Phones: not just for talking, now for shopping

Groceries & clothes, sporting goods & furniture, with a slide of the finger and a tap of a button, users are going to their phones for these purchases. Think it’s not your product their shopping for? I would think again.

Last time I spoke about the strength of eCommerce for retailers and the benefits it serves to the customers. However, we can’t stop at the desktop; it’s now time to move to the hand. And, seeing that 5.9 billion out of the 7 billion people (87%) worldwide already have mobile phones, it makes clear sense to start going mobile.  Not to mention, mobile commerce is expected to experience significant growth by 2015 from the six previous years — jumping 99-fold from $1 billion in sales in 2009 to more than $100 billion. 

In a recent study, 59% of smartphone users believe that it is as least somewhat important to be able to buy something using the device. So, let’s help them! Let’s take the shopping online. There are apps for coupons, comparison shopping, and apps that allow users to shop from your store through a different community and people are using these, addictively! Pair your mobile shopping experience with the apps that are already on the phones, and watch the sales come-in. In addition, 77% percent of people use their phones for searching, and 9/10 of those searches result in an action, i.e., in-store visit, purchase, etc. I want to make sure those actions are taking place with your company.  

Last week I highlighted three key steps to creating a leading website shopping experience from the computer, and many of those rules stand for mobile shopping, as well. But, people don’t want to shop on their phones from your computer based website, so there need to be adjustments. Below are three simple steps you can take, to make sure customers are shopping from you all the time.

1. The most important first step is to create a mobile-friendly shopping website. Your goal is to make the mobile version of your website as inviting and easy to use as your regular site, while taking into account the constraints of mobile devices. More info here

2. Products: To add to user experience and satisfaction, the mobile version should also offer them other features such as full product specs with quality photos included. More info here

3. Mobile Checkout: Because mobile Web transactions are often done in public, people feel even less secure about entering credit card and other personal information. Integrating a professional checkout service that stores this data online can make a big difference. More info here

Your shoppers are on their phones: playing games, checking Facebook, text messaging friends—why not take advantage of the addiction to the smartphone and make a sale. Implementing a thoughtful mobile shopping experience is not only going to benefit the customer, it will in turn benefit your ROI and you will look smart doing it.

Annie Kessler is a graduate student in the Northwestern Medill IMC marketing program and has a passion for digital and interactive advertising and marketing. Annie will be graduating in December 2012. Annie can be reached on twitter using the handle @asugark 

Fashion, Bow Down to Your Social Media Savior: 3 Ways to Pique Brand Interest with Pinterest

By Martha Dominique Sojka

Any designer worthy of an atelier on Avenue Montaigne will tell you that fashion is meant to be an experience. And ideally, it’s an experience that makes consumers feel so trendy, sophisticated, and confident that they’re compelled to come back, time and time again. It’s all about creating the experience; it’s all about delivering on that lifestyle.

Admittedly, it’s hard to replicate those experiences and lifestyles online, and so it’s no surprise that the fashion industry has been slow to adapt social media into its marketing strategies. Traditional social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook transform the vivid, visually-laden fashion landscape into little more than words and tiny, static banner ads. Where’s the imagery, where’s the color? Where’s the experience?

How can fashion reap the benefits of social media, when the existing platforms take the very heart and soul out of it?

Fashion, your social media savior has arrived. Say hello to Pinterest.

Tailored to the Industry
 What makes Pinterest so lucrative for fashion? Its very nature plays to two key strengths of the industry: it’s visual and it’s social. In fashion, a picture can tell the whole story. And Pinterest affords fashion brands the ability to propel their stories in a way that is engaging, personal, and far-reaching.

It boils down to one thing: Pinterest is a huge referrer of web traffic. So huge, in fact, that it has recently become the top traffic driver for retailers, beating out Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. Because a link is always attached to a pinned image, users are clicking on these links and visiting company websites and blogs. And this translates into increased engagement, visibility, and sales.
                                                                                             
As Johanna Murphy, VP/Ecommerce for Kate Spade puts it, “Pinterest is kind of the fuel for the overall fire to the brand that will ultimately drive sales”.

The Wall Street Journal seems to agree. The publisher’s recent foray into Pinterest centered on creating a New York Fashion Week pin board as a means to increase engagement with existing customers as well as potential new ones, and "[reach] readers in a different environment and bring them back to [the] site”. Read: an increased and engaging web presence can go a long way. 

Time (and Presence) is of the Essence                                                                                Don’t delay with getting your brand on Pinterest. The fashion brands that will reap the greatest benefits are those that will establish their presence the quickest. As with any social media tool, if brands are not there when the site is first gaining traction then any future endeavor ends up feeling like a corporate intrusion into a personal space. To be authentic and influential, brands need to find a role for themselves on Pinterest early on in the game. 

Disclaimer: This does not mean setting up a brand pin board, slapping on your products, and waiting for the traffic to pour in. Sure, you’ll get some activity; however, getting that coveted customer engagement and influential WOM takes more than simply replicating your spring catalog and calling it a day.

Below are three ways to up the ante on your Pinterest presence and use the social media tool to skyrocket consumer engagement levels and website traffic:

1. Concentrate on the lifestyle, not the product: Says Murphy of her Pinterest philosophy, “[Pinterest communicates] our brand: who we are, what we believe in…if you go there and start just pinning your own stuff, without having the mood, the spirit of the community, you’ll turn people off”. Remember this—you’re not blatantly advertising products, you’re selling a lifestyle. Your Pinterest page should put your brand’s lifestyle on display in a way that’s beautiful, organized, and social. In addition to products, pin to music, moods, and thoughts that inspire you and your target audience. Check out ban.do, Lilly Pulitzer, and Barney’s New York—they’re doing it right. 

2. Get creative with contests: Contests are great ways to motivate and engage your customers and followers. Have customers curate boards featuring your products on their personal accounts, or launch a contest board on your own account and ask customers to pin specific types of items. Take inspiration from Ann Taylor’s Heart Fashion and Guess’ Color Me Inspired contests and get creative with themes. Offer prizes to the individual that creates the best board and/or the person whose pin receives the most action (this will encourage them to spread the word about their own pin, giving the contest greater reach).

3. Offer special ‘Members Only’ deals to spur loyalty: Have a "Pinterest Exclusive" board featuring hand picked products from your website that will be discounted at checkout using a special code (i.e. “PinterestDeal”). Put the price in the pin description box to generate the price ribbon. This will garner attention to that specific board and allow users to quickly recognize the products as featured and/or on sale.

So, is your brand ready to start pinning? It better be. Pinterest is the new trend on the block, and as we all know, in fashion it really doesn’t pay to ignore the next big thing.

  
Martha Sojka is a graduate student in the Northwestern Medill IMC marketing program specializing in branding, analytics, and digital marketing. Her focus is on the fashion, beauty, and lifestyle industries. She is set to graduate in December 2012. Martha can be reached on twitter using the handle @MarthaDomiSojka

Moms Try On A New Hat – Blogger

What television did for Jersey Shore and the Kardashians, the Internet is doing for moms. With almost 4 million moms and counting, mommy bloggers are the next big thing on the web, and as their influence grows, so does the attention of companies looking for new ways to get the all-important mom approval. Most interesting, however, is that these aren’t just your average moms. They’re well educated, high-earning women who have passed up lucrative job opportunities to tell the world about their experiences. Check out some stats H&R Block collected about today’s mommy bloggers:

·      On average, they earn $14,000 more a year than their nonblogging peers

·      They are 52% more likely to have a college degree than the average mom

·      They represent 14% of American moms

And those numbers only tell part of the story. With wide-reaching networks of followers, and affiliations with strong blogging collectives, mommy bloggers wield buying power influence that rivals a celebrity endorsement. Companies from McDonald’s to Kraft to P&G are using mommy bloggers as the new advertisers; replacing generic banner ads with interactive blogger experiences. These multibillion-dollar companies are standing behind their products and letting bloggers write whatever they want about the free products they’re given. Mommy bloggers have tipped the hand of power when it comes to promoting products, and with new moms starting blogs everyday, companies will have to continue to reach out to these networkers and community leaders to gain traction with a target concerned about buying only the best for their families and themselves.

The mommy blogger is no passing fad, like the soccer mom before her, she represents a highly influential purchaser and makes some of the most important family budget decisions. Companies can harness this influential power by partnering with mommy bloggers (who are notoriously picky, but endlessly loyal to a select few companies), giving them the freedom to write about products however they want, and letting them spread the word about those products organically. The mommy blogger typifies the new power consumers hold over companies. No company will be able to force mommy bloggers into endorsing a product they don’t like or want and that’s the key to their power – they don’t need companies, but the Fortune 500 sorely needs them.

Justin Alsop is a graduate student in the Northwestern Medill IMC marketing program. He’s interested in how web influencers are changing the Internet business model and their impact on the future of e-commerce; you can find him at @JDaneA.