The Snow Patrol

63% of UK retailers using Google Analytics only

IndexTools could cause a real stir in the analytics market when it finally becomes available for free.

We did a piece of analysis recently, which showed that 63% of UK retailers are using Google Analytics as their only web analytics package. As IndexTools offers more functionality than Google, it's possible that many of those retailers will move onto the Yahoo! service.

As you'd expect, however, the bigger the site the bigger the investment in web analytics: of the top 50 e-commerce sites in the UK, including travel and leisure as well as retail, only 17% were relying solely on Google Analytics. Omniture was the most popular with a 39% share.

Anyone that wants to get up and running on IndexTools now should give us a call - Snow Valley is the top UK reseller and can give you a headstart. Details here.

Yahoo! IndexTools demo available

I was talking to a few people at the econsultancy summer party last night and the subject of web analytics and IndexTools came up.

There's still no word from Yahoo! as to when they will make IndexTools available for free but anyone that wants a peek can view our demo on the Snow Valley website, along with the presentations from the briefing that we held on the subject back in July.

Dennis Mortensen from Yahoo! has kindly updated his slides, so even if you were there at the Charlotte Street Hotel on the day it's worth a look.

US retailer sees online sales drop following revamp

"Big web changes don’t translate into more e-commerce sales for Coach.com" was the title of an interesting article in Internet Retailer last week.

It seems that the handbag retailer saw online sales drop year-on-year, despite the fact that they had invested in a redesign, added buy online/pick up in-store functionality and built a Canadian version of the site.

There are at least four possible explanations for this: the new design put customers off; the site suffered performance issues as a result of the changes and customers couldn't order anything; Coach stopped spending money on marketing; sales would have dropped off anyway due to some other factor.

But if we assume it was the redesign then this is a cautionary tale for all online retailers. E-commerce is maturing and this means two things: 1) online sales growth is slowing and there are less new customers to be won - you must look after your existing customer base and 2) your existing customer base is familiar with your site and if they don't like the changes they might well walk away.

User testing is no longer a nice-to-have - it's critical. At least if you've tested and sales drop off after an overhaul you know did your homework.

David's Bridal - example of online retailer using video

Scene 7 dropped in to Snow Valley Towers last week to bring us all up to speed on what they're doing. We talked through some of the e-commerce trends that they're seeing, from the growth of colour swatching for furniture retailers right through to dynamic personalisation.

They've seen a big increase in demand for video, particularly from fashion retailers. They showed us a few examples and one of them was David's Bridal (below). It's a simple idea but very arresting if you click 'Play Video' on all of the dresses at once - the page seems to come to life in Harry Potter-stylee.

Adidas launches new UK online store

It's that time of year again and a rash of new sites are being launched in time for Christmas. One of these is the new Adidas online store that they have built for their UK customers. Apart from the flashy homepage it's fairly simple but in a good way - it's very easy to navigate, it's very clean and it showcases both their sportswear and their fashion line in a neat way. I'm not sure about the colour spots on the guided navigation but that's a small criticism.

Halfords - one of many retailers using SMS during delivery

Our 2008 Delivery & Returns reports will be published next month. Every year we see at least one new feature that a number of retailers have implemented - last year it was self-service returns management systems (where the customer goes online and completes details of the return before sending the goods back).

This year we've seen a lot more use of text messaging as part of the delivery process. Halfords is one example - within seconds of placing our order online we received an acknowledgement text by mobile phone. More usefully, another one arrived yesterday telling us that the order was on its way.

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Christmas promotions - what retailers did in 2007

If you're still wondering what promotions you should be running to drive online sales this Christmas, then you might want to read the short report that we produced last year.

It lists a number of ideas that retailers in the UK and US used to generate sales during the crucial trading time in 2007. These included John Lewis and The White Company offering unconditional free delivery, as well as all the usual advent calendars and other viral ideas.

Catalogue & E-business magazine included our findings in a recent issue and so I thought it might be worth mentioning. The report can be downloaded from our website: www.snowvalley.com/report

I'm yet to see the word 'Christmas' on any marketing missives, but with 1st September just 4 days away it's surely just a matter of time.  

Ocado to launch delivery membership scheme

According to yesterday's papers, Ocado is planning to launch a delivery membership scheme. Customers will be able to buy a 3 month membership for £40 and then pay no delivery fees during that quarter. 6 months will cost £60; a year will be £105.

The article mentions the fact that Ocado is losing money and this may be a way of securing some immediate funds. However, there are clearly benefits for retailers to have schemes like this, beyond getting cash up front. Firstly it makes it much harder for the customer to switch to a competitor. Secondly it makes them buy more stuff more often.

I know this because I'm half way through a 4 week free trial on the Amazon Prime scheme that launched in the UK last November. It's £49 for a year and you get free One-Day delivery on all orders during that time. You can also share with 4 family members living in the same household. During the past 2 weeks I have placed at least 3 orders on Amazon that I wouldn't have made without the incentive of free fast delivery on Prime. I will definitely be tempted to sign up when my free trial runs out.

PayPal and Ebay - new initiatives for merchants and consumers

I was down at PayPal on Wednesday, finding out about all their latest developments. They've launched a pre-paid card for consumers, which is a great idea when you think about it, as it allows Ebay sellers to get access to cash or use the money they've made to pay for other things.

For merchants, they've also got a credit payment option called PayLater. It works like BillMeLater in the US - the consumer gets to delay payment for 3 months or so but the merchant still gets their money immediately.

They also told me about a new initiative at their parent company Ebay. It's been widely reported this week in fact - they want large retailers to use Ebay as an extra channel for selling goods. The guys told me how one of the biggest UK retailers is employing people to sit and upload products onto Ebay and they've decided to make this easier and more attractive - it will be possible to upload products in bulk and the listing fees will be removed.

Ebay definitely offers a good opportunity for merchants to sell off clearance lines and get rid of returned stock. Expect to see one or two Snow Valley clients taking advantage in the near future.

Are viral campaigns back on the radar for online retailers?

I met up with the lovely Angie French from Microsoft Advertising on Monday for a catch-up. She introduced us to another Microsoft partner called Oddcast who produce all kinds of viral marketing ideas.

It got me thinking that I hadn't seen a very good viral retail campaign for a while. This is surprising when you think of the social networking opportunities that would make the exchange of viral ideas so much easier. But then, lo and behold, the very next day I came across two ideas from the US, both tailored to the 'Back to School' season (which obviously also means 'off to university' across the pond).

JC Penney has launched 'Dork Dodge' - a computer game where the girl has to escape the goths and jocks and frat boys that follow her round campus. It's funny and very engaging.

Sears meanwhile has created a whole marketing campaign around the idea of 'Don't Just Go Back - Arrive'. As part of this, they have an Arrive Lounge complete with downloads and wallpapers and games.

We'll see if many UK retailers have used viral marketing ideas for their Christmas campaigns.