There are a variety of great brands out there that encourage green living and social responsibility. Take for example TOMS, which designs products out of recycled materials and then donates a pair of shoes to a needy person every time someone buys a pair.
As companies like TOMS and FEED share their goals and messages to the masses, consumers have become more conscious of green brands. Some have even seen green principles as a pre-requisite for buying from a specific brand or retailer.
In celebration of Earth Day, Influence Central conducted some great research to identify different types of green consumers. More importantly, the company investigated how these different profiles impact buying behaviors and brand preferences.
One thing is for certain: Consumers seek eco-friendly products to protect their loved ones. Nearly all (91%) respondents said they purchase green products before they’re concerned about their family’s health. Most people (73%) even conduct research to understand the safety of ingredients and products that their families are exposed to.
I think the above findings speak to a new reality. Consumers don’t just want green, natural and healthy products...they expect them. They want the cleaning products they use to be safe, and they expect the food they eat to be natural. In fact, 72% of consumers purchase foods specifically labeled Natural or Organic.
However, consumers’ level of green-savviness varies to a certain degree. The Influencer Central report outlined three core profiles or personas:
The Uber Green: These consumers self-report as very green (47%). They readily refer to themselves as a “Green Mom” (99%) and mostly rely on DIY and green store-bought cleaning products and are more than likely to do so to protect both their family and the environment from harsh chemicals.
The Un-Green: These consumers self-report as “not at all green” (14%). They are more likely to rely on store-bought, heavy-duty cleaning products for their homes. Because they’re focused less on green living, they are less likely to look for or purchase natural products and organic food. Approximately 75% of these respondents also admit to being less knowledgeable of environmentally friendly products or practices.
The Green…But: Up to 40% of all respondents fell within this mid-range category. They would not consider themselves to be “green” consumers, nor self-identify with a label of green, however, they have very green shopping behaviors and tendencies. This mainly is because they make decisions from a “healthy family” perspective.
Is your business focused on being more green? Will this research help you improve your messaging and marketing tactics? We’d love to hear your feedback!
Big Data and omnichannel are among the major trends in retail. While most retailers are starting to understand what they can measure, the question that too often goes unanswered is: Why measure?
Falling into the trap of measuring too much and gathering piles of data that won’t be used is easy. To avoid this, it’s essential to clearly understand the “why” before you start measuring. The first question any retailer needs to answer is what the goals of the store are. Once you’ve determined the goals, you can set the metrics that are necessary to measure success. To show you how this works, we’ll do a deep dive into one of the metrics that’s become more popular and easier to measure due to new technologies: Dwell time.
Engagement And Entertainment
Since online and omnichannel are becoming more important for retailers, the store has become more of a showroom to strengthen the brand and image. As one recent study found, 68% of people have “intentionally browsed products at a store, but bought them online.”
If you’ve determined that engagement and strengthening your brand is an important goal of your store, understanding dwell time is crucial. The longer a shopper stays in the store, the longer she’s exposed to the brand and brand story. Or maybe one of the goals of your store is to have a high “entertainment value,” as we see more and more stores adding elements, such as a café or beauty salon. If you want to determine whether people are indeed entertained, knowing how long they stay in the store is a key metric. Revenue will no longer work as a means to measure these engagement and entertainment levels.
Store Design To Slow Shoppers Down
Moreover, dwell time shows you how good your store is at slowing shoppers down and thus increasing potential time to buy, a goal for any store. To give an example, it’s important to create “safe havens.” What we’ve seen is that dwell time is lower at spots where the shopper stands with his back to the main shopping path. It’s because it doesn’t feel safe and our brain is wired to be cautious for attacks from the back. Placing mirrors strategically throughout the store can avoid this. On the other hand, more quiet spots cornered by shelves from all sides, give a feeling of safety and have increase dwell time at that spot.
Dwell Time And Catchment Area
Another reason why increasing dwell time can be of importance is that it increases a store’s catchment area. Again, depending on the profile and goals of your specific store this might be of importance. Think about IKEA, for instance. The retailer’s catchment area is very large and shoppers accept a longer drive, because they know they will spend an hour or more at the store.
Retail Execution Lastly, dwell time can tell you something about retail execution. Shoppers can leave faster if they cannot find what they’re looking for and staff is not attentive. On the other hand, at the cash registers and fitting rooms, you might want to aim for low dwell time, as no one likes long queues or slow cashiers.
So you need to take this into account and possibly deduct it from the total, if you’re aiming for high dwell time and want to avoid a skewed picture. Moreover, what we found at several clients was that female bounce rate was relatively high because it wasn’t clear whether there was a women’s section. If almost half of your customers leave after only having seen a small part of the store, dwell time will be low.
Of course, in this case to find the underlying reason behind the low dwell time you’d need additional data, such as demographic data or coverage of the store. So, now you understand what you can learn from dwell time and why you probably want to measure it. The bigger takeaway should, however, be that before measuring anything it needs to be clear what your goals are and how and which metrics will help you measure success.
Heavily invested in a campaign to attract more males to your once female-only cosmetics store? Then it’s crucial to assemble demographic data of your visitors. Is your big goal for 2015 to improve your flagship stores as marketing and branding tools? Then dwell time is one of your most important metrics.
Avoid assembling useless data and start measuring what you really need to know.
Martin Birac is CEO of Monolith, an in-store analytics platform working with clients such as Timberland and Scotch & Soda. Birac is a serial entrepreneur who founded his first company at the age of 18 and he now has more than 10 years of experience in the world of online advertising and analytics. Trained as a filmmaker, he's still an avid photographer when he's not working.
Stretch Your E-Commerce Marketing Dollars By Optimizing User Engagement
By Coach Wei, CEO and Co-Founder, Yottaa
No question about it, 2013 was a big year for e-Commerce. So it’s no surprise that retailers have allocated more money to e-Commerce marketing in 2014. But with bigger budgets comes more pressure on marketers to perform. And so the question is: “How do I improve our online business results?”
My recommendation: Focus on user engagement.
As the e-Commerce landscape grows more competitive, consumers have come to expect more. Earning their business in this environment comes down to engagement. Retailers must deliver more personalized, responsive and dynamic user experiences that grab consumers from the moment they land on a web site.
This generally requires a complex set of designs and content, and any number of third party JavaScripts aimed at creating a better web experience. Yet, despite the best efforts to create a great e-Commerce site, user engagement often remains elusive.
That’s because user engagement isn’t just about the content on your site — no matter how great it is. Rather, it’s how a user experiences and interacts with your site that really counts.
How long before the user sees relevant content? How quickly can a user interact with the site? Does your site load in under three seconds? Each of these experiences has a big impact on user engagement. For example, an additional one-second delay in Time to Start Render (how fast a page shows content) can increase bounce rate by 65%.
Deliver the most relevant content first: You have a tiny window of time to capture visitors’ attention. Make sure your page loads the content users expect first. This doesn’t include peripheral widgets, sidebar content and ads. Logos and structural content like navigation can be the very first things to paint in the browser window, but the central content should come directly after, if not first. To see what your users see, try tools such as websitetest.com and webpagetest.org to test your site from a variety of devices and locations. You may be surprised.
Achieve “just-in-time” content: Users don’t want (or need) to see every available asset on a page all at once. They prefer a cleaner, more relevant experience. Optimize engagement in this manner by using development techniques that render images and content the moment the user's eyes land on that location.
Minimize distractions: Peripheral content — such as chat widgets, social media and modal popups — is important for users that have already engaged with your brand, but can be distracting for others. Delay the rendering of particular assets to give visitors an opportunity to absorb information before inviting them to engage further with your brand.
Don’t overlook the importance of speed: While site speed has traditionally been IT’s focus, there’s no question that speed has a direct impact on conversion rates, revenue and user engagement. You should be concerned with both sending your user a page they can fully use in a matter of a few seconds, as well as a page that starts rendering almost immediately.
Ensure device-specific content: During the 2013 Thanksgiving shopping week, mobile traffic grew 77% and revenue increased by 78%. But there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution for mobile. For example, even if your site is responsive, if you have a flash video it should not be sent to Apple devices. And if your site is not responsive, images that are functional on a desktop viewport may not work at all on mobile devices. Mobile commerce will continue to grow, and those retailers with mobile-optimized content and sites will see the biggest gains.
The e-Commerce landscape is getting more complicated as mobile and other forms of digital commerce emerge. By optimizing user engagement, marketers can positively impact business performance now and in the future.
Coach Wei is CEO and Co-Founder of Yottaa, which provides end-to-end acceleration, protection and visibility for web applications across the wired and wireless web, delivering speed, scale, security and actionable insight.
Remotely watching fashion shows and scoping out photo sets are my favorite parts of the fall and spring fashion weeks worldwide. However, it's importnat to note that I'm not usually one to dictate my entire style by what's happening on the runways.
In certain respects, sure, I'm trendy. I like to keep tabs on what is happening in the fashion world, but I don't live by and spend thousands of dollars based on what editors of Vogue or InStyle say are the hottest things off the runway.
Rather, I like to analyze outfits to see what textures/fabrics, colors and cuts I'm drawn to, and determine how I can incorporate them into my current style, as well as the items I already have.
One trend I'm incredibly thankful for is the "beanie buzz" happening as a result of the BCBG Max Azria fall 2013 show.
Image courtesy of FabSugar
Let me explain: I have the most unruly, temperamental hair. I do have my good hair days, yes, but not without blowdrying, hair spraying and using my hair straightener and/or curling iron. It is a rarity for me to let my hair naturally dry and be 100% pleased with the end result.
Earlier this week I had to go to the DMV to register my Honda. You all know how the DMV works: The experience is similar to waiting at an old school Ticketmaster location for Backstreet Boys tickets after Millennium came out. God awful. So there I was, standing in the cold, rainy weather, waiting for the powers that be (DMV employees) to unlock the entrance. I felt the frizz rearing its ugly head (well, my ugly head). And then I remembered Aha! I had my trusty beanie in my bag.
I rushed to work after my DMV duties were complete, and didn't even think about what my hair looked like. That is, until my co-workers brought up the beanie's presence.
"Look at you rocking a hat," they said.
"Yeah well...I had to wait at the DMV in the rain, and I didn't have time to fix it, and....it was on the runway this season so shut up!"
Best. Justification. Ever.
And that is why, sometimes, you just have to embrace trends.
Last year, I attended an event held by THE DONEGER GROUP discussing key trends and forecasts for the Fall/Winter 2013 seasons. Creative Director David Wolfe spotlighted the increased focus on emphasizing the shoulders and hips. In a way, it's the natural feminine form being revitalized. I think this look showcases this trend in a beautiful, whimsical way that isn't too overly-dramatic.
As a woman with a somewhat "straight" frame (my hip to waist ratio is kind of odd), I love that these feminine curves are coming pre-built in items now. Needless to say, I think we're going back to basics in a lot of ways when it comes to women's fashion.
