The pandemic has brought a paramount uncertainty for businesses across the world amidst forced closures, disrupted supply chains, and lowered consumer spending. According to McKinsey, nearly 24% of the British workforce (7.6 million jobs) is currently at risk because of COVID-19. While in the United States, more than 33 million Americans have reported unemployment during the two months. Retail is among the industries severely impacted by recent events. Most operators struggle to find a way to deal with the new normal, searching through industry reports and whitepapers for ideas and guidance on ensuring business continuity. We decided to talk with 34 B2C, eCommerce, and
Introducing Predictive Insights with Real-Time Customer Predictions
It’s no secret that better insights to customers lend an edge to your marketing success. After all, who wouldn’t want to know each customer’s lifetime value (CLV) or when the next order will be? Every day, your online business generates a massive volume of data from a wide range of sources – online and offline – at a faster pace than you can interpret with traditional methods. The dataset is a treasure trove that’s waiting to be mined, and the only way to tackle it is through advanced data science. That’s why we are excited to announce the launch of
How to Remain Operationally Sustainable as an Ecommerce Retailer During Crisis
The corona pandemic has led to a significant change in buyer behavior which caused a shift towards more eCommerce sales. While offline retailers had to suffer from severe losses during the lockdown period, many online shops recorded a strong increase in sales. In fact, in the US online retailers registered YoY (year-over-year) revenue growth of 68% in April and conversion rates that are comparable to Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. However, the increase in online sales also correlated with reduced logistics capacities due to the consequences of the spread of the coronavirus (namely lockdown, social distancing, etc.) resulted in
[Report] How has COVID-19 Impacted Ecommerce Trends?
At the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak, many governments enforced Stay-at-Home measures that require social distancing for millions and closures of non-essential stores. Unsurprisingly, home confinement forced consumers towards online shopping, as weekly eCommerce sales shot up 61% within the first weeks of the closures. That growth in online sales seems to be the main hope for retailers to retain part of their market share and survive through this crisis. This report examines the weekly eCommerce sales patterns as a result of stay-at-home measures, which products consumers are purchasing online, and which categories consumers have cut back on, in an
Business Continuity for Retail: Lesson from COVID-19
The COVID-19 crisis has been devastating on businesses around the world, causing major disruptions to all business functions – from operations to supply chain management to marketing and sales. One of the sectors most affected by the crisis is the retail industry, as physical retail stores are ordered to shut down in cities across the world. Yet, despite all the trauma induced by this global pandemic, there is a glimmer of a silver lining out of this crisis. COVID-19 is considered to be one of the most impactful market disruptors in recent history, opening several windows of opportunity for businesses
How to Automate Your Customer Support in 2024
It’s no secret that rapidly developing new technology is changing the world of business for the decades to come. It’s 2023 and your customers have yet again raised their expectations as to how their experience with your product or service should look like. Not convinced? Studies show that 93% of customers are likely to make repeat purchases with companies that offer outstanding customer service. It’s pretty clear that the quality interaction between your customers and your customer support team is what can make or break your business. That’s why providing excellent customer support is an investment that will pay off
5 Ways to Grow Your Email List 2024
Whether you already have an email marketing strategy in place or are looking for ways to expand your outreach into email and grow your mailing list in doing so, the approach you take will effectively make or break your efforts. According to HubSpot, 80% of business professionals firmly believe that email marketing increases customer retention, and with 59% of customers admitting that marketing emails affect their purchase decisions, it’s safe to say that email marketing is alive and well as a lead generation and nurturing channel. However, additional data provided by Medium shows that email open rates across all amount
Farfetch Case Study: Analyzing The Strategy of the UK Fashion Unicorn
In just 13 years since founding, Farfetch became an online fashion retail unicorn. This Farfetch case study explores the keys to its success from a marketing and sales perspective. Read the Farfetch case study here.
The Coronavirus Survival Guide for Retail [Infographic]
With the outbreak of COVID-19, the retail sector has entered uncharted territory with the temporary closure of physical stores and the slowdown of consumer spending on broad scales. Undoubtedly, there will be tough challenges ahead. That’s why we decided that the best way to help is by offering ideas on the topics that we know well: customer engagements and online conversions. We call this the Coronavirus survival guide for retailers, and we hope it will bring some benefits to your business during these difficult times. May 2020 Update: We analyzed more than 30M online transactions to understand how COVID-19 affected
How to generate eCommerce sales with Instagram [2024]
Today, Instagram is not just a photo-sharing app. It has come a long way to become a real powerhouse that offers a whole host of potential for online business, especially after the company officially launched the Instagram Shops, on May 2020. With over 2 billion monthly active users, and more than 60% of users come in contact with businesses and brands, Instagram eCommerce is undoubtedly the way to go in 2023. However, just like with every eCommerce or social media channel, success is not guaranteed just by being there. You still need to possess a proper strategy if you want
Retail Marketing Trends 2020: What 31 Industry Experts Predict
2019 was another glorious year for the retail sector, with sales reaching $25 trillion worldwide, according to eMarketer. Unsurprisingly, the key growth driver was eCommerce, which grew over 16% year over year, accounting for $3.46 trillion (~14% of total retail sales). “Online retail grows twice as fast as the rest eCommerce sector and 5 times higher than the global retail sector. As eCommerce penetration is expected to rise from 56.1% in 2020 to 65.5% by 2024, a major trend to watch is around how retailers can capitalize on their brand assets, starting with their physical stores, which account for a
Introducing Direct Mail: A Modern Twist to the Age-old Messaging Channel
At ContactPigeon, we love the thrill of getting a beautiful message, and in our quest for that feeling, we thought: “what’s more beautiful than an actual paper postcard that you can touch and admire all you want?” It will be a message that truly stands out in a mailbox full of bills. So, starting this month, we are excited to launch the Direct Mail postcards as an additional messaging channel for connecting with your customers. The only exception is that this message is delivered with actual pigeons (okay, postal offices, since we believe in animal rights)! What’s truly innovative is
Gartner Trends 2020 Predictions: What They Mean for Retailers
Each year, Gartner, the world-leading research and advisory firm, identifies top strategic trends that shape the future of businesses across the globe. Retail business owners, CMOs, and eCommerce professionals have highly anticipated Gartner Trends on Digital Commerce 2020, as it provided insights into the ever-shifting digital commerce landscape with sophisticated analysis. From AI to Visual Commerce, there are many emerging trends to watch and, more importantly, adopt to grow your business. In this post, we picked five of Gartner trends on digital commerce that we believe have the most near-term impact on eCommerce business for a deep dive. Aside from
25 Lovely Valentine’s Day Promotion Ideas for Retail
As red and pink hearts begin to pepper the shop windows, it’s a reminder that Valentine’s Day draws near. Despite the proximity to Black Friday and Christmas, Valentine’s Day remains one of the top holidays for boosting retail sales. According to the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Prosper Insights & Analytics, consumers earmarked $25.9 billion for Valentine’s Day spending in 2023, showcasing a rise from the $23.9 billion expended in 2022. Whether you have already started the Valentine’s Day retail marketing for your retail store, or still seeking ideas on what to do, you’ve landed on the right post. We’ve
Marketer Spotlight: Meet OFarmakopoiosmou’s Dora Kafourou
We are finally resuming our Marketer Spotlights series! This month, we have the pleasure of interviewing Dora Kafourou, eCommerce Digital Marketer of online pharmacy, OFarmakopoiosmou, to be the marketer in the spotlight. In the Marketer Spotlight: Dora Kafourou Dora is the all-around eCommerce digital marketer at OFarmakopoiosmou, where she has oversight into all content creation, social media, website optimization, and online promotions of the business. OFarmakopoiosmou (ofarmakopoiosmou.gr) is the online store of the pharmacy that was established in 1977 in Athens. The store brand is built on the mission of establishing a long-term relationship with customers, as a trusted
Introducing Personalized Mobile Messaging Campaigns
We have a new year tradition at ContactPigeon, we kick off the year with brand new offerings (see 2018). So, Happy New Year with fully personalized and automated mobile messaging campaigns (including SMS/Viber/Whatsapp)! 🎇 Mobile messages make it easy to reach customers with real-time personalized updates when they are out of reach through email. This addition opens up a new messaging channel within the ContactPigeon platform and adds greater versatility to your campaign strategy when combined with our existing channels – email, push notification, pop-ups, etc. Let’s take a look at the mobile messaging feature in-depth and how you can set it
B2B Video Marketing Strategy: A Step-by-Step Guide for Building Yours
There’s ample proof that video is a must for B2B brands. In 2019 alone, 50% of marketers used and invested in more video content. In fact, it became the top used content format, beating blogs and image-based content. Video has also become a priority medium on social media. Every platform you use today includes an algorithmic update to position videos above other forms of content. And the stats are staggering. Twitter gets 2 billion views per day. A third of Instagram stories, which are shared as videos, are from brands. And 500 million people turn to Facebook to watch videos
10 Top eCommerce Events in London You Shouldn’t Miss in 2024
For many of us, Christmas marks the season of giving, reflection, and forward-looking planning for the new business and marketing plans for the year to come. Part of such planning includes filling our calendars with marketing and eCommerce events to attend in 2023. While we may not be able to help with gifting, we can certainly help with the events. Here are the 10 most anticipated eCommerce events in London for 2020 to guide your calendar planning. The UK eCommerce ecosystem in numbers Below are some useful insights about the eCommerce in the UK, to help you understand why London is the best place to be for eCommerce in 2020. So, let’s let
Tesco Case Study: How an Online Grocery Goliath Was Born
Tesco boasts an impressive history in the UK and abroad. Over the years, the grocery goliath has achieved continued success by remaining at the forefront of retail trends, including everything from self-service shopping to international expansion. More recently, Tesco has made its mark with a sophisticated online grocery strategy that enables seamless digital shopping. There’s a lot that can be gleaned from Tesco’s eCommerce efforts. In this Tesco case study, we highlight the retailer’s long-term emphasis on customer service, which can be seen not only in its physical locations but also in its eCommerce strategy. Table of Contents – Summary A
Build Natural Links with Guest Blogging (2022)
If you think that guest blogging is all about writing a 500-word article, stuffing it with your keywords, and publishing it on the first blog you come across, you’re wrong. This is not how it works in 2021. Instead of the quantity of backlinks, you need to focus on their quality. To increase brand awareness, online reputation, and website visits through guest blogging, you need to write quality articles and publish them on respected sites in your niche. Above all, you need to insert your links naturally. Here are a few tips to apply. Find Valuable Guest Blogging Opportunities Identifying