E-commerce has seen exponential growth over the past year as the world went into pandemic-fuelled lockdowns, travel bans, and closures.
Many retailers have been forced to find new ways to engage their customers, sustain their businesses and find new opportunities for growth leading to an accelerated shift from physical retail to e-commerce. The surge in online sales has also led to increased customer expectations and a demand for better service and personalised experiences.
Ezibuy and Gumtree, two companies that continue to see significant growth and engagement, share their perspectives on the rise of e-commerce during the pandemic, the challenges they faced and how a tech solution driven by AI helps them personalise their experiences and unlock hidden revenue.
EziBuy, one of Australia’s largest multi-channel retailers, was no stranger to these demands, but as customers relied heavily on e-commerce businesses over the last year, the brand saw an opportunity to capitalise on the increased demand, and searched for new ways to reach and acquire high-quality customers at scale while they are transacting and are more engaged.
While looking for growth solutions, EziBuy shared its goals with Rokt, an AI-powered technology company that helps e-commerce businesses personalise the purchase experience for each customer in the Transaction Moment. By providing 1:1 personalised experiences, offers, services and products, Rokt helps businesses unlock new revenue opportunities and increase customer engagement.
Rokt’s exclusive marketplace with premium e-commerce partners provided the ideal growth solution for Ezibuy. After implementing this solution, Ezibuy acquired over 40,000 new email subscribers, who had a conversion rate to customer of 19 per cent.
After six months of implementing Rokt Ads, Ezibuy extended its partnership with Rokt and integrated on the other side of the marketplace by adding Rokt E-commerce onto its confirmation page. This generated a new revenue stream, while simultaneously improving customer experience and ensuring brand safety. These integrations created a positive contribution toward its marketing investments for the brand, where the ancillary revenue generated from Rokt E-commerce could then be invested into the activity with Rokt Ads allowing Ezibuy to capitalise on the pandemic-induced surge in demand while improving the customer experience and revenue.
Put the Customer First
Gumtree has over 7 million Australians visiting their platform each month with more than 2.8 million active listings across hundreds of categories, including cars and vehicles parts accessories, home and garden, sport and fitness, and more.
A core focus for Gumtree is to be Australia’s best native advertiser tailoring bespoke customer solutions personalised for each customer. Tim Lloyd, Senior Manager AD Tech and Data at Gumtree commented that with the recent surge in online shopping as a result of the Pandemic, they have noticed a spike in verticals including exercise equipment, home office, and domestic travel, to name a few.
The Rokt E-commerce integration with Gumtree, which sits on the post enquiry page, continuously optimises experiences to provide highly relevant, in-the-moment offers that customers are more likely to interact with, explains Tim.
“We are now personalising our messaging and providing unique opportunities for brands to effectively tap into key lifestyle triggers, audience life-stages, and major moments of change where people are most open to exploring new products and services”,
“Gumtree has a front row seat to the circular economy, through the height of the pandemic and following it we have seen consumer trading shifts like never before. Post pandemic, we are seeing new growth trends within search and consumer spend in entertainment, holidaying at home and a Covid baby boom on the rise with Gumtree users,” said Lupe Prada, Senior Trade Marketing Manager for Gumtree.
Key Recommendations to maximise Value in E-commerce
Online shopping has accelerated during the pandemic, a shift that is expected to stay in the aftermath, so it is increasingly important that companies maximise the value from their e-commerce sites. And yet, many companies are leaving money on the table by failing to personalise experiences. This failure persists despite a commissioned Forrester study that found that most customers (56 per cent) say they are more likely to spend more with brands that tailor experiences for them. By using data science to combine the customer profile with in-the-moment action, machine learning algorithms can take insights and determine the next best actions and experiences for each individual customer. Through this efficient use of data, brands will be able to better provide personalised offers while maximising both short-term revenue and customer lifetime value for each transaction.
The importance of Simplicity
Prioritise what matters most to customers: simplicity. Maintaining an easy user experience is the best way to drive conversion, and with approaches taken behind the scene to drive personalisation such as, avoid asking customers twice for the same information (e.g., to download a loyalty app they already have), will really help to increase your end conversion goals.
Relevancy Drives Revenue
Research conducted by Forrester shows that customers also reward a brand’s personalisation and relevancy through their loyalty. With 68 per cent of those surveyed saying they would be more likely to join a loyalty program with a brand that delivers a relevant and personalised experience to them and 58 per cent would be more likely to recommend that brand to a friend.
Don’t skimp on your personalisation investments
Consumers say they want relevant communication, and retailers say that it is a crucially important effort. However, a mere 12 per cent of surveyed companies say they plan to implement efforts of personalisation by more than 10 per cent. What may be more surprising is that the majority do not have key marketing technologies like a customer data platform, a real-time interaction management solution, or an identity resolution service.
