You may or may not already be aware of the drama surrounding a certain retail giant and their focus on Christmas – despite still being 102 days away. On Monday, the aforementioned retailer launched the earliest on record holiday marketing campaign to VERY mixed reviews. And if you happen to follow this retail giant’s Facebook page – you will find that a rather large portion of those reviews are seething with what can only be described as pure rage.
Rage aside, the reality is that retailers – especially those in the eCommerce space – need to start gearing up their sites in order to ensure they get a piece of the pie in the increasingly competitive world of holiday retail shopping. While we are not suggesting that you start rolling out your traditional ad campaign in September, we are suggesting – very enthusiastically – that you start by understanding what your site’s true return on investment really is.
We understand that ROI is a complex thing and to really understand your marketing return on investment you need a complete understanding of your site. “There is so much more to understand about the ROI of your site than just calculating revenue,” explained Brooks Robinson, CEO, Springbot. “Savvy retailers account for every dollar spent acquiring customers – including marketing spend, shipping, returns, fraud, margins and their time.”
So what is the lesson learned here? It may be too early to start launching traditional holiday commercials – I haven’t even indulged in a pumpkin spiced latte yet – but it is never too early to delve into your site and really understand your ROI. Your goal this holiday season, should you choose to accept, is to understand your ROI by marketing channel – email, social, search, and beyond. Why? A better understanding of how you create value will lead to greater confidence in your marketing campaigns this holiday season – helping you to better understand your customers and what may or may not enrage them.
As for the retail giant, they understand that talking about Christmas in September is actually pretty smart because of all the media attention, despite the backlash. What are your thoughts on Kmart’s September holiday campaign? Read the full article on huffingtonpost.com
