridge Nurseries (5 percent off online orders), Elderberry (10 percent off a £40 spend) and Pia jewellery (15 percent).

Discounts are out, free delivery is in
In contrast to the significant drop in discounting—which has happened for the third month on the trot—the offer of free delivery was on par with the previous month, 18.1 percent in September, compared with 18.8 percent in August. B-to-b mailers Slingsby and Nisbets and b-to-c catalogues Peter Christian and Mint Velvet were among those offering free delivery. Apparel retailer Mint Velvet also teamed up the offer with a 15 percent discount to celebrate the launch of its first catalogue.

The percentage of catalogues offering a gift with purchase was a meagre 5.9 percent in September. That’s down from August’s 10.6 percent and the high, in April, of 14 percent. Among September’s gifts-with-purchase were 40 free Narcissus Hawera bulbs with any bulb order at Unwins, a digital radio alarm clock from Fashion World and a cornucopia of gifts at Fishtec, including a filleting set or a tackle and bait bag.

After tracking declines in our each one of the cover lines we monitor, we also noted that almost 61 percent of the catalogues we received featured no offer whatsoever. As we get closer to Christmas it would be interesting to keep an eye on whether the percentage of catalogues offering a discount on the front cover will rise again, or whether cataloguers will continue their shift away from low prices to other special offers, such as free gifts or free delivery.

It’s also worth noting that a lot of the catalogues we track now put their special offers on a separate insert, this is presumably so they can test a variety of offers but print only one version of the catalogue—a money-saving tactic. This was something online tea shop Bettys (free delivery on orders over £30), apparel marketer Cashmere Centre (free £10 gift voucher), art-inspired gifts catalogue Culture Vulture (10 percent off orders of £40 or more) and Myakka (free elephant wall hook or woollen scarf) all did. I would wager that the trend will continue. Perhaps it's time to add another column to the Catalogue Log spreadsheet.--MT

Dart’s data: the email marketing issue

Email marketing is a vital component in your marketing arsenal, which can be used to build loyalty, trust and brand awareness. Yet despite this, a recent study has found that 40 percent of marketers do not have analytics in place to determine inbox placement rates, while another report says only 17 percent of online retailers implement a basket abandonment email.

Email intelligence provider Return Path, in conjunction with The Relevancy Group, surveyed more than 300 senior marketing executives and found that more than 40 percent of them do not have analytics in place to determine inbox placement rates for their email campaigns. This means that two-fifths of marketers have no idea what happens to their email after they hit send. The report also found that less than a quarter of marketers (23 percent) analyse competitors’ email marketing campaign performance, despite research indicating that doing so increases overall revenue from a campaign by 25 percent or more.

Of the marketers surveyed, 65 percent said that access to the right data is a challenge for their organisations with nearly a third stating that they do not know how to access data when it’s time to evaluate a campaign.

Further, although it’s widely acknowledged that relevancy rules, more than half of those surveyed (55 percent) are unable to perform any audience segmentation meaning they blast the same message to every subscriber, regardless of their previous purchases.

Staying with the email marketing trend, behavioural email provider RedEye in its fifth Behavioural Email Benchmark Study shows marketers are missing an opportunity to engage with users to improve conversion. The study researched the pre-purchase email communication used by of the likes of Amazon.co.uk, Play.com, Miss Selfridge, H&M and Homebase. It found that 19 percent of the top online retailers in the UK don’t allow precheckout registration, of which 9 percent don’t allow any type of prepurchase email communication. From those retailers allowing prepurchase registration, 78 percent sent a specific welcome email with 13 percent of these firms implementing a full welcome programme consisting of more than one trigger.

RedEye also discovered that among its clients that implement a basket abandonment programme, emails achieve an average conversion rate of 17 percent. Those marketers using a basket abandonment follow-up email convert, on average, an additional 14 percent of users. Surprisingly though, the survey found that only 17 percent of online retailers currently made use of a basket abandonment email.--JD

Dart’s data--a very merry Christmas for mcommerce

With Direct Commerce’s upcoming October issue dispensing some last-minute yuletide tips and tweaks, this issue of Dart’s data looks ahead to Christmas with a report predicting mobile sales to increase over the festive period.

According to research by IMRG, the percentage of UK online sales made through a mobile device could reach one in five (20 percent) by Christmas 2012, with the percentage of site visits through mobiles expected to be at around one in three (30 percent). The prediction comes after the latest results from the IMRG Capgemini Quarterly Benchmarking Index, which revealed that sales through mobile devices rose to 11.6 percent in the second quarter of 2012, up from 8.2 percent in the first quarter.

Staying with mobile, a new survey commissioned by mcommerce specialist MoPowered and conducted by online and mobile research agency OnePoll found that 84 percent of small-to-midsized fashion retailers did not have a mobile site, but that 89 percent believed mcommerce to be essential to the future success of their business. The study, which surveyed 300 managerial professionals, highlights that firms were put off setting up a mobile optimised site due to security concerns (33 percent concerned about the risk of mobile payments) and the set-up being too time-consuming (36 percent).

Retailers must tread carefully when it comes to their mobile strategy to minimise the risk of customer attrition. Although more than half of the respondents (52 percent) in Strongmail’s mobile marketing survey said they would be open to receiving promotional messages via email at least once a week, 60 percent said they would never want to receive SMS and in-app missives. The report, conducted by Forrester Consulting, found that around a third of smartphone users (32 percent) have made a purchase after receiving a promotional email. However only 6 percent of smartphone users made a purchase after receiving an SMS or in-app message.--JD

Dart’s data: the m-commerce issue

Mounting evidence suggests that more and more of us are shopping online using our mobile phone and yet it is estimated that two-fifths of UK businesses are failing to collect any mobile data.

According to a study by ecommerce agency Screen Pages mobile devices now account for 20.8 percent of all traffic, more than doubling from 10.3 percent in the past nine months. The research, all based on traffic to websites on the Magento ecommerce platform that have not been optimised for mobile devices, also found that 84.5 percent of all mobile visits are from Apple devices and that iPad usage has increased to 54.9 percent from 46.4 percent. The study also found that iPad shoppers buy more, with an average conversion of 3 percent against 2.8 percent for the websites overall.

But despite this, UK businesses are in danger of missing out on the multibillion pound mobile commerce boom. A report by Experian revealed that at least 40 percent of UK businesses currently fail to collect any mobile data at all. Those that do, take a varied approach to ensuring its accuracy with only 27 percent regularly checking their mobile data--a number lagging well behind the US where more than a third of organisations validate their data regularly.

There’s an app for that…
If you’re embarking on your mobile journey, you’re probably considering whether your brand needs an app. Take heed. According to a report by Webcredible, a user experience agency, UK consumers use only four mobile apps regularly, of which journey planning, searching for locations, booking tickets or finding voucher deals are the most frequently used apps.

The study points out that 40 percent of respondents had used location-sensitive apps from their phones, while 90 percent used their phones to get quick, necessary shopping tasks done when they were commuting. None of the participants said they would make an expensive purchase, such as a laptop or car, on their phones, instead preferring to use a PC to view bigger images and none would engage in grocery shopping from their phones; citing the small screen making the process tedious and time-consuming.

Of the female participants, 90 percent had installed apps that had been recommended to them by friends or family with 100 percent saying they window shop from their phones, but would only rarely buy fashion items, preferring to make these purchases on a PC where they could appreciate details such as fabric and colour. However, 20 percent of respondents said they would buy something from their phones that they had previously seen in-store.

So before jumping on the bandwagon with an app or mobile site, spend time really considering what your customers want to see.--JD

Related articles:
•    Online shopping trends around the world
•    Dart’s data--the mobile issue
•    Half of European smartphone owners shop using their phone
•    Why you can’t afford to ignore smartphone users any longer

Dart’s data: the jubilee issue

The Queen’s diamond jubilee was a reason for mass celebration across the country with millions watching the river pageant, concert and the procession over an extended bank holiday weekend. What’s more, according to a report by ecommerce services provider Venda, retailers were also in jubilant mood for other reasons.

Over the long weekend in June, Venda saw a 38 percent increase in online transactions across its customer base, which includes companies such as Heal’s, Emma Bridgewater and Accessorize, with a 34 percent increase in sales value. The report shows that British brands on the Venda platform saw sales more than double compared to last year’s spring bank holiday period with gifts performing particularly well, increasing by 60 percent and sales values by 77 percent compared to last year’s spring bank holiday.

The Venda study also highlights that the Queen’s diamond jubilee in comparison with the royal wedding in April 2011 saw online retailers’ transaction volume and values increase by 176 percent. Brands strongly associated with “Britishness” saw sales values increase to six times the amount spent during the royal wedding weekend.

What this demonstrates is that brands seized the opportunity to capitalise on their Britishness to make the most of this key retail period. With the economy in a fragile state, retailers were looking to the bank holiday weekend for a much needed boost; and according to these stats, many achieved it.

Looking ahead, those retailers that have an event-led retail strategy in place will be best placed to maximise their sales opportunities in the months to come.--JD

Dart’s data: the customer loyalty issue

The main feature of Direct Commerce’s June issue focuses on marketing and customer loyalty. We explore how to implement post-purchase programmes and how to make the best use of analytics to keep customers coming back as well as much, much more.

If you can’t wait until 8th June, when the next issue hits desks, this week’s edition of Dart’s Data should help satisfy your loyalty-stats cravings in the meantime:

• Research from database marketing firm Transactis has shown that more than two-thirds of British consumers have stopped doing business with a company and turned to a competitor because they felt the firm had mishandled their personal data and could no longer be trusted.

The study, which surveyed more than 1,000 British consumers, also highlights that 69 percent of respondents have terminated their affiliation with a company within the last three years because it handled their private details irresponsibly, getting them wrong, passing them to third parties, failing to keep them secure or abusing their trust.
The report found that 95 percent of respondents stated they would be “very inclined” to switch to a competitor if they feel a company they are dealing with is being irresponsible with their personal details.

On the flipside, the survey found that if a business is seen to deal responsibly with personal data and provides a good service, 83 percent of consumers say they would keep buying from that company, while 76 percent of respondents say if a business is using their personal details to tailor services and offers they are more likely to continue buying from that company than its competitors.

In a sector breakdown of the research results, supermarkets are rated most highly among consumers with 84 percent rating them “good” or “very good” in terms of handling personal details responsibly and using them to provide better and more personalised services and offers. Banks (81 percent), online retailers (80 percent) and mobile phone suppliers (74 percent) also ranked well amongst British consumers, while the holiday/hotel/travel sector is one of the lowest performing categories with 45 percent of consumers rating them as either “good” or “very good”.

The study also found that women are generally harsher than men with companies they feel have improperly handled their personal information. Further, the older the consumer, the less tolerant they are of companies they see mishnadling their personal data, the most laid back are those aged 25 to 34.

• Showing just how giving superb service can have a positive impact on loyalty no matter what the price of the item, online marketing agency Leapfrogg found that 61 percent of consumers buying premium products and services say they will not reduce their online spending in 2012. Almost a third (30 percent) of respondents said they will purchase more online due to good service and increased confidence in using online channels this year. While 21 percent of consumers said that quality of product and great service is enough of a pull to encourage a luxury spend. To remain competitive, Leapfrogg noted, premium brands do not need to rely on heavy discounting or voucher codes, but will need to ensure that the communication of product information and an excellent shopping experience is provided.--JD