In the Ecommerce channel, effective analytics are a must. If you are not answering all the below questions (and many others) confidently, it’s time to upgrade. How do promotional activities of competitor products affect our business?  What about our own promotional activities? Are we promoting the correct product? What are people searching for online?  Are we priced at the correct level? Are there online channels where pricing interferes with any contractual agreements?  Are we competitive on a page rank level?  Are our reviews good?  A downward trend indicates a quality problem.  Can we identify the effects of 3rd party activities? Diversion? Unauthorized sellers? Is this causing a quality issue? Our Ecommerce analytics tool ‘Line Item’ is the perfect solution for your Ecommerce business. Our algorithms will collect, track and analyze a multitude of fine details related to your product and also your competitors’ products on a daily basis. It’s all in the details: With ‘Line Item’ you will be able to track SEO and page rank for your product and also your competitors’ products. It will also identify if the product descriptions are flawless and consistent and if the images are best they can be. If you are selling a premium product, ‘Line Item’ will identify other products very similar to it but lower grade, lower price. It’s an indicator your business could also be looking at offering a lower grade, lower price product and keeping the premium one under a premium or upgraded category for an increased price. ‘Impostor’ products are also being identified – repackaged items or lookalike and described alike products. Reviews! Research shows that 84% of people trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation. If you find yourself with a product rated overall less than 4 – 4.2 you have to understand why. ‘Line Item’ will track all reviews, good and bad, both yours and the competitors’ products. ‘Robotic’ pricing activity is also being tracked. Price matching, even lower by a few pennies, will sway customers from one seller to another. ‘Line Item’ and its algorithms can identify such activities on a daily basis. What’s the data that we capture?

• E-Tailer;
• Search term – we make our own search terms proven to have a better search result;
• Date/Time;
• Items on ALL pages;
• For each item:
  • Page and rank on page;
  • Description;
  • Promotion;
  • Review score and count;
  • Selling price;
  • List Price;
  • UPC/SKU/ASIN.

How are we different?

• ‘Line Item’ differentiates itself from any other Ecommerce analytics tools by the extreme deep dive it takes into the item attributes and the ability to translate that into crucial information for any Ecommerce seller.
  • Because we capture UPCand SKU, if you have access to our sales volume from the Ecommerce site, we can report sales-to-promotion, sales-to-price, sales-to page rank etc. across all sites.
  • Also very importantly we harmonize yours and your competitors’ products across sites even if descriptions are different. We can directly match your products to competing products.

How do we do it? For EVERY item, we capture:

• Brand;
• Size;
• Packaging;
• Segment;
• Style;
• Flavor;
• Nutrition facts;
• Claims;
• UPC/SKU/ASIN.

Results can be presented as often as daily in the form of a dashboard but we also offer in depth web analytical services so our clients can focus on their successful businesses. Click here to get in touch with Ironbridge now.

Does channel conflict concern you? It should. Thanks to the innovations of our digital age, manufacturers have more choices than ever when it comes to distributing their products. But with choice often comes confusion that can even lead to over-saturation of a particular market or the souring of relationships between manufacturers and retailers. The Problem Not long ago, retail followed a fairly straight path in which a manufacturer worked with resellers and outlets to sell their products. Today, this same path is winding at best. Due to e-commerce, manufacturers don’t need to solely rely on retailers and distributors to get their products in the hands of consumers. Yet, these channels are still essential and profitable. So what do you do? Channel conflict is the term used for competing interests within your marketing and distribution channels. This could mean that your bricks and mortar and online channels are competing with each other or even with you if you sell directly to consumers online. The biggest risk posed by channel conflict is to your relationships with these businesses. You want to maintain strong relationships, but it’s hard to do so if you’re going head-to-head with your own distribution chain. What You Can Do Let’s not focus on the negative--so what can you do? And how can you maintain strong relationships that are fruitful for both you and your resellers? The solution is something we like to call channel harmonizing. Instead of risking confusion, competition and miscommunication, you need to strategically manage each relationship. Your business can’t afford to undercut your largest retail outlets by selling direct to consumer. Does this mean you shouldn’t sell directly to consumers? Not necessarily, but perhaps. One main area to consider is how you price products as well as where and when to run promotions. Consumers are savvy and they now have all the technology they need to find the best price right in their pockets. This means that if you are selling the same product at different prices across online and brick-and-mortar outlets, someone is going to lose out. You need to coordinate your pricing and promotion, but it’s hard to keep track of so many moving parts. This is where your data comes in to answer questions about when and where to run a promotion. There is no one-size-fits-all solution to channel conflict, which is why you need hard data to make the best decisions. With data, you can see sales numbers, growth and ROI for a specific outlet. Is it worth the risk to the relationship to sell D2C? Crunching the numbers will reveal this answer. At Ironbridge Software, we can help you make sense of your own data and make the decisions that will nurture relationships. For instance, if you have a relationship with a retailer such as Target, you want to nurture and grow that area. Target likely has more marketing strength to distribute your product than you do, but you may still participate in D2C for certain products. You’ll want to tweak your prices to find a sweet spot between maximum ROI and maximum consumer interest. The best way to fine-tune these numbers is to look at your data! Are you ready to dig into your own data and strengthen your distribution channels? Contact Ironbridge today to learn more about our suite of products. Written by Kim Kelly Consulting

After more than a year without the giant toy retailer, U.S. residents will once again have a chance to shop at Toys ‘R’ Us for the holiday season. The retailer, now owned by TRU Kids Brand, announced that it will return to two brick-and-mortar locations in time for the 2019 holiday season. You can read more about the deal and the new locations here. In terms of retail strategy, why would TRU try to return to the U.S. market when it formerly closed all 735 locations? It seems that the retailer is banking on a new sales approach. The new TRU has partnered with experiential retailer B8ta to create in-store experiences. In a rather cynical article, Gizmodo writes: “Instead of just being rows and rows of shelves stocked with what kids actually want, the new Toys R Us stores will be more like interactive playgrounds with pre-planned events and activities every day, and the opportunity to play with a handful of toy samples.” On the one hand, this switch in strategy may spark renewed interest in the retailer. Afterall, the two locations set to open (one in New Jersey and the other in Houston) are both located in shopping malls. Consumers need a good reason to walk into a physical store these days, let alone a mall. Perhaps this new model will draw buyers in for both the experience and the nostalgia. But critics pose that the original model of stocking loads of toys was working for TRU. The reason the company failed had little to do with its sales strategy and everything to do with its massive amount of debt. So why change the one thing that was actually working? TRU still has 900 stores abroad in Canada, Europe and Asia. If this year’s experiential experiment goes well, the retailer plans to open more U.S. locations next year. What do you think of TRU? Do you think it’s a giant work resurrecting or something better left as a fond memory? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section! ____________ Do you ever consider changing up your business model? Want more accurate data insights to help you make decisions big and small? Contact Ironbridge today to learn more about our suite of products. Written by Kim Kelly Consulting