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Digital Retailing: Branding on the Web

I’m sure we are all sick and hearing about the pandemic and COVID...they are almost becoming swear words! However, this pandemic has shaped consumerism in multiple ways and retailers are creating more effective brand strategies to meet that demand.

Some examples of changes to brick and mortar stores through the pandemic include: sanitation strategies, contactless payment options, self-checkout options, etc (Morgan, 2020). A staggering 62% of US shoppers say that they do more shopping online now than they did prior to the pandemic. I’m sure that statistic is even higher now since that information is from 2020! Retailers even had to put product limits in place to try and meet consumer demand. Anyone remember the toilet paper fiasco?!

Along with the new implementations in stores, there has also been a huge spike in curbside pick up options at various retailers as well as at restaurants. Many restaurants would have failed if they did not go to these efforts to stay afloat! According to the same Forbes article from Morgan, the number of orders that were placed online and picked up in store grew by 208% between April 1 and 20, 2020 from a year ago.

Branding on the web can be quite different from branding in a traditional retail setting. There are more outlets to reach consumers digitally than what the traditional strategies entail. For example, social media platforms have targeted ads that are based on the consumers’ habits in addition to their friends or followers. This can help bring in more customers and maintain repeat customers by reminding them of your brand in their news feed. On this note, brand influencers can also help with the branding strategy for online sales. One way to build brand trust with consumers is to offer free returns if the customer is not satisfied with the purchase. Another way to build consumer confidence and trust online is to offer secure payment options such as PayPal, ApplePay, Venmo, etc.

Now, it is also important to know who you are catering to when it comes to shopping habits and styles. Women in the past have preferred to shop in person for clothing, shoes, make-up, etc. whereas men are more likely to just shop online rather than try items on. Women often pay attention to word of mouth marketing as well both in person as well as on social media which can help influence their purchasing decisions.

One area that is extremely important to maintain a strong online retail experience is to have positive customer reviews and feedback. I personally pay close attention to reviews on Amazon before I decide to purchase a product. If a customer has a bad experience with a retailer or has a negative review for a product, it can severely damage a brand’s image. This is why it is crucial to address all customer concerns in a timely manner to show that you care about their individual experience and that you value you them as a customer. This is often done on social media on company’s pages. When companies do not reply to the customer’s comment, it can automatically confirm that the experience was negative since the business did not “care” enough to reply.

Social media platforms can be such an easy and cost effective way to increase brand loyalty and gain new customers. If the brand is posting engaging information and garnering attention from its followers, there is a big opportunity to reach a large audience. Even having a picture or meme go “viral” with your brand or company present, that is free advertising for your brand and gaining more brand recognition across social media.

One company that has created a strong social media strategy is Spotify. There have been numerous consumers that share their Spotify wrap ups at the beginning of each year and share them to their social platforms. This helps create brand awareness for Spotify and can help gain new customers.

The opportunities are endless for a digital branding strategy. The best advice I can give is to stay up to date on the latest trends and habits and constantly innovate along the way!

References:

Moreno, L. (2, January 2020). Top 8 Viral Social Campaigns of the Year. Retrieved from:

https://blog.socialmediastrategiessummit.com/top-8-viral-social-campaigns/

Morgan, B. (19, October 2020). 50 Statistics Showing The Lasting Impact of COVID-19 On Consumers. Retrieved from:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/blakemorgan/2020/10/19/50-statistics-showing-the-lasting-impact-of-covid-19-on-consumers/?sh=42d47034261f

#digitalbranding #onlinereviews #forbes magazine

marketingthoughts

Digital Retailing: Understanding and Communicating with the e-Consumer

The Perceived Risk of e-Shopping

The infographic below from a blog post on Floship by Pong (2018) outlines the risks to customers (and some to suppliers) of which e commerce companies need to be aware. It is a heavy responsibility, but there are risks for e commerce customers that are outside the control of e commerce companies. Research by Ariffin, Mohan, and Goh revealed that the mere perception of risk is enough to deter some customers from even considering shopping online (2018).

(post continues below graphic)

Ariffin, et al. identified six types of perceived risk that influence online shoppers: financial risk, product risk, security risk, time risk, social risk and psychological risk (2018). I have experienced nearly all of these to some degree. Reluctance to encounter an adverse outcome due to poor quality of goods is not unreasonable. I have purchased clothing that, despite carefully reading the sizing chart and repeatedly measuring various dimensions of my body, still did not fit when it arrived. I also purchased a purse pouch to use in my car that could not be opened with one hand making it useless to me.

Because of these adverse outcomes, I experienced financial losses as returning the items would have been difficult and time consuming, at best. Now, I am more reluctant to purchase clothing and as-seen-on-tv type products, for fear of wasting more money on products that I cannot use. The risk of wasting more time (of which I have very little to spare) purchasing poor quality goods, only to have to shop for the same items from a brick-and-mortar retailer leads me to skip ordering the items from an online store altogether.

I have also experienced frustration and damage, however temporary, to my self-image due to the adverse outcome of unsuccessful online shopping experiences (psychological risk). Perceived security risk of using my smartphone for purchases has prevented me from using ride-share services, renting a scooter, or using the meter-less parking system that Lansing has instituted, while fear of being tracked while shopping online plus my Gen X aversion to being marketed to keeps me far away from Amazon.

Many of my peers and certainly my acquaintances from younger generations scoff at my concerns and say that I spend as much, if not more, by driving around trying to find the items I want from traditional outlets than they spend on shipping costs. Sometimes they are right. It has taken a global pandemic to overcome some of my resistance. The other day I not only ordered a meal but paid for it with my phone. It was convenient and delicious.

Sources:

Ariffin, S. K., Mohan, T., Goh, Y. (2018). Influence of consumers’ perceived risk on consumers’ online purchase intention. DOI:10.1108/JRIM-11-2017-0100

Pong, E. (2018, March 10). 10 Inevitable ecommerce risks you should watch out for. Floship. https://www.floship.com/blog/_10-inevitable-ecommerce-risks/

lindsaywiersema

Hey Angela

You bring up some great personal examples of how the risks of shopping online pertain to you. I have also been hesitant to enter my card information on certain sites due to the security risk. There are constant data leaks and site hacking that have occured within the past few years that have made me more cautious about how to checkout on a retailer’s site. I stated this previously at some point, but I feel more confident checking out via PayPal or ApplePay since they require either facial recognition or a password in order to select it as the payment type.

As for the psychological risk, I feel that this can also be apparent when trying to purchases clothing from some retailers. For example, Amazon oftentimes has clothing that is from countries overseas that have different sizing than the US. When I order something that doesn’t fit and I have to order 3 sizes larger, it does make some individuals upset and have negative thoughts on body image. I suppose these are often the risks associated with purchasing products at a better discount than traditional retailers. As a consumer, it comes down to wanting to go for the continent route and risk the scenarios you listed, or to go ahead and shop using the traditional methods.

Digital Retailing: Understanding & Communicating with the e-Consumer

There are several advantages as well as disadvantages to shopping online. Consumers are shopping online now more than ever due to the COVID pandemic.

Advantages of shopping online:

-Not having to leave your home to shop

-Having product reviews at your fingertips

-Saving the consumer’s time

-Can potentially save money by not impulse items in store

-Price comparison amongst different retailers

Disadvantages of shopping online:

-Potential for unsecured transactions

-May fall victim to scams from unligitimized retailers

-Unable to physically look at the product(s)

-Potentially long shipping times

-Unable to pay with cash

-If purchasing clothing or shoes, unable to try item on first

-Returns that are not simple

The examples listed above are just a few different areas of whether or not online shopping is advantageous. With the pandemic, it has been nice for relatives to have the convenience of sending gifts through online purchasing to their loved ones if they were unable to get together over the holidays. The pandemic has also caused some problems when it comes to shipping delays as well as supply chain issues. My siblings and myself were looking at getting my parents a Blackstone grill for Christmas and were pricing around. They were out of stock in a lot of different retailers. We ended up seeing it advertised at Walmart for one of their Black Friday Deals. We went on immediately to purchase it and it let us go through the checkout process and everything.....and then later we received an email stating that it was out of stock! She ended up purchasing it through another retailer. Two weeks later, my sister’s card was re-charged stating that it shipped! So she called their customer service and they told her the only option was to return the item. It was very odd how that whole transaction went about!

After completing additional research on this topic, I came across another advantage of shopping online that had not occurred to me! Discreet purchases are a lot easier to purchase online than in a store such as lingerie and other adult purchases (Jain, 2020). This definitely makes sense to want to purchase this online and save some embarrassment or fear of judgement in person!

Personally, I pay very close attention to online reviews when I shop online. This is a huge advantage as you miss out on these when shopping in store. Oftentimes when shopping for electronics or small appliances, something may look like a really good product for the price initially, but end up malfunctioning or breaking after a couple months.

I know that I had previously mentioned impulse shopping to be a disadvantage of in-person shopping but it can also be a disadvantage of online as well. If you know exactly which item you are buying and not browsing, it can save you from making an impulse purchase whereas in a store you can see multiple items to tempt you along your route...not to mention the strategic items placed while you are waiting in line to check out! Many retailers can come back to “haunt” you after searching for something on their website, this is called retargeting (Johnston Taylor, 2016). I definitely notice this when I follow a link to a brand from Facebook! A few months ago, I saw and ad for The North Face and had my eye on a jacket. I wanted to take a closer look at it and followed the link from Facebook to their website. I ended up seeing that same jacket on my news feed all the time for the next few weeks! This is a very smart method of getting consumers to go back and purchase an item that they had previously looked into.

One way that online retailers can help secure the transactions on their sites is by having a secured payment method available for shoppers. Examples of these include PayPal, ApplePay, and even Venmo! I personally prefer to use PayPal as I have had them help me in the past with a transaction through eBay where I never received the item. It was very simple for them to refund my money to me so I feel very secure in using them for payments.

There are still many different advantages and disadvantages to online shopping. Online shopping has been exponentially increasing in use over the last few decades and has actually made many brick-and-mortar stores close and only utilize online sales. I am sure this trend will only continue in the years to come.

References:

Jain, A. (4, May 2020). Top 10 Benefits and Disadvantages of Online Shopping. Retrieved from:

https://toughnickel.com/frugal-living/Online-shopping-sites-benefits

Johnston Taylor, S. (23, March 2016). 6 Potential Downsides of Online Shopping. Retrieved from:

https://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/articles/2016-03-23/6-potential-downsides-of-online-shopping

#digitalretailing #shoppingonline

davidjblanzy

For my infographic, I chose to combine my workplace, Biggby Coffee, with a start-up reusable straw company Savetheturtles.ca who looks to raise proceeds to protect ocean life, clean the ocean and protect turtles and ocean life.

For this infographic, I used Venngage as well as pictures, selected text and information from both the Biggby website and Save the Turtles website.

Apart from posting this on Tumblr, to make this go viral and start some buzz I can post it on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram using the hashtags provided and adding a couple more. This is a great example of two companies benefitting from a partnership to better the earth. Both these companies get a promotion, sales gain and provide help to the Sea Turtle fund, protecting the ocean and ocean life.

This infographic provides customers a call to action with multiple options to help give the customers different ways to raise money and awareness.

lindsaywiersema

David,

I think you did a great job with your infographic for this post! I specifically like that you chose a blue color for the visual which ties in nicely on the idea of saving aquatic animals. =) I think this is a great topic to choose for a viral post as the elimination of plastic straws is a current hot topic on social media and in the news. The only feedback I’d suggest on this infographic is to have a larger and maybe cleaner title to grab the reader’s attention. Maybe a larger and brighter font type or a border around the partnership? I love the visual aids included with the facts about the cause and the information about The Sea Turtle Conservancy. The bottom of the infographic is also great as it includes a link to the conservancy’s website. One other thing you could of included as a visual is a picture of one of the little turtles that were rescued. =) Overall, great job David! You really chose a topic that I believe would go viral on any social media platform of choice. Good job!

lindsaywiersema

Adopt! Don’t Shop

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lindsaywiersema

Why on earth would someone want to spend a ridiculous amount of money on a dog from a breeder when there are so many adorable fur-babies that need their help right at the Humane society?! I personally rescued my black lab mix from the Humane Society and have never been happier! I got her at 4 months old and they said she was just a stray and was found wandering. Not a day goes by where I regret getting my little Lexie. I’ve had such a great success story with adopting from the Humane Society, that I want to share my good fortune with others! This infographic I’ve created could go viral on Facebook for all those animal lovers out there! Once you see the Pet Spotlight section, you’re hooked! ;) There is a strong following for the Humane Society on Facebook and many people are pushing for rescuing shelter dogs versus buying from a breeder. I feel that sharing this on Facebook would spark a lot of other members to share the message!

Adopt! Don’t Shop

Email Marketing in the Digital Age

I just watched an expert session on email marketing in the digital age by April Mullen. I specifically chose this segment as I had the assumption that email marketing was starting to phase out. Was I ever wrong! According to statistics, there are approximately 2.6 Billion worldwide email users. There was also approximately 205 billion messages sent & received per day in 2015! (Mullen, n.d.). I was facinated by some of the facts and figures that Mullen provided in her expert analysis. There is actually a lot higher ROI when it comes to email marketing and it actually has a higher ratio of retaining customers. This got me thinking...I get a lot of marketing emails for different retailers. One thing that appeals to me is that I have created login accounts for these retailers with my information already saved. This is even more tempting for me to make a purchase as it is even quicker for checking out! I have also been noticing more and more retailers having PayPal and Apple Pay options which again makes me want to make the purchase even more as I’m lazy and do not want to dig my card out of my wallet. That’s how they get me to impulse buy! I assumed that email was more of a means of communication for older generations but 88% of mobile email users are millennials! (Mullen, n.d.) I found that SO shocking! And my favorite fact of the short video was that 80% of the time, mobile users delete an email when it doesn’t load properly. Guilty! If I ever search my spam mail for store coupons and the image no longer loads, I don’t even waste my time. Mullen brought up another really good point...with our increased mobile usage we are actually increasing our email use! When I am bored waiting for something I even take the time to go through my email filter, “Store Coupons - Annoying Ones.” I set the filter up where they skip the inbox and go right into that folder so I don’t have to deal with the constant email notifications. I also created a normal “Store Coupon” filter folder for ones that I really do want to keep track of (such as Pet Smart for my pup!). I’m really glad I chose this video to review as I found it REALLY interesting and it helped me discover other options out there for marketers. With our readings from Lawson & Draper, she brought up another interesting thought... Emails actually produce a bunch of micro-conversions which lead to the landing page resulting in a call-to-action. I haven’t really thought of email marketing when thinking of getting conversions for a site. She also stated that the responsive design works best for email marketing as it is smart enough to adapt to whichever method the consumer is opening the email on (ex. mobile, desktop, iPad, etc). Overall, this was a really interesting video!

Reference:

Selligent. (n.d.). Email Marketing In The Digital Age - April Mullen. Retrieved from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdNP3tCgDus&feature=youtu.be

Understanding your Target Audience!

As you are all aware, social media has become a central hub for marketers! But are this businesses taking full advantage of consumer insights? According to Rob Sanders, marketers should be looking into your audiences’ demographics, occupation(s), locations, and interests. This way you can narrow down who would benefit most from the product you are selling. Another thing that should be considered is which social media platform to use. For example, teenagers are not using Facebook nearly as much as older generations. Right now, Vans are very popular with younger adults/teenagers. It would be a great item to advertise on Instagram to reach a higher population of your target demographic (by targeting age groups). If this item is advertised on Facebook, some of the older population would not be as interested as a general rule. If your company is a retirement agency or even a financial planning company, you may want to consider Facebook as a good form of marketing to capture that older audience. There are another five objectives that are helpful when it comes to social media marketing. Determine the objective, choose the social media platform(s), plan the content, distribute and promote content, and measure success (Lawson & Draper). To start, the company can begin by trying out a couple different platforms with basic advertisements. From there, they can see which seem to have a greater audience and/or following. I also personally feel that the marketers need to take into consideration how much time and energy they want to put forth in their social media presence. If they do not have enough time dedicated to this, they should limit their presence in order to do the platform chosen justice. For example, Starbucks has a large social media presence and is found on almost every social media site and has a large team dedicated to their social media presence. Can a small, local business say the same? If not, they should limit their presence to only a few relevant sites to their niche. There is so much more to explore when it comes to researching your target audience on social media. There is constantly new applications and sites out there so its best to stay on top of the social media trends!

References:

Lawson & Draper. (2019). “Digital Marketing Essentials.” Retrieved from:

https://edify.stukent.com/app/publication/d801ea3f-55b7-4374-ac5a-03d0e2cff93f/7297e36f-2132-418c-902f-3dbbeb08126e/05f00c2d-ce01-46a0-bee0-6803f3b05697/5b602137-dc9a-4a5c-a60f-5fa78b3e469d/view

Sanders, R. (2020, February 5). “Are You Making These Social Media Mistakes.” Retrieved from:

https://www.simplilearn.com/social-media-mistakes-article?source=frs_category

Article Analysis - Digital Marketing Trends

The digital world is constantly evolving which means your marketing strategies should be as well! According to Carroll, AI (artificial intelligence) is projected to take off in 2020 (Carroll, 2020). With machines and software programs learning more and more, that means they can also be more advanced in terms of targeting specific audiences. It’s really crazy to think of how advanced we’ve come in just the last few decades. Things have become more and more automated and it is interesting to see how computers and technology as a whole will continue to evolve. Even looking at the television industry, look how different advertising has become! Commercials are now something that people don’t need to bother with due to the on-demand options and streaming. Hulu has paid advertisements in their basic subscription package which has forced me to watch advertisements again! One other topic that is trending is chatbots (Carroll, 2020). I personally experience this tool at my work! Gordon Food Service now has these chatbots on their websites to help customers with any questions they may have. I have also had to go through them for Amazon returns. If my question cannot be taken care of by the computer assistant, they will escalate my request to a live agent.

One thing to keep in mind for determining your target audience is the content you are marketing to them. A lot of social media outlets have content marketers that target the pages in hopes that their advertisements/web links are shared by various users to increase their popularity by going “viral.” (Lawson & Draper, 2019). It is honestly such a smart idea in my opinion. Facebook knows how much I love dogs by how many people I’m constantly tagging in Humane Society posts. Ironically...there just happened to be a business I never heard of that sells custom coffee mugs of a dog and its owner. I fell for it..I now have a beautiful custom mug of me and my pup! Those types of websites would do very well using the PPC approach as that is how they got me! Overall, I am anxious to see how digital advertising continues to evolve and how the advertising itself becomes more targeted at specific individuals! It has already come so far just based off from our social media patterns.

References:

Carroll, C. (2020, January 22). “Seven digital marketing trends to look out for in 2020.” Retrieved from:

https://www.thedrum.com/opinion/2020/01/22/seven-digital-marketing-trends-look-out-2020

Lawson & Draper. (November 2019). “Digital Marketing Essentials.” Retrieved from:

https://edify.stukent.com/app/publication/d801ea3f-55b7-4374-ac5a-03d0e2cff93f/7297e36f-2132-418c-902f-3dbbeb08126e/cc5545ae-4747-4460-844c-1332b3bae304/4af47a2e-aa84-4197-985f-e9bf4e301a4e/view

Search Engine Optimization

There are billions of web surfers doing web searches on numerous sites every second around the world! How many times have you directly clicked on a Google sponsored ad link towards the top of the search results?! Google as well as other search engines are constantly working to make search results more relevant to the consumer. Companies who utilize search engine optimization can dramatically increase their conversion rate optimization (optimizely). According to Forrester, it is important to understand that searchers do not actually read text like they would a book. Oftentimes, the searcher is doing a scan of the page and will look down instead of the standard left to right. Interesting, right?! A few things to keep in mind when thinking about SEO, research targeted keywords.To work with search bots, you can add page-relevant, descriptive alternative text to content images with copyrights at the end (Forrester). Newer web pages do not tend to get as much traffic as other well-established pages. That is why it is so essential to get your website/link out as much as possible via a variety of sources! An easy way to get started is to create a business page on Facebook. From there, you can make your social media following more apparent by posting and replying to customers. Make sure to include your website on your Facebook page as it seems more trust-worthy (another way to build searcher’s trust). I really like the fact that Forrester brought up the fact that your content on your website should be unique and useful to pull in the searcher’s interest. On that same note, I feel that adding too much additional info can actually hinder ones website. Keyword research is also very important to stay relevant in search engine optimization. On a technical front, make sure that you have a reliable web site company running the URL. Javascript can have issues with the flow of the site based on web browsers and/or mobile sites. You also want to make sure the website has a good refresh rate. If the searcher thinks your site is taking too long to load, they will move on to the next one in line!

Reference:

Optimizely. (n.d.) Retrieved from:

https://www.optimizely.com/optimization-glossary/search-engine-optimization/

Stukent, Inc. (2014, September 19). Learn the Basics of Search Engine Opimization - Duane Forrester. Retrieved from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dm2KXhBPZDg&feature=youtu.be

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Lindsay Wiersema