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How an American QSR (Quick Service Restaurants) improved its Business ROI Food Apps

Traditionally, Quick Service Restaurants (QSRs) such as McDonald’s or Burger King, have been strategically operating on a brick and mortar model. However, according to some studies, an average QSR generates as much as 75% of its sales from online orders.

With the advent of delivery apps such as Uber Eats and Doordash, a significant portion of QSRs’ business has moved to these platforms. The war to top rank on one of these platforms is an even greater feat. With each brand competing for the top listing, it’s much less about the dollars you pay and much more about optimizing your investments.

The relationship between QSR chains and food delivery apps has its advantages and disadvantages. One of the critical grouses QSRs have against food apps is the incremental marketing spend required to participate on the platform and the inability to measure the impact of their investment. What makes matters worse is the limitation in metrics even available to measure the impact – neither the food apps provide them, nor does anyone else.

At DataWeave, we have made it our mission to enable QSRs to not only define measurable metrics to achieve a positive ROI for food app marketing investments, but we also equip QSRs with the tools to track their competitive performance at granular, zip code-based level so that localized strategies can be modified as needed. Below is an example of a 1000+ store chain QSR we partnered with to optimize a pre-existing investment made with a large food aggregator app. Within months of engagement with us, they were able to achieve a 3X increase in sales without adding any additional marketing dollars.

Below are the pain points we identified and solved together:

1. No Defined Metric

Problem – No leading metric to track marketing performance

One of the first issues we realized was that sales was not a good metric for tracking marketing performance as it’s a lagging metric and doesn’t capture the issues that help grow or suppress sales.

Most of the sales are driven by rank in the cuisine category and searches for branded keywords. But, the QSR chain had no way to track these ranks.

In fact, 70%+ sales go to the first five restaurants for the category and keyword

Comparing ranking on food delivery platforms across different categories and times

Solution – Establish ranking as a clear marketing metric

By aggregating data across different food app platforms comprehensively, i.e. across locations, at different times of the day, we established the ranking of the QSR chain in critical categories and for priority keywords, identifying where they under or over-performed relative to the competition. As we did this daily- this became a straightforward metric that helped establish the performance of their marketing campaign.

2. Geographical & Categorical Challenges

Problem: Identifying poor-performing stores and zip codes

We realized it was not a simple exercise to identify well performing stores on food apps since sales depend on many factors such as competition, population of the area, local cuisine preference, etc.

Solution: Zip Code Ranking and Attributes

We tracked the ranking of each store within each Zip Code for keywords and created a list of poor-performing stores. We also extracted attributes such as estimated time of arrival (ETAs), Delivery Fee, Ratings, Reviews, etc., for each of these poor performing stores, to identify the reasons for the poor ranking.

Analysing key metrics at a store level – identifying worst & best performing stores

E.g., We realized 356 of the stores were not populating on first page results, primarily because of poor ratings and High ETAs. After the focused initiative, 278 of these stores started showing on the first page and increased sales by 23%.

3. Sensitivity Analysis Deficiency

Problem: Not clear about the contribution of Rating, ETAs, Fees, etc. on the Ranking

The exact ranking algorithms of these food apps are not publicly shared – so the QSR chain wasn’t clear which variable of rating, ETAs, fees, ad spend, or availability contributed more or less to the overall ranking.

Solution: Sensitivity analysis for measuring contribution

Comprehensive data for multiple zip codes in various timestamps was analyzed to determine which variable contributes most significantly to the rankings and when. We also conducted A/B testing – simultaneously testing two different variables, such as reducing ETAs at one store and improving ad spend at another, calculating which led to greater rank and sales impact.

For example, we realized reducing publicized ETA’s (even by decreasing the delivery radius) contributed much more to improve the rankings than changes to ratings.

4. An Unknown Competitive Landscape

Problem: Tracking competitor performance

For example, we found the QSR chain performed well in key urban centers, but the competition was doing even better, but there wasn’t a good way to track and compare the performance of the competitors.

Solution:

We started tracking the QSR chain and the competition for each of the metrics and started comparing performance.

Analysing competitive performance on key metrics such as ETA, Availability etc

We quickly realized ranking started quickly improving as we gained a slight edge in each metric against the competitors. For example, 5 minutes less ETA adds to higher ranking.

In six months of this exercise with the QSR chain, we improved the average ranking from 24 to 11 for the QSR chain, getting them featured on the first page.

5. Blind Advertising Investment Opportunities

Problem:

The QSR chain was not clear on which banners (Popular near you, National Favorites, etc.) to choose to invest in, and had to depend on the recommendations of the food platforms entirely.

They weren’t even provided a clear view of which position made the banner visible and at what rank among those banners was their promo visible. They were at times the 7th promo in the 6th banner, which has almost zero probability of being discovered by the user – this happened despite paying heavily for the banners.

Solution:

We aggregated data for all banners populated within each zip code and found out the ranking and in which position the QSR chain was visible.

Identifying and analysing right banners for advertising spends

The QSR chain invested in 630 zip code-based banners with guaranteed visibility, but our assessment indicated the banners were only visible in 301 zip codes. After selecting suitable banners for promotions, we improved visibility to 533 zip codes within enhancing the budget.

We are now using the same strategy for refining discounts, offers, promotions, and coupons.

6. Lack of Campaign Performance Monitoring

Problem: Unsure of the long-term impact of marketing spend

In general, increasing marketing spend does give a temporary boost to sales, but the QSR chain’s question was, how can we measure the long-term impact i.e., ranking keywords and the targeted zip codes.

Solution:

We created a simple widget for every marketing campaign which showed the rank for the keywords for selected zip codes before the campaign, during the campaign, and post the campaign, clearly establishing the midterm impact of the campaign. This constant monitoring allowed the QSR to also quickly pivot on their strategy on account of national holidays etc, and act accordingly.

7. Non-Existent ROI Measurement

Problem: Establishing the impact of ranking on sales

Though the QSR chain could track sales that were coming via the food app channel, they had no way of knowing incremental organic volume driven by marketing efforts.

One missing variable here was how much of extra sales could be attributed to improvement of QSR ranking?

Solution:

By combining the sales data with aggregated insights over time, we established for the QSR chain how much increase in sales they could anticipate from an increase in ranking, also knowing which changed variables led to the percentage of change increase.

So, in essence, we were able to tell the QSR chain that for each store how much sales would increase by improving ETAs, rating, ad visibility, availability, etc., enabling precise ROI calculations for each intervention they make for their stores.

Increasing sales by 3x within six months was only the beginning, and the journey of driving marketing efficiency using competitive and channel data has only just begun.

DataWeave for QSRs

DataWeave has been working with global QSR chains, helping them drive their growth on aggregator platforms by enabling them to monitor their key metrics, diagnose improvement areas, recommend action, and measure interventions’ impact. DataWeave’s strategy eliminates the dependence on food apps for accurate data. We aggregate food app data and websites to help you with analysis and the justification of marketing spend and drive 10-15% growth.

DataWeave’s strategy eliminates the dependence on food apps for accurate data. We aggregate food app data and websites to help you with analysis and the justification of marketing spend and drive 10-15% growth.

If you want to know learn how your brand can leverage Dataweave’s data insights and improve sales, then click here to sign up for a demo

September 21, 2021
Structured and Unstructured data – Benefits of Big Data

The big buzzword of the decade has got to be data. When the untapped potentials of great data were first discovered, experts started calling it the new oil, implying that it is now the most precious resource. And then when the usage of data became more mainstream, where corporations started mining and getting access to piles of data, people started calling it the new soil, insinuating that if all this data isn’t regularly nurtured and optimally used, it would be rendered useless.

But amidst all this hype, all the clutter, and all the buzz around this four-letter word, data is just a bunch of numbers and statistics collected for reference and analysis. Basically, it is just what you, your company, your government, or your country make of it. So how can retailers make the most of it?

Before assessing the use cases, it is paramount to understand the different types of data retailers have access to today. Broadly, it is structured and unstructured. Log files, excel spreadsheets with point-of-sale figures, hierarchies, and inventory data are rich sources of structured data; and information that is derived from in-store sensors, customer reviews, social media posts and hashtags, and even conversations between the store staff and customers serve as unstructured data. While the former sits on well-organized databases for retailers to access, giving them operational robustness, unstructured data gathered from social media and personal interactions helps retailers achieve unprecedented value and gain a competitive advantage. However, the very nature of unstructured data makes the process of obtaining, analyzing and making sense of it rather difficult.

Structuring vs Unstructured

In fact, according to a survey by Deloitte, only 18% of organizations reported being able to take advantage of such data. However, harnessing this data isn’t rocket science (not anymore, at least) as there are a number of tools at a retailer’s disposal today that makes this process convenient and efficient. At DataWeave, we help retailers and brands make sense of unstructured data. Read more about our tech here.

Unstructured data is also qualitative, rather than being quantitative, which in turn makes its use cases more effective, giving businesses a competitive edge. How? Glad you asked!

Customer Behaviour Analytics

What motivates a customer to buy more, or spend more time in a store or online? What is the best time to reach them and where (in an omnichannel world) would they like to be reached? Million-dollar questions, right? Big data gives you insights into this and more, which will then help improve customer acquisition and loyalty.

UK-based home retailer Argos uses data to find out exactly how consumers felt about them. After having embarked on an ambitious project of opening 53 new digital stores a few years back, Argos invested in tools that helped them analyze data received from various social media sites based on the demographics and location to assess the performance of each store and identify rooms for improvement. This helped them understand which stores were perceived more favorably and in which areas, quickly identify issues in-store, action feedback, and find resolutions to increase customer satisfaction.

Want to know customer sentiment against your product? Our Sentiment Analysis solution can help! Access in-depth insights sourced from customer opinions with our constantly evolving algorithm.

DataWeave Sentiment Analysis

Personalization and hyper-personalization

The fact that customers are interacting with retailers on multiple platforms today gives retailers access to a wealth of information about their individual customers that could help them tailor their products, offerings, services and communication to these individuals. According to a study conducted by BCG and commissioned by Google, customers increasingly prefer a shopping experience that’s easy and fast and that helps them make purchase decisions.

Target’s popular pregnancy prediction score based on purchase and purchase volume of about 25 different products in-store, such as unscented lotion, large amounts of calcium, magnesium, and zinc, serves as a great example of how they use this information to then target advertising (e.g sending a booklet of coupons related for baby products) to this cohort of their customers. This algorithm got the international limelight when Target started sending such coupons to the irate father of a teenager who had no idea that his daughter was pregnant. Basically, the retailer knew about the man’s daughter’s pregnancy even before he did!

Operations and supply chain

Amazon Go

A healthy mix of structured and unstructured data is key today in achieving operational excellence. Faster product life cycles and ever-complex operations cause organizations to use big data in retail analytics to understand supply chains and product distribution to reduce costs. Combining that with CRM, ERPs, and other log file data can help in real-time delivery management, improved order picking, and overall supply chain efficiency to reduce costs.

Amazon Go, the checkout-free convenience store by Amazon uses AI-powered cameras, computer vision, and sensors to facilitate grab-and-go systems. Now, the store wholly relies on structured and unstructured data in order to function. The sophisticated automated system makes ordering and restocking highly efficient, given that the cameras can track inventory in real-time. The system knows how many picks-per-hour each stocker is completing and exactly when items go out of stock.

The fact that data enables prediction and forecasts can help cater to a prospective rise in demand by managing the supply chain in advance. For example, if a pharmaceutical company analyzed social media content and determined that people in specific geographical areas were discussing cold and flu symptoms, that could give them a heads-up that demand for products to treat those conditions is on the rise.

Price and cost optimization

Machine learning algorithms are not only designed to learn, but over time they get better at finding the optimal price points for retailers. Retailers can use machine learning models to set prices against sales targets. According to an IBM study, 73 percent of companies surveyed plan to optimize their pricing and promotions through smart automation before the end of 2021.

Automation achievers outshine peers in profitability and revenue growth

Walmart has shrewdly utilized powerful proprietary algorithms to make their offers nearly impossible to beat over the last few years. It still reigns in offering the best price match policy for their customers. This strategy has helped it gain a lot of trust, good publicity, and enabled retention of customers. But how do you optimize what you charge without pricing yourself out? That is where data comes into play. You need real-time monitoring across thousands of stock-keeping units (SKUs) to identify key value categories and items. With proper data analytics in your pocket, you can ask and answer the following important questions: Which items’ prices matter most? Which items have the biggest pull on price perception? What pricing strategies are competitors adopting, and how can you match them? And which items can you afford to reduce in price to win loyalty and boost that very perception?

Learn more about how DataWeave can help retailers make smarter pricing decisions.

Seamless shopping journey

Every company uses data to achieve its own personal goals and objectives, but what makes one retailer better than the other is how they use both structured and unstructured data to provide a seamless experience and shopping journey to customers in a way that is effortless, non-intrusive, and innovative. So use your structured data and also find a way, use the tools, and leverage the power of technology to structure your unstructured big data. In today’s competitive retail landscape where retailers – both online and offline – are leveraging cutting edge technologies to deliver close-to-perfect products and services, and innovative concepts, it is only the ability to harness all forms of structured and unstructured data that will result in achieving your ever-evolving customer engagement and experience goals.

Want to learn how DataWeave can help make sense of your unstructured data? Sign up for a demo with our team to know more.

September 17, 2021
“The Rise of Digitally Native Brands (DNVB)”

Direct-to-Consumer (D2C), Digitally Native Vertical Brands (DNVB), and brand.com serve as
different variations of a similar concept that has blown up in the past few years fueled by factors ranging from a surge in online shopping, stay-at-home restrictions brought about by the pandemic, and a general shift in consumer behavior.

D2C sales were forecasted to account for $17.75 billion of total e-commerce sales in 2020, up 24.3% from the previous year, according to eMarketer. The Middle East might have been late in joining the party but the key players from across the board including brands that sold the traditional way via wholesalers and retailers or those that use online marketplaces such as Amazon and Noon, and the new brands entering this nascent market today are all realizing the potentials of communicating with and selling to customers directly.

The Middle East has one of the highest youth populations in the world with more than 28% of the residents aged between 14 and 29. This means that a great chunk of the population is inherently digital natives, who grew up with smartphones. These young tech-savvy consumers are more informed, are massively influenced by social media for their purchases, are more value and purpose-driven compared to the older generations, as a result of which are open to experimenting with newer brands that align with their ideas and ideologies.

This presents an opportunity for both traditional retailers as well as nascent brands to tap into their e-commerce potential and tailor their offerings to this new cohort of customers leveraging data to understand their individual needs by connecting and engaging with their customers. And the best way to “pivot” to the ever-evolving demands would be by adopting the D2C approach.

Some of the benefits of the D2C milieu in retail would be:

Access to Customer Data

1. Complete access to customer data

Many retailers agree that data is the real differentiator in D2C retail. Using marketplaces like noon.com and Amazon to retail products is great because of the large customer base they have access to, but the downside is, these behemoth marketplaces own the customers and hence their data. The importance of data can’t be stressed enough, but a key use case of all that complex algorithm is that it empowers retailers to customize and personalize offerings to their customers. According to a study by InstaPage, 74% of customers feel frustrated when website content is not personalised. Not having control or access means, they are now crippled from the ‘ability to customize’.

2. Building direct connections with customers

Building direct connections with customers

Trust is a strong consideration for most consumers today. According to a PWC report, 60% of consumers in the Middle East shop online with companies they feel they can trust Gaining trust has proven to be an arduous task for retailers, who now must assure security and demonstrate high levels of education and awareness of their customers, which can only happen through direct connections, personal interactions, and consistent engagement. D2C brands are much better placed to respond to consumer demand to meet their expectations and more importantly address and resolve any grievances they might have.

3. Increasing margins by cutting out middlemen

Increasing margins by cutting out middlemen

Studies have shown that successful D2C companies have a gross margin of 50 – 85%, thanks to two components – effective customer acquisition and eliminating middlemen. Brands with their own unique value proposition, voice, channels and strategies come across as more authentic, and for the millennials and Gen Z, authenticity is the name of the game. Secondly, and perhaps more evidently, getting rid of distribution partners ends up saving costs for the company tremendously.

Also, e-commerce eliminates the high fixed distribution costs brands used to pay retailers for shelf space and replaces it with variable costs to list on their website or an e-commerce marketplace. However, one thing to keep in mind when listing on marketplaces is that digital channels provide transparency into pricing. And customers will be comparing the prices of your products against your competitors. That’s why it’s critical for D2C brands to benchmark their pricing strategies against their rivals to drive more revenue and margins by pricing products competitively. Want to know how? Read about how DataWeave’s AI-Powered e-commerce analytics solutions can help

4. Enables to expand presence

Enables to expand presence

While the D2C approach is proving to be profitable, it also gives brands the flexibility to expand and enhance their presence. Nike would be a prime example of how it has aggressively expanded its presence offline and online since it announced a decade back about its Customer Direct Acceleration strategy. Over the years, Nike’s D2C sales have grown from 16% of the brand’s total revenue to 35% or $12.4 billion by the end of fiscal 2020. Undoubtedly, Nike’s e-commerce focus has been strong, but what they have also mastered is its digitally integrated concept stores that have taken in-store experience to the next level. Moreover, going the D2C way has given the brand more flexibility to build on its voice and purpose, which is reflected across all of its channels and touchpoints. As a result, Nike has been able to grow its presence in existing markets, and establish the brand in new markets by widening its e-commerce penetration and opening stores that helps build communities and serve as marketing fronts instead of merely being points of sale.

In the Middle East too, there are some strong players, that realized the benefits of D2C and are reaping the benefits now. The most prominent of them would be Huda Beauty, founded by makeup artist turned billionaire entrepreneur Huda Kattan. Beginning as a blog in 2010, Huda Beauty has fast become the number one beauty Instagram account in the world. Huda launched her brand into Sephora in the Dubai Mall in 2013 and has since expanded the range to include a vast array of beauty products. The brand has since had several record-breaking launches globally, with products now available worldwide on hudabeauty.com as well as retailers including, Sephora, Sephora in JC Penney, Harrods, Selfridges, and Cult Beauty. Equipped with a clear value proposition and an army of loyal customers, the company continues to grow as its founder continues to deliver on the brand promise and remains connected with her customers bypassing middlemen.

Also read how DataWeave helped Douglas, a premium beauty retailer in Germany go D2C when the pandemic forced them to focus on their ‘Digital First’ strategy.

Another example would be the popular eyewear brand, Warby Parker, a company that capitalized on technology, data, and strived to bring a solution to the market. It stepped into an industry that was criticized for being expensive, entered a market that was skeptical of purchasing online, and turned the whole situation around by going D2C. They designed their own frames and sourced their own raw materials, drastically bringing down the costs that would have been passed on to end consumers. They introduced virtual try-on that delivered accurate results turning customers into loyal consumers. And today, after six separate rounds of fundraising, the company is reportedly set to launch an Initial Public Offering this year.

The playing field in the Middle East is wide open and the appetite for brands that respect value, put people over profits, care about providing suitable, cruelty-free, and ethical products, and understand their customers is only growing. Brands with a robust infrastructure, the right technical know-how and technologies, expertise to manage data, and clear strategies are already on the right path to establishing a strong D2C platform.

Insights from DataWeave can help D2C brands make smart, competitive assortment, promotion, and pricing decisions amongst other things to improve the customer experience and drive e-commerce sales. Sign up for a demo with our team to know more.

August 24, 2021
Seven tricks to win food wars on food aggregators apps
Food aggregators have emerged as a critical channel for Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) chains to grow their business – especially post-pandemic. Quick Service Restaurants, QSRs, as we call them, are capitalizing on the opportunity too. For many chains, as high as 50% of their revenue now comes via aggregator channels.

However, most QSR chains are only beginning to leverage data and analytics to drive business on the food aggregator apps.

Currently, QSRs spend vast amounts on marketing on Food apps but are always unsure of the return on their investment. Aggregators share some data, but they have an inherent motive to entice QSRs to buy more advertisements. They cannot share competitive insights as well. Moreover, as QSRs work with several platforms at once, it gets difficult to collate and analyze data from all these platforms together. These issues make leveraging data for QSR chains difficult. At Dataweave, we have collated some insights from our recent experience of working with global QSR chains helping them improve their sales on different food applications using data:

1. Availability

(L) Availability of QSR outlets across aggregator platforms at state, city, and outlet levels. (R) Availability trends at Lunch and Dinner slots across platforms. Such trends can highlight problem areas that need to be addressed.

The easiest and most impactful fix is to ensure that all your outlets are available on the app at the peak slots, typically lunch and dinner. Availability increase of ~2% at peak times results in order volume increase by ~5%-7%.

The reasons for unavailability range from lack of riders, overwhelming orders at the outlet, or just plain technical glitches. Tracking this metric and actively engaging with your stores and aggregator platforms to resolve any issues should be a daily priority.

2. Monitoring Keyword Ranks

Illustrative chart showing a high correlation between ranking and sales

If you are a Pizza chain but don’t show up among the first five ranks when your target customer is searching for Pizza, the chances of a sale are lower.

What helps is to track the ranking for your brand, and your competitor brands, in different category listings across different keywords.

Your ranking may differ a lot by region, markets, and Zip codes depending on consumer tastes, competitors, and your brand presence, and it’s helpful to track it granularly.

No surprises here – but rank is strongly correlated with your order volumes!

3. Tracking competitors

Illustrative chart showing the rank of key QSR chains on the home page and various categories

One of the tricks to rapidly gain in ranking is to monitor competitors in your category and ensure that you are doing better on each attribute – ranking, rating, ETAs (estimated time of arrival), fees, discounts, etc.

A slight edge across your outlets translates to rapid gain in ranking and order volumes.

4. Choosing suitable banners for promotions

Position of various banners at various zip codes. Important to choose banners that rank higher.

Choosing banners is an essential strategy to gain visibility – but it’s vital to know two factors:
- At what rank does the banner you are choosing show up on the App/Website.
- At what position does your brand show up in the banner?
If you are on a 5^th rank on the 4^th banner, your marketing spend is probably going down the drain.

5. A/B Testing

Before starting an effective marketing campaign, it helps to do A/B testing by running two different banners in the same city one week apart to see which yields more impact.

A/B testing can also be a tool to choose banners, discounts, offers, signature images, etc.

6. Sensitivity analysis

Illustrative chart showing that ETAs are highly correlated with sales, whereas ratings do not have much impact.
- What has more impact on sales – Ratings or ETAs?
- What will be the likely impact on sales of the marketing campaign in New York vs. Denver?
- What is the likely impact of competitors’ ad blitz on your sales?
Data can answer these and many more questions, and this sensitivity analysis should be part of the QSR chain’s decision-making

7. Monitoring campaign performance

QSR chains spend millions of dollars of ad budget running campaigns on aggregator platforms combining banner ads, discounts, offers, etc.

It’s a great idea to measure QSRs rank on these aggregator’s platforms before, during, and post the campaign in focus Zip Codes for priority keywords to see if the gain in ranking is temporary or lasts for a while.

The ultimate factors for QSRs to win will remain the quality of food and consistency of the brand’s messaging. Leveraging the power of data can help understand the aggregator platform’s characteristics, competitor’s strengths, weaknesses, & strategy, and consumer behavior trends.

Also, data can help better direct ad dollars and the eCommerce teams’ focus on the right initiatives to drive maximum sales and growth.

DataWeave for QSRs

DataWeave has been working with global QSR chains, helping them drive their growth on aggregator platforms by enabling them to monitor their key metrics, diagnose improvement areas, recommend action, and measure interventions’ impact.

DataWeave’s strategy eliminates the dependence on food apps for accurate data. We directly crawl food aggregators apps and websites and help you with data and analysis to solve the aforementioned issues and drive 10-15% growth.
August 19, 2021
G2 recognise DataWeave as Leader and High Performer in 2021.
We are really excited by the recognition that G2 has given us. G2 has awarded us 3 new badges this year in G2’s Summer 2021 Reports. Before we dive into what these awards are, let me give you a little background

What are G2 and G2 Grid Report?

G2 (formerly G2 Crowd) is the world’s leading B2B software and services review platform. The platform helps potential customers choose the right software and services for their business based on authentic, timely reviews from genuine users.

Every quarter, G2 creates a report that showcases the top-rated solutions in the industry, as chosen by the real heroes, our customers

The Grid Report represents the democratic voice of real software users, rather than the subjective opinion of one analyst. G2 rates products from the E-Commerce Analytics category and Multi-Channel Retail category algorithmically based on data sourced from:
- Product reviews shared by G2 users
- Data aggregated from online sources and social networks
Who is DataWeave?

DataWeave provides Competitive Intelligence and Digital Shelf Analytics to eCommerce businesses and consumer brands by aggregating and analyzing Web data at a massive scale.

The company’s AI-powered technology platform enables eCommerce businesses to make smarter pricing and merchandising decisions and helps brands optimize their online channels to drive more sales.

With that context here is a deeper look at what we have been recognized for.

Leader Summer 2021 – E-Commerce Analytics

Leader Summer G2 2021

Products in the Leader quadrant in the Grid® Report are rated highly by G2 users and have substantial Satisfaction and Market Presence scores in the category of E-Commerce Analytics.

Simply put, this means, among all the e-commerce analytics solutions listed on G2, DataWeave scored the highest on customer delight, consideration & market share along with a handful of select companies that were all ‘Leaders’ in this category.

High Performer Summer 2021: Multi-Channel Retail

High Performer Summer G2 2021

Products in the High Performer quadrant in the Grid® Report have high customer satisfaction scores and Market Presence scores compared to the rest of the Multi-Channel Retail category.

This means that in the Multi-Channel Retail category, while we’re not “Leaders” we come in at a very close second as a “High Performer”. We’re still the preferred choice and have a greater market share & customer consideration over a lot of other solutions in this category on G2.

We have also won the Users Love Us reward badge, for receiving 20+ reviews with an average rating of 4.4 stars.

Users Love Us G2

We would like to thank all the users for sharing their love and giving us such amazing reviews. These awards give us the impetus to continue our journey in making customer delight our top priority and helping our customers win.

Here is what DataWeave’s team has to say about earning these badges:

“Winning these badges from G2 is not only a huge confidence booster but also validation from users that DataWeave’s solution and capabilities are making a difference for our customers.”

Krishnan Thyagarajan, COO and President, DataWeave

“DataWeave as a Leader and High Performer in these categories brings credibility and showcases the market share that the product holds amongst our valued customers.
It also showcases that our customers value the proactive engagements driven by our customer success managers. A big kudos to our team at DataWeave and a big thank you to our customers for helping us achieve this recognition.”

Srikanth Ramanolla, Director of Customer Success, DataWeave

If you are one of our customers who have loved using our product, then I urge you to give us your review over here to continue providing value to wonderful customers like you.
August 5, 2021
Prep, Prime and Plenish For Prime Day India 2021

After demonetization, Covid-19 has probably been one of the worst scenarios for the retail sector in India. The entire nation went into lockdown and the industry noticed some big changes around the entire globe. From remote working to shopping, everything turned to digital and Bharat witnessed new trends across payments, e-commerce, and more.

Not surprisingly, D2C has been a favorite amongst businesses thanks to its agility. More than 800 brands have joined the direct-to-consumer bandwagon in order to reach their audience quickly and in an efficient way. Where brands such as MamaEarth, Clovia, Bewakoof, Lenskart have been some of the popular brands in the sector, last year even traditional giants such as LG, Ajanta-Orpat, Piaggio, Havells also adopted the D2C model.

Source: Avendus

Brands are more focused on making the user experience better and it will be safe to say that this year, D2C will be the highlight of the e-tail ecosystem. Naturally, e-commerce giants such as Amazon, Flipkart have played an important role in this revolution. Amazon, which has over 100 Million registered users in India, announced that it will host its flagship event, Prime Day this year on 26-27 July.

Let’s look at some of the things brands can do to leave their mark this Prime Day in India.

Digital Shelf Optimisation: Need Of The Hour

Given that the pandemic has accelerated online shopping nationwide, Digital Shelf Optimisation (DSO) should be the key lever for any brand to accelerate its digital commerce growth. Events such as Prime day are significant for a brand’s reputation, customer experience, overall sales and can help you build a loyal customer base.

With that in mind, we have prepared a list of things to consider, in order to help brands stand out from the crowd.

1. Pricing And Discounting

Pricing and Discounting: Offer discounts and deals to attract customers.

It is obvious that Prime Day will see a tremendous influx of shoppers. Noticeably, impulsive shopping is a trend during these sales, as everybody loves a good product for a discounted price. Make sure to offer discounts and deals to attract customers.

Another suggestion is to keep a track of competition, their pricing and promotional strategies and keep an eye on price changes happening across relevant categories or SKU’s (Stock Keeping Unit). Competition analysis is a powerful tool and having accurate data on their sales, market share is a critical part of this.

2. Optimise Product Visibility

Product Visibility: Lakhs of sellers & brands are vying for the same spot

Marketplaces are crowded, and getting discovered is already hard. Lakhs of sellers & brands are vying for the same spot. And with more people moving online, it’s going to get increasingly harder for brands to stand out. Optimize your search visibility using the right keywords relevant to your brand, strategically spend on Sponsored Ads to secure high visibility placements on Amazon and lastly make sure your online product packaging via product pages contain attractive images to position your product in the best light.

3. Product Availability

Product Availability: Have plenty of stock available

Make sure to have plenty of stock available as shoppers are likely to turn to other brands/products in case your product is unavailable. Also, keep in mind that people are generally more open to trying new products during a sale as it offers discounts. Track your products’ stock status to make sure they’re available 24 x 7.

As the foremost goal during sales is to move inventory as much as possible, offering a large assortment is a good idea. Create product bundles that complement each other.

4. Use A + Content

A+ Content is King: The new age packaging for your product

Content is the new age packaging for your product. Content is crucial to change consumer shortlists & considerations into conversions.

Your content tells your product story & gives customers the information they need to make a purchase. Use high resolution and accurate images, add features, benefits, USPs of your products clearly. It is advisable to use more than one image to show your product more clearly. Make sure all your brand & product pages on Amazon are optimized.

5. Ratings And Reviews

Reviews and Ratings: Feedback is a very important e-commerce tool.

Why would shoppers rely on word-of-mouth when they can take help from millions of people from the community? Not said enough, feedback is a very important e-commerce tool. Amazon’s A9 algorithm presents the choices to the consumers but reviews and star ratings still play an influential role in the journey from consideration to conversion.

Brands could consider partnering with Dataweave, to keep track of reviews and manage negative ratings on Amazon.

Summary

According to a report by EY-IVCA Trend Book 2021, “ The e-commerce industry in India is expected to reach $99 Bn by 2024 and penetration of retail is expected to be 10.7% by 2024, compared to 4.7% in 2019.”

Source: Statista

The same report also revealed that India will have 220 Million online shoppers by 2025. With e-commerce growing at an exponential rate, brands are advised to be more statistical & data-driven to win a larger % of online sales.
If you think this is the right time to optimize your digital shelf, take a look at our products and services.

We at DataWeave would be happy to be a part of your e-commerce and digitization journey. You can sign up for a demo with our team to know more

July 26, 2021