Next level online shopping — the year of shoppable media
Let’s start off simply:
when I ask you if you have bought something online — from new tapdance shoes to plastic cactusses as decoration — you’ll probably say: yes.
Who doesn’t? Right?
In The Netherlands for example, a country of 17 million inhabitants, the number of online buyers increased with 6 % last year compared to 2014. Bringing the total to 11 million e-shoppers. And bringing the total worth of e-commerce to a dazzling 16,07 billion euros. In my little country, Belgium, more than 64 % of the population (11,5 million) shopped online in 2014.
Moreover, in 2013 the total turnover for European e-commerce reached a spectaculair 352 billion euros, compared to 301 billion in 2012. Globaly 41,3 % of the internet users have bought something online. And it is expected that this number will increase to 47,3 % in 2018.
But, enough numbers for today.
Let’s get to the real deal.
Because when I ask you how many times have you sent stuff back, because they didn’t meet your expectations, didn’t look like the picture at all or didn’t fit? You’ll probably say: a lot.
And believe me if I say I returned more stuff than I kept…
High return rates are indeed a big issue for online retailers. A study of Shorr Packaging last year, showed that online shoppers were predicted to return 30 % of their purchases during holiday season. Most of the times because they didn’t resemble the photograph featured on the webshop.
Pictures are becoming an intrinsic part of our society. We have become accustomed to visual content and that makes us demanding a visualisation of a product before we buy it. If the pictures on a webshop don’t look genuine or are missing, that webshop risks losing a lot of clients.
People no longer buy what companies tell them. They rely on what other consumers say they’ve experienced. People trust people.
If you want a new smartphone, you’ll probably check reviews or ask your friends what they think you should buy. Don’t you?
Well, a study of Olapic showed that people engage with more than 11 pieces of content before they buy something. To go deeper into the sector of clothing, more than 30% of the consumers will rather buy clothing online when a webshop uses pictures of real people wearing those clothes.
Customers nowadays want an ‘authentic’ life and demand for companies to show them how a product of service can be useful to them, in their life.
That is exactly why user generated content or earned content is more and more getting used by companies as their content marketing strategy. Social media posts are becoming more valuable than ever. Consumers show and tell other consumers how different products look like or how user-friendly they are in real life. There is an enormous share of earned content to be found online, without any brand interference, so why wouldn’t you use it?
Welcome to the era of online word-to-mouth.
And imagine what possibilities lies in that content!
Let’s take Instagram. Pictures of users to inform their peers what they are doing, eating, wearing… are valuable visuals for companies.
But what if you want to buy the sweater? Or cook the recipe you’ve seen on these Instagram posts? You surf the web to find the right page. And when you finally get there, fulfill another three or five steps before you actually can order the thing.
So why don’t you make these post ‘shoppable’?
Tagging relevant posts and linking them to other webpages, like for example webshops or blogs, makes the posts even more valuable. You shorten the purchase process and make your customers care and engage more. With one click you’ll guide your customers to the right place. And it is predicted that by 2020 consumers will be purchasing 15% through shoppable media.
The Swedish clothing brand Odd Molly for example integrated the online tool Flowbox on their site and made their Instagram feed shoppable. With Flowbox you can add tags to every Instagram picture in your flow. You guide your customers to relevant webpages, analyse the traffic and see how your revenue grows. Adding links to other webpages, like recipes, special events, blogs… make your flow of user generated content fun and interesting to scroll down.
On the Instagram page of Odd Molly you are redirected to the buying page of the item.
Ain’t that easy? Add to cart please!
By: Elke Ramsdonck
