| As we become more savvy at finding the right customers to contact with the right offer and the right product, what we call "relevancy," our consumers are also becoming more savvy in the wake of the technological evolution. |
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| Consumers still look to catalogs for inspiration and aspiration; however, they look to search engines for price comparisons. |
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| In planning a catalog, marketers must consider marketing objectives, merchandising, pagination/density, pricing, and circulation/contact strategy. Each of the strategies selected has to be grounded in hard, quantifiable data that support the business decisions made. Data come from multiple sources: historical results, appending, industry and vendor sources, and testing. And now, a new source is available, the web. Marketers can use the internet the same way the customers do, to search products and price points. This search process should be completed in preparation for the merchandise buy. |
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| The considerations researched should include: |
 1. | How many sites offer this product? |
| 2. | What are their price points? |
| 3. | What is the final cost with shipping and handling? |
| 4. | Will my company be able to sell that product at the same price, less, or more? |
| 5. | Why would the consumer buy this product from our brand's site versus the other sites? |
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| Once the buy is complete and the product has had its turn on the real estate of the catalog, website, retail, or any combination thereof, the next step is to perform an analysis that looks at: |
| 1. | Did the item contribute contribution positive dollars? |
| 2. | What is the life of this product? |
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| After you have these answers, go back to the web to see if the number of sites that offer the product has decreased or increased. |
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| The results will be enlightening and have implications for each of the decision areas listed above; since most consumers (75%-90% according to industry sources) now use the internet as a research tool, even if they ultimately make purchases at a retail store or by phone. |
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| Recently, Marketsmith identified three items in a client's catalog - one from the front cover, one from the back cover, and one in the middle of the book. Our goal was to understand the competitive environment for each item in terms of product description, paid search listing, organic search listing, number of companies offering the same product, pricing, offers, and shipping and handling charges. |
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| The results were eye-opening: |
| 1. | Two of our client's products did not come up on organic or paid listings; only one came up sixth organically and fourth on as a paid listing. The item on the front cover had no internet support. |
| 2. | There were at least five directly competitive products which did come up on either natural or paid search or both. |
| 3. | Our client's descriptions on the website were simple and straightforward, but did not include many product benefits or features to differentiate them from the competition. |
| 4. | Our client's shipping and handling charges were among the highest seen. |
| 5. | Our client's pricing was higher than average in two of the three instances. |
| 6. | All competitors offered personalization online, but our client did not. |
| 7. | Prices in the catalog and client website were not consistent. |
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| Lessons learned: |
| 1. | Mailers should support featured products (e.g. on the front and/or back cover or hero shots within a book) with internet support. Buy paid search terms to lead potential customers to your site. You do not want to lose sales because someone coming to the internet to buy what you have featured cannot find your product, but finds three others priced lower than yours. |
| 2. | Product descriptions should evoke a positive reaction from the potential customer through setting a scene or providing distinctive and differentiating product characteristics. |
| 3. | Monitor competitors pricing and shipping charges to make sure you know how your fees compare. |
| 4. | Carefully evaluate potential services to determine if lacking one may affect overall results. |
| 5. | Make sure pricing is consistent across all channels unless it is labeled specifically "Internet Offer Only" or "Catalog Only." |
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| There are two major takeaways here as we talk about the rise of the glass house transparency. First, to monitor products that are not unique to your company in terms of what sites they are on and at what price. Second, if you have a product that is contribution positive then you need to invest time and talent in that product to ensure the organic search is competitive. You must carefully monitor paid search hits on that product as well. It is important to be an informed marketer, constantly monitoring the competition in terms of paid search keywords bought or that are optimized for natural search, available product, descriptions, and pricing. |
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| When you look at the items you offer through the same lens that your customer uses, you will gain insights that touch every aspect of your marketing operation. You want to ensure that your potential customers can find you and become actual purchasers. The objective is not necessarily to be the lowest cost provider in a given marketplace. It is however, to know your competition and where you stand in the marketplace so that the marketing decisions you make will support your ultimate marketing goals. The great thing about a glass house is the view will be the same from the inside and from the outside. Use it to your advantage. |
