Digital Investment Opportunities
Consumer goods (CG) marketers are still wrestling with fundamental questions when it comes to digital investments: How much should I spend on digital? Where should I spend it? And, what will be the value of my investment? Here, CGT Publisher Albert Guffanti asks Jerry Lohse, senior director, Accenture Interactive, to preview the findings from a recently published research study on this top-of-mind topic.CGT: What are some of the top concerns for marketers at leading CG companies today?
Lohse: Most consumer goods marketers use online sites to influence consumers’ in-store purchasing behavior, but question the true impact of their web sites. This uncertainty around the link between consumers’ usage of brand web sites and their in-store purchasing decisions was a key driver of the groundbreaking study upon which Accenture collaborated with comScore and dunnhumbyUSA.
The research study examined the web sites for 10 food, beverage and household product brands with the objective of comparing the in-store purchase behavior of web site visitors and non-visitors, and the common components of effective CG brand web sites. It was based on an integrated panel of one million U.S. Internet users who had given comScore their explicit permission to have their online activities continuously measured and matched to their in-store brand buying behavior provided by dunnhumbyUSA. We found web site visitors to be highly engaged, valuable customers and frequent brand purchasers. Visitors compared to non-visitors spent 37 percent more at retail, 72 cents more on the brand in retail stores, and 53 percent more in the category. They also made 35 percent more purchase trips for the brand and 39 percent more in the overall product category.
However, while it might seem obvious that people who visit specific web sites would buy more of their brands and have a greater interest in the category, this increased spending behavior was not found across the board. Visitors to 20 percent of these brand web sites actually bought less than non-visitors.
Furthermore, the study found that web site visitors spent an average of 8 percent less per unit than non-visitors. Many of these CG sites were heavily focused on couponing, with the strategy of building market share or penetration in particular areas. Contrast this to the brand web sites of those CG companies that had a 2 percent higher price per unit — these web sites offered a very compelling brand message, one that explained the value of their brand versus private label or competitors’ products.
CGT: What web site features seem to drive traffic and sales the most?
Lohse: Time that visitors spent on the site was the most important metric in determining a purchase at retail. This ranged from 1.5 to 2 minutes — about the time needed for visitors to print out a coupon — to 8.5 minutes on those sites that offered visitors a compelling reason to stay. Engaging online experiences included the use of devices such as contests, video games, recipes, pulse surveys and live chats. Focuses on social causes or philanthropic missions were also important factors in determining a visitor’s in-store purchase, as were brand value messaging.
Fresh content online emerges as the key factor in terms of time spent on the web site and in-store purchases — the more frequently updated, the better. Some CG companies only freshen their web site content once or twice a year. Stale content can result in a double whammy; visitors are not sufficiently enticed to return, and companies can see their Google ranking slip — Google’s algorithm ranks those with stale content lower.
The study offers companies tangible proof of the link between engaging, traffic-generating brand web sites and in-store purchase behavior. It is clear that marketers who create compelling CG brand web site experiences for consumers can be extremely effective in driving incremental and profitable in-store sales.
Read the full Accenture, comScore and dunnhumbyUSA report and analysis at www.accenture.com/us-en/Pages/insight-cpg-brands-maximizing-return-digital-investment.aspx.