eTail dTail | August 30, 2007


	August 30, 2007

Marketing Your Product Catalog Data:
Using Your Storefront Data For All
Marketing Efforts
by Chip Arndt

Miami, FL (August 30, 2007)—Many online merchants do not have an effective data management system to market their most up to date product catalog through the various marketing channels. These channels include affiliate sites, comparison shopping engines, mobile commerce and other shopping destination sites available to them online.

Or, if they do have a "data management system" in place, this system relies on methods that often lead to marketing outdated products that are not consistent with the most up to date product catalog information residing within the shopping cart. The result is "outdated" product catalog data marketed into marketing channels which leads to a myriad of issues.

In either scenario, it is essential that:

The online merchant understand how critical it is to market data that is functionally the same as the data that is on their online storefront, and
That online merchants are provided a methodology and a process to ensure that the data they market is consistent with what appears on their online site.

In this newsletter, MerchantAdvantage will answer the following questions:

Why using your storefront data should be the "initial" access point to use when marketing your online storefront, anywhere and anytime?
What key elements of the data you use for marketing needs to be consistent with what you have on your online storefront "right now", and which should not be consistent (there are times for this too)? and
How often does your marketing information need to be updated to maintain concurrency?

Why Using Storefront Data Should Be The "Initial" Access Point For All Marketing Feeds

Let’s look at two completely different scenarios:

The consumer sees your product(s) on a Comparison Shopping Engine, and likes what he/she sees, so…they click over to your site only to find that the product they saw on the comparison engine is exactly what they see on YOUR site, same price same product…very happy consumer.
The consumer sees your product(s) on a Comparison Shopping Engine, and likes what he/she sees, so…they click over to your site only to find that the product they saw and liked on the Comparison Shopping Engine is more expensive than it was on the previously viewed page…very angry consumer!

If that isn’t enough to grab your attention, the Comparison Shopping Engines, in an effort to please their consumers, intend to provide the most accurate information possible. If merchants stand in the way of those efforts, most Comparison Shopping Engines will cancel the offending merchants’ entire product feed, even if there is just one offending product.

The storefront software or service you choose, for the purposes of online territories, is the central point where everything happens = the nucleus that drives your ecommerce engine. All other applications, services, or products you might choose to use for online endeavors must be able to (and should) "communicate" with your chosen storefront software or service. The two main reasons for this are related to efficiency and accuracy.

Efficiency – If your storefront data drives your marketing data, it saves valuable time, and eliminates unnecessary steps in the marketing process.

Accuracy – The typical point of sale for online endeavors is at the storefront, and if marketing data is not similar to storefront data, the merchant loses the consumer immediately, and probably for future purchases too.

When it comes to adopting the function of marketing your product catalog data outside of your storefront to numerous marketing channels many online merchants do not know what to do.

They are often forced to create separate files and/or spreadsheets, based on their storefront data, that they then place in a separate folder to send to the various marketing channels. Often this file is created for the marketing department or other folks to use for marketing purposes.

The problem with this manual procedure is that often when changes are made to your online storefront catalog data these changes are not reflected in the file that was "replicated" for marketing purposes. In other words, the nucleus that drives your ecommerce engine is no longer what drives your online marketing efforts. Problems ensue, technical issues occur, frustration with marketing channels lead to cost overruns, and all of this results in counter productive online marketing.

The simple solution to all of this is not to "replicate/duplicate" files that are based on data that is always being updated on your storefront and rather go right to the "product catalog source data" that resides in your shopping cart. By using your "source data" as your starting (being introduced to consumers) and end point (point of sale) the online merchant can ensure that the data sent to any destination outside of your storefront is accurate with reference to the "product catalog source data" that appears on your shopping cart.

How To Ensure That The Data You Market Is Consistent With Your Storefront Data

This can be easy or it can be hard. You choose.

The hard way is to constantly compare your "marketing data files" or "spreadsheets" with your storefront source data, product for product, and make adjustments daily.

The easy way is to create, or use an application, which pulls the data you use for marketing purposes from your "source product catalog data." AND then make sure that this application automatically updates your marketing data every time "someone" on your team updates information in your "source product catalog data", or at least as often as you feed to marketing entities.

MerchantAdvantage has developed such a tool – Channel Management – that can be auto scheduled to do this for any online merchant and provide a product date file from their storefront platform. Online merchants can now continue to keep the two sets of files consistent with each other – namely your shopping cart data and the files that you create from that shopping cart data for marketing purposes.

There are service based companies that also can do this for you, and they are excellent, but these solutions can be expensive for the small to mid-sized online merchant. If you are like many online merchants, who like managing, marketing and controlling their own data feeds then use a tool based solution so you can save time, headaches and money while ensuring that you consistently market only the most update to date storefront product catalog data to all of your marketing channels. These tools allow small to mid-sized retailers to compete in the online retail marketplaces.

How To Ensure That Updates To Product Catalog Data Are Carried Through In Real Time To All Of Your Marketing Channels = The Process

So now that you are on board as to why using your "product catalog data" that resides within your shopping cart software is critical. Now what?

If you are determined to continue to create a separate file/spreadsheet based upon your product catalog data and then update that manually to ensure accuracy, may we suggest that you don’t! We only foresee problems with this method. If you still insist, then you need to ensure that:

The product URL pages, image URLs, prices and other categories are exactly the same as your storefront data,
That you update this file/spreadsheet whenever you make changes to your storefront data BEFORE sending a feed to any marketing channel,
That you adjust the perhaps somewhat cryptic content which serves its purpose on the storefront to be more marketing friendly, and
That you rethink using this method!

Our recommendation to those using a feed management tool system, such as Channel Management by MerchantAdvantage, is to:

Schedule an import of your product catalog into your marketing feed system daily
Create business rules to adjust your product content in a way which will maximize consumer interest while maintaining content consistency in fields such as price, product URL etc…
Feed the adjusted content to selected channels
Assess the performance of those feeds using analytics
Adjust content, selected SKUs or Channels as necessary for better performance
REPEAT 1-5, as necessary

MerchantAdvantage Wrap Up:

No storefront software or service can do all that an online merchant requires, especially when managing data feeds to dozens of marketing channels and shopping destination sites. Given the many new methods to market online today, many shopping cart software packages or services do try to keep up. However, often times it is more cost effective and intelligent to compliment your existing software package or service with a vendor’s product or service that is more robust. When you do choose to use software that enhances your ecommerce engine, it is mandatory that the new vendor’s product "speaks to" and "works seamlessly with" your existing shopping cart technology AND also that the storefront technology you decided to use allows for other products to work with them.

Once you are confident that these last two points are true, it is important to use an application/tool to effectively market your product catalog data on an ongoing basis. Once you are certain that the data you want to market is consistent with your shopping cart data, you can then begin to manipulate the marketing of that data into certain channels, as you desire, by appending unique marketing language to a marketing channel feed.

Only then can you be confident that:

The data you are marketing is consistent with what a consumer will see on your storefront when they come to make a purchase, and
That the online marketing channel you are using never cancels your product catalog feed for product inaccuracies between what you market and what you have on your storefront.

Altering Content on Your Marketing Feeds Leads to More Clicks and Sales
by Brett Bernstein, Tech Support

Miami, FL (August 30, 2007)— I took a few moments to read the article by Chip in this issue and found it ironic that my article takes an opposite approach to the same issue.

I certainly agree that the definitive source for your marketing data is your storefront…in virtually all cases. However, as we get into the details we find that it is merely only the source of your data, but it is certainly not the final marketing content which you should send to all of the shopping destination sites.

Data within a storefront application has been created, and is entirely formatted, for the storefront. Its sole purpose is to entice consumers to purchase product AFTER they have already arrived at your storefront. But to shift to an age old analogy, what you say to get someone "into a store" is significantly different to what you say once they are there. The same is true of online marketing. Data that will interest a consumer while at your site may not hit home at all when viewed on a random Google search or a comparison shopping engine ("CSE") session.

Let me insert here that I HATE spam. But I am always curious as to what the spammer’s goal is when they send me the strange emails that they send. Do they really think I will be enticed to get a second mortgage on my house because of a random infuriating email? This kind of marketing, to me, is ludicrous. No matter how inexpensive this is, I just can’t believe ANYONE will simply sign up for a second mortgage because they got a random email sent via a disreputable method. How desperate would I have to be to accept this marketing solution, and move forward with the company for my second mortgage? And I don’t even want to get into the other spam marketing emails…they couldn’t possibly be working. Sorry, I digress.

The point is that data, or a marketing message, should be adjusted for the venue to which it will be dispensed. As another example, Budweiser always has a "special" message when advertising for the Super Bowl, as opposed to standard magazine ad. So, too, should an online retailer’s message be different for someone shopping in a shopping destination site than for a consumer already on the retailer’s storefront.

That’s why it makes sense to "alter and adjust" your product information before marketing/sending it to external marketing venues. Obviously certain information remains the same – price (and quantities when applicable) for example. But sometimes it does make sense to change basic information like the product name when sending your data outside of your own systems and to CSEs, or other marketing channels.

So here is some advice for any merchant when marketing online. Before sending product data to shopping destination sites, scrutinize your own data but with a new viewpoint.

Review your data in the same format that it exists at the shopping destination sites, and then see if you would be enticed to visit your own store. If it makes sense to alter some of your content that you send to a marketing channel in order to appeal to consumers to then click into/onto your storefront then do it!

Merchant of the Month: BPAV.com

BPAV.com is an online retailer of consumer electronics, and we've been using price feeds for close to 6 years.

As competition increased and item click fees went up, our advertising budget was increasing monthly. The worst part was that we had no idea where our traffic was coming from and if people were actually buying anything.

We signed up with MerchantAdvantage in February 2007, when our advertising costs were up to $40,000 a month. Through an intense review of Chanalytics data, we were able to figure out what product lines were profitable, what wasn't, and which CSEs were actually making us a profit. We eliminated one feed, streamlined the rest, and saw a huge drop in our price feed costs.

Last month our advertising budget went down to about $23,000, almost half of what it once was, and our revenues and ROI increased.

Get Your Channel Management Fee Waived Plus Receive a Complimentary Companion Airline Ticket!

We're thrilled and inspired by all the Channel Management success stories you share with us. Now we want to turn the spotlight on you! Send us your best Channel Management success story and you could be selected as our Merchant of the Month.

If chosen, your company will be exclusively showcased in an edition of our monthly newsletter, eTail dTail.

Best of all, your monthly MerchantAdvantage fee will be waived in the month you are selected and you will receive a complimentary Companion Airline Ticket. Submit your Channel Management success story today to stories@merchantadvantage.com. We look forward to hearing from you!
(Note: MerchantAdvantage reserves the right to use any or all of your story, whether or not your article is selected as the winning entry.)

About MerchantAdvantage

MerchantAdvantage (www.MerchantaAdvantage.com) is an ecommerce software solutions company committed to championing and helping the small to midsized online ecommerce Merchant address complicated online issues and take a systematic, controlled and proactive approach to online product marketing. MerchantAdvantage provides long-term, cost effective software tools that enable an online business to grow by reaching the widest audience possible via online, broadband, and wireless devices. MerchantAdvantage’s applications are designed to thoroughly connect the online retailer to their marketplace partners in a seamless motion of communication allowing Merchants to take control of their ecommerce channels, marketing strategies, and IT solutions. These software tools specifically help ecommerce retailers bridge the gap created by non-standardized data feeds to various online market places, shopping comparison sites, and other online shopping destination sites.

MerchantAdvantage is changing the macrocosm of ecommerce by staying ahead of the curve in providing business solutions to the growing online retail marketplace: We’re here because America’s commerce future is online.

MerchantAdvantage, the premier software for on-line retailers looking for an efficient and cost-effective method to online product marketing introduces Channel Management with Chanalytics(sm) Professional and Lite. Channel Management products help online retailers save time and money while maximizing their return on investment and marketing budgets by allowing them to easily connect to shopping comparison sites an assess their performance. MerchantAdvantage is for online retailers wishing to better manage online marketing efforts and increase sales volume.

MerchantAdvantage – Take Control of Your Marketing Channels!

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• Apparel Is Largest and Fastest-Growing Retail Category Onlinel
by eMarketer.com
Sales of apparel are the largest and fastest-growing US online retail category. Convenience and finding bargains remain consumers' key motivations for buying apparel online. At the same time, several surveys show many consumers prefer buying clothing in a store.

According to eMarketer's report "US Apparel E-Commerce," the percent of apparel sales transacted online has increased and will continue to increase due to a range of factors including: wider broadband adoption, more women online, greater confidence in online purchases, consumer-friendly policies and better tools for product visualization.

Forrester Research estimates that online sales will reach $22.1 billion in 2007, up 21% over 2006.

But as Forrester reported, 2006 online sales of apparel, accessories and footwear accounted for only 8% of total apparel sales. By this measure, apparel lags far behind other retail categories such as computers, where 41% of sales occur online. Apparel is one of several product categories that consumers prefer to buy in stores because they can touch, feel and try on items.

Nevertheless, retailers are employing various marketing techniques to lower consumer resistance to buying apparel online. They are in the forefront of using visualization tools, personalizing service and adopting liberal shipping and return policies.

Though the Internet is expected to claim a greater share of apparel sales, "This is only half the opportunity for retailers," says Jeffrey Grau, senior analyst and author of the report. "Apparel is a big cross-channel shopping category. Traditional retailers who understand the purchase process will develop strategies for driving online shoppers to their stores."

• UK ecommerce breaks £4bn a month
by theregister.co.uk
July saw a massive jump in online retail, with sales rising 80 per cent on last year to a new all-time high, according to e-tail industry body IMRG.

The organisation's research indicates that UK online retail sales exceeded £4bn in a month for the first time.

IMRG reports that online sales for July totalled £4.2bn, £1.86bn higher than the figure for July 2006. By contrast, high street sales grew by just 3.3 per cent during July, according to National Statistics, to an average weekly value of £5bn, or roughly £20bn a month.

Jo Evans, managing director of IMGR said: "We were surprised by the strength of July's growth, so checked and rechecked the figures... then checked them again.

"This data is sound. It reveals the extent to which the retail sector is being transformed by frictionless ecommerce. Major brands are bringing on-stream the next generation of slick new internet retailing services, and consumers are flocking to use them. It's big players' success that is now driving e-retail growth and boosting the index."

Several factors contributed to July's very strong growth, including the very wet weather which inhibited travelling, encouraged people to shop online, and forced many people to replace water-damaged goods, according to IMRG. It also said many new-season catalogues are published at this time of year and their orders are now taken largely online. New or updated websites with greatly expanded product ranges, the continuing uptake in domestic broadband, and increasing consumer confidence were also cited as reasons for the surge in sales.

IMGR has been collecting sales data from numerous e-tailers since 2000.

• Jellyfish.com and The Knot Get Hitched for Exclusive Online Wedding-Themed Savings Event
by businesswire.com
Jellyfish.com, the home of Smack Shopping, the Internet’s first live social shopping show, announced that it has teamed up with The Knot, the leading wedding resource, to produce an exclusive co-branded Smack Shopping show. The live wedding-themed Smack savings event, scheduled to take place from 3:00-5:00pm EDT today - Friday August 24 - will feature hot products from The Knot’s popular Wedding Shop, such as fully recyclable One Time Use Digital Camcorders and The Knot Ultimate Wedding Planner. So far, several thousand members of the active user communities of The Knot have pre-registered to participate.

The Knot Smack Show will follow the distinctive price-dropping format that has made Smack Shopping an online cult favorite. Each item starts at full retail price, but the selling price steadily drops as time runs off the clock. Shoppers chat as they hold out for amazing discounts - up to 100% off MSRP – and then race to lock in their desired price for an item before the unknown limited quantity runs out.

"Smack Shopping is a fun, fresh venue for brides to socialize with each other while finding great deals from The Knot Wedding Shop," said Kristin Savilia, Vice President, E-Commerce of The Knot, Inc. "We are eager to share the social shopping experience with our valued users as well as raise awareness of our diverse set of unique and personalized products and bridal resources among the wider Jellyfish audience."

"With the wedding season in full swing, a custom-made Smack for the members of The Knot, one of our newest retailers, made perfect sense," said Brian Wiegand, CEO of Jellyfish. "Not only do the brides and grooms-to-be of The Knot get a personalized introduction to social shopping, our loyal Jellyfish users benefit from yet another great addition to our increasingly diverse lineup of shopping shows."

Products featured on The Knot Smack Show will be available for purchase through Jellyfish’s comparison shopping engine and The Knot Wedding Shop. Shoppers that make purchases at The Knot Wedding Shop via Jellyfish will receive 9.0% off the regular price due to their retail partnership and Jellyfish’s unique advertising model, which shares revenue with shoppers.

"Technology should exist to aid us in our endeavors; We are here because you are online.^sm"

Michael Lambert, CEO

For information on how MerchantAdvantage may help your business grow, please contact us:
Chip Arndt
Executive Vice President
Business Development and Strategy
305.895.9466 x113
partnerships@merchantadvantage.com