Understanding the "dark side" of ecommerce

Ecommerce is a major player now in the retail world, however, these virtual stores have a lot of hidden / deceptive problems that 95% of webmasters and ecommerce employees are not overly aware of or if they are do not know how to quantify and qualify them. This deck identifies, discusses and provides some solutions as to how to potentially tackle them - enjoy.

Hit me up on twitter with any feedback or questions: @sampenno_MUFC

Transcript

1. The “Dark Side” of Ecommerce @sampenno_mufc Sam Pennington New Look
2. WHAT IS THE “DARK SIDE” OF ECOMMERCE?
3. WHAT IS THE “DARK SIDE” OF ECOMMERCE?
4. WHAT IS THE “DARK SIDE” OF ECOMMERCE?
5. WHAT IS THE “DARK SIDE” OF ECOMMERCE?
6. WHAT IS THE “DARK SIDE” OF ECOMMERCE? ECOMMERCE PROBLEMS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW YOU HAVE…
7. HOW MUCH STOCK DO I NEED?
8. IS MY PRODUCT A SUCCESS OR A FAILURE?
9. WHY ARE MY PRODUCTS GOING INTO “SALE”?
10. WHY ARE MY PRODUCT VIEWS DROPPING?
11. WHEN SHOULD I DISCOUNT MY PRODUCT?
12. HOW MANY OPTIONS PER CATEGORY?
13. HOW VISIBLE ARE MY CATEGORIES?
14. AM I SHOWING CUSTOMERS THE BEST PRODUCTS?
15. ECOMMERCE QUESTIONS: HOW MUCH STOCK DO I NEED? IS MY PRODUCT A SUCCESS OF FAILURE? WHY ARE MY PRODUCTS GOING INTO SALE? WHY ARE MY PRODUCT VIEWS DROPPING? WHEN SHOULD I DISCOUNT A PRODUCT? HOW MANY OPTIONS PER CATEGORY? HOW VISIBLE ARE MY CATEGORIES? AM I SHOWING CUSTOMERS THE BEST PRODUCTS?
16. ECOMMERCE QUESTIONS: HOW MUCH STOCK DO I NEED? IS MY PRODUCT A SUCCESS OF FAILURE? WHY ARE MY PRODUCTS GOING INTO SALE? WHY ARE MY PRODUCT VIEWS DROPPING? WHEN SHOULD I DISCOUNT A PRODUCT? HOW MANY OPTIONS PER CATEGORY? HOW VISIBLE ARE MY CATEGORIES? AM I SHOWING CUSTOMERS THE BEST PRODUCTS? 1 2 3 4 5
17. FOCUS PRODUCTS: BLACK HIGH WAIST SLIM TROUSERS GREEN CRINKLE STRAPPY TIE FRONT JUMPSUIT BLACK BUTTERFLY MESH FRILL CAMI PALE BLUE DENIM BUTTON FRONT BELTED UTILITY PLAYSUIT PRODUCT CODE: 827586030 PRODUCT CODE: 827075909 PRODUCT CODE: 818986345 PRODUCT CODE: 828930601 TRACKED OVER 16 WEEKS The following products were randomly selected and tracked over 16 weeks to understand their product lifecycle
18. FOCUS PRODUCTS: IS MY PRODUCT A SUCCESS OR FAILURE? WHY ARE MY PRODUCT VIEWS DROPPING? WHEN SHOULD I DISCOUNT MY PRODUCT? HOW VISIBILE ARE MY CATEGORIES? WHAT MAKES A PRODUCT END UP IN SALE? 1 2 3 4 5
19. IS MY PRODUCT A SUCCESS OR FAILURE? 1 STOCK % SIZE AVAILABILITY % SUCCESS RATING LAUNCH 100% 100% 0 / 10 WEEK 4 65% 72% 3.5 / 10 WEEK 7 42% 50% 5.8 / 10 WEEK 10 27% 32% 7.3 / 10 WEEK 13 15% 26% 8.5 / 10 WEEK 16 12% 23% 8.7 / 10
20. WHAT MAKES A PRODUCT END UP IN SALE? 2 SELL THROUGH RATE VISIBILITY AGE SEASONALITY FRAGMENTATION OTHER CONSIDERATIONS: PRICE POINT DISCOUNT / PROMO AVAILABILITY VARIETY / NO. OPTIONS
21. WHY ARE MY PRODUCT VIEWS DROPPING? 3 VISIBILITY Quantity of categories a product features in plus findability of those categories. NEWNESS Adding new products to site typically pushes older products out of the visibility window. 1 2
22. WHY ARE MY PRODUCT VIEWS DROPPING? 3 NO. CATEGORIES AVG. POSITION VISIBILITY SCORE LAUNCH 9 8 182 WEEK 4 8 39 141 WEEK 7 6 65 95 WEEK 10 6 81 79 WEEK 13 3 76 54 WEEK 16 2 63 57 0 50 100 150 200 WEEK 1 WEEK 4 WEEK 7 WEEK 10 WEEK 13 WEEK 16
23. WHY ARE MY PRODUCT VIEWS DROPPING? 3 NO. CATEGORIES AVG. POSITION VISIBILITY SCORE LAUNCH 8 4 176 WEEK 4 8 44 136 WEEK 7 4 87 53 WEEK 10 9 13 177 WEEK 13 9 36 154 WEEK 16 4 91 49 0 50 100 150 200 WEEK 1 WEEK 4 WEEK 7 WEEK 10 WEEK 13 WEEK 16
24. WHY ARE MY PRODUCT VIEWS DROPPING? 3 NO. CATEGORIES AVG. POSITION VISIBILITY SCORE LAUNCH 7 25 145 WEEK 4 6 33 127 WEEK 7 6 48 112 WEEK 10 2 36 84 WEEK 13 9 47 143 WEEK 16 8 71 109 0 50 100 150 200 WEEK 1 WEEK 4 WEEK 7 WEEK 10 WEEK 13 WEEK 16
25. WHY ARE MY PRODUCT VIEWS DROPPING? 3 NO. CATEGORIES AVG. POSITION VISIBILITY SCORE LAUNCH 5 14 136 WEEK 4 5 33 119 WEEK 7 5 67 83 WEEK 10 9 56 134 WEEK 13 9 86 104 WEEK 16 8 93 87 0 50 100 150 WEEK 1 WEEK 4 WEEK 7 WEEK 10 WEEK 13 WEEK 16
26. WHY ARE MY PRODUCT VIEWS DROPPING? 3 1 2 3 DATA LAYER MANUAL TOOLS Add an element in to the pages data layer to track products positions – be sure to consider pagination. Periodically check low performing products to see how visible they are and consider ways of giving them new life I use the “product visibility tool” from Mediavision which was specifically built for this problem
27. WHEN SHOULD I DISCOUNT MY PRODUCT? 4 GOOD GOOD BAD GOOD GOOD BAD GOOD BAD GOOD GOOD BAD GOOD PERFORMANCE VS PLAN COMPETITION (PRICE POINT) VISIBILITY X AVAILABILITY SEASONALITY X AGE GOOD = NO DISCOUNT BAD = DISCOUNT NO DISCOUNT DISCOUNT DISCOUNT
28. HOW VISIBLE ARE MY CATEGORIES? 5 1 2 3 NAVIGATION INTERNAL LINKS SITEMAPS Does your category feature in the navigation? How many internal links are there to your categories? How easy is it to navigate to my category when on site? Does your category feature in your sitemaps? 4 EXTERNAL LINKS Are there links to my category from 3rd party sites? 1 / 9 CATEGORIES FEATURES IN THE NAVIGATION 7 / 9 “WOMENS TROUSER” CATEGORIES ARE INCLUDED IN THE SITEMAP 341 LINKS WITH “TROUSER” ANCHORS
29. HOW VISIBLE ARE MY CATEGORIES? 5 INTERNAL LINKS EXCLUDING NAVIGATION
30. HOW VISIBLE ARE MY CATEGORIES? 5 HOMEPAGE NAVIGATION? CLICK DEPTH VISIBILITY SCORE TROUSERS YES 1 10 / 10 WORK TROUSERS NO 3 4 / 10 SMART TROUSERS NO 5 1 / 10 SLIM LEG TROUSERS NO 3 4 / 10 SCHOOL TROUSERS NO 3 4 / 10 HIGH WAISTED TROUSERS NO 2 6 / 10 CIGARETTE TROUSERS NO 3 4 / 10 CASUAL TROUSERS NO 3 4 / 10 BLACK TROUSERS NO 2 6 / 10 Tip: Try this yourself Pick 5 categories at random, then pick 5 more as “start points”, now without using the navigation try to click your way to the first 5 categories from each start point and record the number of clicks.
31. HOW VISIBLE ARE MY CATEGORIES? 5 NOT AS VISIBLE AS YOU THINK!
32. 5 IS MY PRODUCT A SUCCESS OR FAILURE? WHY ARE MY PRODUCT VIEWS DROPPING? WHEN SHOULD I DISCOUNT MY PRODUCT? HOW VISIBILE ARE MY CATEGORIES? WHAT MAKES A PRODUCT END UP IN SALE? 1 2 3 4 5 SELL THROUGH RATE VISIBILITY AGE SEASONALITY FRAGMENTATION PRICE POINT DISCOUNT / PROMO AVAILABILITY VARIETY / NO. OPTIONS SUMMARY:
33. Thanks @sampenno_mufc Sam Pennington New Look