Big News for Ecommerce Retailers: “Cyber Monday Shoppers Looking for Bargains”
OK, so this isn’t exactly news for most retailers – but maybe for some pure-play eCommerce retailers it is.
This morning, ClickZ reports that on Cyber Monday eCommerce order volumes rose by 14.5 percent but average order sales were significantly down, falling 12 percent.
The result: Overall sales volume on Cyber Monday was essentially flat, growing less than a half-percent compared with the same day in 2007. This trend is consistent with payment activity during much of November.
But the Cyber Monday snapshot isn’t telling the complete story. Consider this:
• According to ClickZ, spending for the season to date has been a little more aggressive: Since the beginning of November, transaction count has climbed 25 percent, and sales volume has increased 11 percent. The average ticket has come in 12 percent below last year’s level.
• According to Google keyword trends, consumers are conducting more searches for such promotions than in past years. Among the queries that climbed significantly this season are “coupons,” “Black Friday ads,” “discounts,” and “free shipping.”
What does this mean to eCommerce retailers?
Clearly, higher traffic volume isn’t a sign of higher spending, “but rather an indication that people are investing more time in hunting for coupons, discounts, and other deals.”
In other words, simply driving traffic to a unique landing page isn’t enough. eCommerce retailers need to consider alternative offers, pricing bundles, shipping options, etc and determine which one maximizes average order value, profitability AND volume.
And the only way to determine which offer maximizes average order value, profitability AND volume is to run statistically valid experiments with real, live customers unaware they are part of an ‘online merchandising’ experiment.
