Tag: online sales promotion strategies

  • It’s not easy being a Bakery Brand: Insights from Digital Shelf

    It’s not easy being a Bakery Brand: Insights from Digital Shelf

    By 2028, Fortune Business Insights projects that the global bakery products market will reach USD 590 billion. The CAGR (Compounded annual growth rate) for 2021-28 is estimated at 5.12%. Products in this segment include bread, buns, cookies, tortillas, salted snacks, English muffins, bagels, confectionery food, hot dogs, cakes, popcorn, and so on.

    Due to disruptions in the global supply chain caused by lockdowns and border closures, the pandemic has had a negative impact on the demand for bakery products and snacks worldwide. However, the market is not only changing, but consumer demand is increasing. Post-pandemic, health, food, and safety have gained renewed attention.

    People across the world are making healthier choices with a focus on wellness. 

    A growing number of people are interested in plant-based foods and beverages, reducing sugar consumption, and understanding the link between lifestyle and health, including obesity and diabetes. As a result of these trends, food producers are reshaping their product strategies to meet new consumer demands.

    In this article, we take a look at the ways companies can leverage data to inform their e-commerce strategy.

    What’s driving up the demand for bakery products?

    More people are choosing easy-to-use bakery products and snacks over other foods due to urbanization, convenience, western diets, and women’s participation in the workforce. Additionally, innovations in baking systems, food technologies, ingredients, formulations, and product ideas are providing customers with a greater level of choice, flexibility, and freedom.

    How is e-commerce changing the game for bakery product companies?

    To optimize their supply chains, bakery food and snack companies must better understand e-commerce metrics given the wide variety of products available and eventually convert sales. There are several measures that companies need to pay attention to. 

    Stock availability metrics, discounts across locations, and share of search results – are all critical metrics companies need to track. In addition to providing manufacturers and retailers with an insight into the trends, DataWeave’s tools also allow them to make better business decisions and ultimately improve their bottom line. 

    Grocery Retailers and Bakery Brands tracked

    Methodology

    • Data Scrape period: February 2022 to September 2022
    • Country: Canada
    • Grocery Retailers tracked: Atlantic Superstore, Fortinos, InstaCart, Loblaws, Voila, Walmart Grocery, Zehrs.
    • Bakery brands: Betty Crocker, Dempsters, Hostess, No Name, Presidents Choice, Quaker, Vachon, Doritos.
    • Category tracked: Bread and Bakery, Chips, Crackers, Deserts, Snacks.

    Share of Search Analysis

    Which brands feature the most on e-commerce portals?

    When listing items on e-commerce platforms, share of search is crucial. The highest share of the top ten or top twenty items available on these platforms is correlated with how many times the item may be viewed. As a result, it would have a greater chance of being selected by the customer.

    By Retailer for Category “Desserts”

    Share of Search for Brands in each retailer
    • In Walmart Grocery, Vachon has the highest share of search at 41%, whereas Betty Crocker, Presidents Choice and No Name had the lowest share of search at 0%, in the Desserts Category.
    • In Loblaws, Presidents Choice had the highest share of search of 34%, whereas Dempsters had the lowest share of search of 2%  in the Desserts Category. 
    • The brand Presidents Choice consistently ranks high in the share of search results for Desserts across multiple retailers, including Atlantic Superstore, Fortinos, Instacart, Loblaws, and Zehrs – except at two retailers, Voila and Watlmart Grocery, where its share is zero.

    Trend of Share of Search for “Desserts”

    Share of Search analysis by Brands over Time in category “Desserts”
    • Share of search had dropped by around 4% for No Name, whereas for Vachon, it increased by 3% from Jan’-22 to Sep’ 22
    • By brands, Presidents Choice had the highest share of search at 42%, whereas Betty Crocker had the lowest share of search at 12% between Jan’ 22 and Sep’ 22 in the Desserts Category.

    Availability Analysis

    Which products are widely available across e-commerce portals?

    The availability of the product on the e-commerce portal is one of the key indicators of meeting customer demand. Brands can use insights from DataWeave to strategize how to restock their inventory and ease customer demand. Based on data analysis, brands can also determine which products to prioritize on which platforms.

    By Category

    Availability analysis by Category over Time
    • Availability of all five categories was around 52% in Feb’ 22, which steadily increased to 61% until Aug’ 22 and has reduced to reach 55% availability in Sep’ 22
    • Sliced Bread category has seen the most drop in availability by 12% between Jun’ 22 and Sep’ 22
    • The tortilla category has the most rise in availability. It has increased by 16% between Feb-22 and May-22. It also showed an overall rise in availability of 5% from Feb-22 to Sep-22

    By Location

    Availability analysis by Location and Category
    • Across categories, Snacks & Candy had better availability at 73% than Bread & Bakery, with 56% availability.
    • By Location, New Brunswick had more than 65% availability across all three categories; the closest Location is Nova Scotia, with 63% availability.
    • Alberta had the highest availability of 100% in the Snacks & Candy category and the lowest availability of 21% overall in all three categories (weighted aggregate)

    Discounts Analysis

    Several discount-based insights can be studied on e-commerce platforms. From location-based trends, retailer-based trends, and manufacturer-based insights. These insights can help companies make the most of the revenue opportunity while creating an attractive value proposition for the retail consumer.

    By Category

    Discount analysis by Category
    • Discounts of all three categories were around 24% in Feb’ 22, which steadily reduced to reach 15% in Sep’ 22
    • Snacks, cookies & chips category has contributed the most to the drop in discounting, which dropped by 17% between Apr’ 22 and Sep’ 22
    • The Tortilla Category does not have any discount in the month of Jul’ 22

    By Retailer

    • Discount on Bread & Bakery category in Walmart Grocery was around 9% in Feb’ 22. It steadily increased to 13% by Jun’ 22 and thereon reduced to reach 11% availability in Sep’ 22.

    By Location

    • Across Retailers, Nova Scotia had the highest availability of discounts at 22%, whereas New Brunswick had the lowest with discounts at 9% in Bread & Bakery category.
    Discount analysis by Retailers and Locations – Alberta, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia
    Note: Analysis does not cover all locations

    Bakery and snack product manufacturers on e-commerce platforms have access to a rich trove of insights they can leverage to benchmark their strategies. They can better understand customer demands, align their supply chain and critically understand the trends impacting their bottom line. Engaging with a third-party platform like DataWeave’s Digital Shelf Analytics  can help brands unlock tremendous value. 

  • Insights from the Digital Shelf of Indian FMCG Brands

    Insights from the Digital Shelf of Indian FMCG Brands

    Analyzing Search, Promotions and Availability for Chocolates, Biscuits, and Malt Drinks across BigBasket, Blinkit, Dmart, Swiggy etc.

    Imagine you log into an e-commerce portal with a list of food items you need for the month. You know what you want, and scroll through the platform to see if there are any discounts. You check competitor products to see if you can get better deals. And within no time, fill your cart with products that you need and proceed to check out. 

    It all happens quickly. It’s an online shopping experience that we are familiar with. But what exactly is happening in the background?

    Brands are tracking and ensuring the highest keyword ranking, optimal availability and competitive discounts to grab your order. And to enable this, Brands rely on Digital Shelf Analytics.

    The FMCG marketplace

    Here, we take a closer look at some of the key factors that Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) Brands on e-commerce platforms need to pay attention to – to ensure their products appear on the top of search items, to better understand competitor discounts and to monitor the availability of their products across regions.

    FMCG has experienced rapid growth in the last two years, largely attributed to digitalization, changing consumer habits, and increased spending post-pandemic.  Macro factors, including government impetus, inflationary pressures, and consumption recovery, indicate a double digital growth for FMCG brands in the country. According to NielsenIQ’s FMCG Snapshot for Q2 2022, the FMCG industry has grown by 10.9% in the quarter ending June 2022, compared to 6% in the previous quarter.  In the second half of 2022, consumers are expected to spend even more during the festive season. With these shifts underway, the growth opportunities in this sector can only be exploited by companies that can sense trends early – and take appropriate action.

    In addition to providing manufacturers and retailers with actionable insights into e-commerce trends, DataWeave’s tools also allow them to make informed business decisions and ultimately improve their bottom line. Data-driven insights on e-commerce products can help brands optimize their supply chain to maximize sales. A company can determine the key areas that need attention based on an analysis of the availability of products on specific e-commerce channels, associated discounts, as well as zip-code level demand and supply statistics.

    Here are a few sample insights and trend analyses for some popular FMCG brands in the Biscuits, Chocolate and Malt drinks categories spotted by DataWeave.  

    Analytics Methodology: An overview of the data set analyzed

    • Data Scrape period: January 2022 to August 2022
    • Grocery Retailers tracked: Amazon Fresh, BigBasket, Dmart, Jiomart, Swiggy, Milkbasket
    • FMCG brands: Britannia, ITC, Mondelez, Nestle, Parle, Complan, Boost, Amul, Hershey’s
    • Category tracked: Biscuits, Chocolate, Malt drinks


    Availability Analysis

    What is the availability of Biscuits, Chocolate and Malt Drinks on e-commerce portals?

    The availability of a product on an e-commerce marketplace is a key indicator of whether the product meets consumer demands.  DataWeave’s availability analytics can be leveraged by FMCG brands to strategize their inventory and stock planning.  Brands can also make data-driven decisions on product visibility, i.e. identify which products to prioritize on which platforms. 

    • Biscuits had a better availability at 63% when compared to chocolates at 56% across all retailers
    • Dmart and Swiggy had more than 85% availability across all three categories, with Bigbasket coming next at 67% availability 
    • Flipkart Grocery and Blinkit had the lowest availability at 46% and 50%, respectively.
     Figure 1: Availability Scores for Biscuits, Chocolates and Malt Drinks across Retailers

    Which manufacturers have the highest availability of products on e-commerce platforms?

    A study of the availability of products across different manufacturers can reveal brands that have successfully tapped the market opportunity. Here’s a look at brands that have steadily improved their availability on e-commerce platforms.

    Figure 2: Availability Trends for Biscuits across Manufacturers
    • In the biscuits category, all five manufacturers marked approximately 50% availability in Jan 2022. Availability steadily grew to 68% in June 2022, then declined to 63% in Aug 2022.
    • Unibic experienced the largest drop in availability, dropping 15% between May 22 and Aug 22.
    • Mondelez saw the largest rise in availability, an increase of  23% between Mar-22 and Aug-22.
    Figure 3: Availability Trends for Malt Drinks across Manufacturers
    • Except for Boost and Nestle, availability for all seven manufacturers of malt drinks was consistently above 50%. The average availability across all manufacturers rose gradually from 55% in Jan to 63% in Jul-22, followed by a small decline to 57% in August.
    • From 30% availability in January 22 to a mere 7% in August 22, Boost has seen the greatest drop in availability.
    • The availability of Amul has risen the most over the past year, rising from 51% in January 22 to 78% in August 22, hitting 80% in July 22.

    Chocolate: Which manufacturers have the highest availability of products on the e-commerce platforms?

    Figure 4: Availability Trends for Chocolates across Manufacturers
    • Chocolate availability across all manufacturers averaged 47% in Jan-22, reaching a peak of 64% in May-22 and dropping to 51% in Aug-22.
    • From 46% in Jan-22 to 74% in May, Mondelez saw the biggest increase in availability, followed by a decline to 68% in August.
    • Ferrero experienced one of the sharpest drops in availability. Although the brand’s availability steadily grew from 77% in Jan 22 to 94% in Jul 22., it registered a steep drop to 49% in August. 

    The drop in availability hurts the Brand’s eCommerce in two ways. Not only does the Brand lose sales directly. But poor availability also impacts the keyword search ranking, which further hurts the sales.

    Check out DataWeave’s Digital Shelf Analytics Product for insights on how Availability tracking can help reduce stock-outs and boost sales. Click here to know more.

    Discount Analysis

    Location-based, retailer-based, and manufacturer-based discount trends can be analyzed. These studies can help companies plan attractive and appropriate promotional and discount strategies to enhance their revenue opportunities. 

    Which manufacturer has been offering the most discounts?

    A study of discounts offered across manufacturers for chocolates, malt drinks and biscuits indicates that some brands have increased their discounts while others have reduced their discount rates. These decisions could be triggered by demand, availability, and production cycle. Parle, for example, has steadily reduced its discount rates. 

    Figure 5: Discount Rate Trends across Manufacturers

    Average discount rates across manufacturers were around 9% in Jan 2022 and rose steadily to reach 14% in Jul 2022. A small decline is observed post-July, with a 12% discount rate registered in Aug 2022.

    • In the biscuit category, Unibic offered the biggest discount of 28%, followed by ITC at 20%.     
    • In the Chocolate category, Hershey’s offered the largest discount of 14%, followed by ITC at 12%.
    • In the Malt Drink Category, Amul offered the largest discount of 16%, followed by Boost at about 10%. 

    Check out DataWeave’s Digital Shelf Analytics Product for insights to respond to Competitor’s pricing and promotions. Click here to know more.

    Share of Search Analysis

    Which brands feature within the top 5 on the first page of the search?

    A product that appears within the top 5 items on the first page of a search, has a higher probability of being purchased. Below is a study of the share of the search for biscuits across manufacturers and retailers. 

    Figure 6: Share of Search for Biscuits across Manufacturers and Retailers
    • Britannia dominates the top ten share of search across different online retail platforms.
    • Mondelez has the highest share of search at 62% in Amazon Fresh, whereas Parle-G has the lowest share of search at 7%.
    • In Bigbasket, Britannia has the highest search share of 62%, whereas Parle-G has the lowest search share of 7%.

    Check out DataWeave’s Digital Shelf Analytics to track the Share of Keyword and Navigation Search. Click here to know more.

    Conclusion

    FMCG is a rapidly evolving industry sector with a high potential for growth in the coming years. FMCG brands must compete with one another to fully tap this market opportunity on several factors to ensure that their products are visible, available, and attractive to consumers. Digital crawling and big data technologies have enabled manufacturers and retailers to collect publicly available e-commerce data for useful, actionable insights and trend analysis. To stay competitive, it is crucial for manufacturers and retailers to engage with analytics and data experts to seamlessly integrate e-commerce analytics into their short- and long-term business strategies. Whether it’s building keywords to increase the share of search, knowing the right discounts to attract customers in a particular city or increasing the availability of products on specific e-commerce platforms, companies need to invest in the right data intelligence!

    DataWeave for FMCG Brands

    DataWeave has been working with global CPG/FMCG brands, helping them drive their growth on eCommerce platforms by enabling them to monitor their key metrics, diagnose improvement areas, recommend action, and measure interventions’ impact. DataWeave’s KPIs enable Brands to fill in the blind spots in their funnel data and allows them to respond to competitors on a near-real-time basis.

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

  • 6 Promotional Strategies for the Holiday Season

    6 Promotional Strategies for the Holiday Season

    For eCommerce companies, holidays are the busiest season of the year. Whether creating brand awareness with your marketing campaigns or freshening up your landing pages or finding new ways to segment & understand your customers, the list of tasks seems endless. It’s the time of the year when most people look forward to shopping for friends and family. 

    The holiday shopping season begins with Black Friday and Cyber Monday and leads to the December holidays, including Christmas and New Year. Consequently, proper planning and marketing are essential for a successful holiday season. 

    In fact, holiday sales during November and December are forecasted to be between $843.4B – $859B, up 10.5% over 2020, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF). For online stores specifically, sales are predicted to increase between 11% – 15% to a total of between $218.3B and $226.2B driven by online purchases.

    This guide will share eight promotional strategies retailers can use during the holiday season. We will also discuss how data analytics can help retailers improve their promotional strategies. 

    Using data analytics to guide promotional strategies

    Promotional Strategies
    Promotional Strategies

    Data is the foundation of every successful marketing campaign. Data analysis helps companies understand which graphics worked well and campaigns that generated the most revenue. Gathering data and running analysis helps companies improve their next marketing campaign. Retailers can also get deeper insights into campaigns/channels with the highest conversion rate or average order value (AOV).

    With data analytics, retailers can prioritize campaigns and channels that resonate the most with their customers this holiday season. But, it would be best to try more than one promotional strategy to ensure you double down on what works without placing all of your eggs in one Christmas-themed basket. 

    Here are four ways that data analytics can help guide promotional strategies:

    a. Customized alerts for listing pages

    Data analysis helps retailers determine if certain products are out of stock on their rival’s website and adjust their own pricing accordingly. It allows retailers to grab market share for trending items. For example, if you get an out-of-stock alert for a particular product at competitors’ stores, you can invest more in advertising that product on your online store. In addition, customized alerts keep retailers informed about their inventory status, allowing them to plan promotions and ads. They can see which products are becoming commoditized due to intense competition and which ones offer better revenue opportunities. 

    Learn how DataWeave can help retailers track their competitor’s stock and inventory status.

    b. Maximize conversions by tracking product trends

    Assortment Analytics
    Assortment Analytics

    Customers are always looking for products that are currently trending. With assortment analytics, eCommerce companies can get insights into hot trends, allowing them to stock in-demand categories and products. Integrating assortment analytics with AI-powered image analytics can also provide insights into attributes that are popular among customers. By filling gaps in their current assortments, retailers can improve conversion rates and increase revenue. 

    Here’s a case study on how DataWeave helped Douglas, a luxury beauty retailer in Germany boost sales by building an in-demand product assortment 

    c. Monitor competitor promotions

    Promotional Insights
    Promotional Insights

    With increased competition and consumer demand for deals, it has become important for retailers to monitor their competitor’s promotions. Monitoring promotions helps retailers to optimize their ad spend accordingly. AI-powered image analysis tools can capture important information from competitors’ ad banners and deliver insights into metrics that are working to deliver sales. 

    Here’s how DataWeave can help retailers make their marketing magnetic with competitive promotional insights

    d. Optimize margins with a data-driven pricing strategy 

    Pricing Intelligence
    Pricing Intelligence

    It has become challenging to price products in recent years since digital tools enable price transparency across channels. Although this trend is excellent for consumers, it makes competition fierce for retailers. A data-driven pricing strategy incorporates a variety of factors, including industry needs, competitor analysis, consumer demand, production costs, and profit margins. 

    With data-driven competitive pricing, retailers can keep pace with the changing eCommerce environment with real-time pricing updates. It also helps them optimize margins and quickly respond to changes in prices on rival stores. 

    Promotional Strategies for the Holiday Season

    a. Virtual Webrooms

    When customers want to see a product in-person, they go to a store showroom. It helps them make a purchase decision. However, with the Internet, eCommerce companies can bring this tactic online. The only difference between showrooming and webrooming is that the former takes in-person, whereas the latter happens digitally. Webrooming grew in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead of spending weekends browsing stores, consumers took to the Internet for most of their product research.

    A webroom allows customers to explore products from every angle, providing them with the complete in-person showroom experience online. Webrooming is a powerful holiday marketing strategy, especially regarding expensive purchases. Customers prefer to understand how the product will look. However, building a webroom is extensive and requires retailers to hire developers and professional photographers.

    Webrooms allow retailers to share their collections, schedule virtual appointments, share 3D product images, set up virtual fitting rooms for clothing products, and accept purchase orders. For example, in 2015, Tommy Hilfiger launched its first digital showroom in Amsterdam to improve sustainability and minimize its carbon footprint. Through remote wholesale selling and digital product creation, a digital showroom helped Tommy Hilfiger transform the buying journey and retail value chain.

    b. Loyalty-rewarding sales and perks

    Loyalty Rewarding
    Customer Loyalty

    Consider building customer loyalty during your holiday promotions. First, encourage your holiday shoppers to become loyal customers by offering bonus rewards, contests, or giveaways when they sign up for your loyalty program. You can encourage them to purchase right away by providing instant discount coupons or points for a reward to redeem on their next purchase. For maximum impact, you should run this promotion throughout the holiday season. 

    Second, you should attract your current loyalty program members with discount codes. Offer free shipping or provide a one-day-only discount code to ensure your customers choose you during their last-minute purchases. With these rewards, you’ll attract customers who are window shopping and simultaneously bring your loyal customers back throughout the holiday season.

    c. Charitable Tie-Ins

    AmazonSmile
    AmazonSmile

    Research shows that customers are four times more likely to purchase from brands with a strong sense of purpose. With the festive season being the time of giving, working with a charity and giving back to your community is a great way to reach out to customers. 

    After a tough one and half years because of the pandemic, people want to give back and help those in need this holiday season. You can partner with a non-profit and run campaigns that allow customers to give back. It’s also great for sharing your brand mission with your customers. For instance, Amazon allows customers to shop from AmazonSmile, which donates 0.5% of their eligible Charity List purchases to a selected charity, at no extra cost to the customers. 

    Consider partnering with an organization within your industry. For example, you can pair up with a non-profit that collects and gives clothes to the needy if you sell clothes. You can involve customers by asking them to exchange old dresses for coupons or cash discounts. 

    d. Omni-channel customer experience

    Omni-channel marketing provides customers with a seamless, consistent, and cohesive experience over multiple marketing channels. Omnichannel marketing aims to provide a meaningful and cohesive experience that inspires your customers to make a purchase. Unlike multichannel marketing, this strategy puts the customer at the center of marketing campaigns and elevates the cross-channel customer experience. 

    Omnichannel shoppers spend 10% more money and purchase 15% more items than the original shoppers. eCommerce companies can use historical data to analyze successful channels and create a more transparent marketing strategy for the holiday season. Omnichannel analytics will provide a holistic picture of customer data that will help retailers to better meet the customer’s requirements and predict inventory. 

    e. Buy now, pay later (BNPL)

    Buy Now Pay Later
    Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL)

    Technically, buy now, pay later isn’t a promotional idea since your customers will still be paying the full price. However, BNPL allows them to delay their payments and not pay in full right away at checkout. Buy now, pay later needs to be on every eCommerce company’s holiday promotions plans. Various retailers, including Walmart, offer affordable monthly payments at the pace of 3 to 24 months with Affirm. Target also has a similar scheme with Sezzle and Affirm. Whereas Sephora and Macy’s offer 4 interest-free payments with Klarna.

    BNPL is especially popular with millennials and Gen Z shoppers and will factor into their 2021 holiday shopping plans. Research showed 62% growth in the use of buy now, pay later service in consumers aged 18 to 24. Giving customers a means to manage their budgets during holidays while still taking home their purchases will attract more customers. While the customer doesn’t pay the full price right away for their purchase, businesses still get the total worth of the item. In the eCommerce industry—nearly 50% of BNPL users say they use it while shopping online, and among them, 45% use the service frequently.

    f. Buy One, Get One

    The last promotional idea is a classic buy one, get one offer. Everyone likes a good BOGO promotional offer. In fact, 66% of shoppers from a survey preferred BOGO over other promotions. It’s a win-win promotional strategy for retailers and customers. With this offer, people shop and stock up on gifts for their friends and family, while retailers make a more significant profit than 50% off sales. People prefer to get 100% off on a product over 50% on two items. 

    BOGO sales are best to move inventory by giving shoppers a deal they can’t pass up. If you have stocked up extra items during Black Friday, you can move those last-minute gifts as end-of-year BOGO sales, making room for new merchandise in January.

    Conclusion

    In this post, you saw that there’s more to holiday marketing than a few social media posts. eCommerce companies can use these holiday promotional ideas to offer Loyalty-rewarding sales and perks, buy now pay later service, and an omnichannel customer experience. Regardless of which strategies you’re using, remember that historical data analytics and early planning will play a significant role in increasing your sales and revenue. 

    Proper planning backed by insights into key metrics will help your team develop a one-of-a-kind holiday marketing strategy to drive your holiday sales upward. From sharing gratitude to offering personalized experiences, retailers have various options for promoting business this holiday season.

    Learn how DataWeave can help make sense of your and your competitor’s pricing, promotional, and assortment data this holiday season. Sign up for a demo with our team to know more.