WARC Talks 360: E-commerce and the future of effectiveness | Karrah Goldberg

Over the days of September 1-3, 2020, WARC held a 3-day webinar series about how COVID-19 has accelerated e-commerce growth globally, prompting a rethink of the fundamentals, including 'digital availability.' Assembling an expert panel to speak on how to navigate this shift in strategy, each day provided the latest evidence, expertise, and guidance to make marketers more effective.

Kicking off the series was Jonathan Jagard, Senior eCommerce Insights Manager at Edge by Ascential, speaking on The Significance (& Seasonality) of Search and started with the expansion of the e-commerce market since the pandemic hit that has caused limited choices for consumers. Using Amazon as an example throughout his presentation, we quickly learn that 90% of Amazon's purchases start directly on the Amazon homepage. This very high percentage is a directed effect from the 4 Pillars Of Search, including sales, SEO content, conversion, and traffic.

"People are not always going to Amazon because it is the best solution," said Jagard, "66% of US consumers start their search on Amazon because they are meeting consumers' articulated needs or solving consumers' articulated problems."

Amazon is the perfect example of a company that has maximized their search terms in a world that has turned entirely digital and evolved them to reflect shifting groups. Unlike Evergreens, terms that maintain relevance regardless of the season (Ex. Soap), more companies, especially now, need to narrow in on Annuals, terms that relevance increase and decline in a short term (Ex. 2019 Calendar), and Perennials, terms that have high relevance at specific points at a time (Ex. Pumpkin Spice). The biggest takeaway is the power of search excellence and how it can directly correlate to online sales and drive them upward. As we get even deeper into a solely digital-driven world, many companies can learn from Amazon's constant mastering of consumers' wants.

Next was Gemma Spence, CEO at Omnicom Media Group, discussing Maximizing Your Digital Availability To Grow Your Brand Online. Since the COVID-19 pandemic has affected our market place, there have been 'winners' and 'losers.'

"We have created this new normal, but what does this new normal mean?"

continued Spence. The dramatic impact on the e-commerce market has caused a 215% increase in adopting new internal strategies. With that, "the game is going to get harder," explains Spence, and just because companies are evolving their e-commerce methods and adopting a new plan of action, does not always result in positive and consistent results. Brand growth is a mix of mental and physical availability and then combining it with digital availability to maximize brand assets. After rolling out new proprieties, companies can test a Cost-Benefit Analysis to evaluate if these objectives are positively benefiting the company. Continuing with Amazon's example that Jonathan Jagard presented the day before, aligning audience insights and stating the mission will maximize product opportunities. Although most strategies in the past would have the company focus on long term growth, when it comes to crisis management and changes that affect our market overnight, like COVID-19 did, being distinctive with custom bundles can drive commercial advantage more.

Ending the series was Alex Zhang, Regional Strategy Director at VCCP, and Melanie Wong, Global Planning Director at VCCP, collaborating on Finding Your North Star in an e-Commerce World. Online shopping will become even more frequent post-COVID-19, and is particularly prominent among millennials and Get Z. “This will continue even after a vaccine is found,” explains Wong.

“Most of us already shop online, and this will grow as more websites like Alibaba, Shopify, and Facebook grow.”

With that, there are now six behavioral biases that have become crucial in the e-commerce market, including category heuristics, power of now, authority bias, scarcity bias, social proof, and power of free. All of these six biases closely associate influencing people’s decision-making on the Path-To-Purchase. 17% of the population browses with the intent to purchase, and then only 5% of those individuals will actually end up buying something.

“As marketers, we are always chasing growth,” continues Zhang, “And what are the better ways of assigning e-commerce responsibilities to accomplish this?”

Companies need to be aware of the short and long term goals to have sustainable growth, and overall, it is a connected and synergetic effort to achieve commercial success. Ending with the example of Amazon utilized over the last three days, this company is fast-changing within the digital e-commerce market and all while staying true to its brand and mission. Amazon is a resilient brand that has succeeded over the pandemic and is the best example for a company during COVID-19 that has applied all the presented approaches.

In the end, the world did not predict what COVID-19 would do to our market places, but with the expertise and guidance presented at WARC Talks 360: E-commerce and the future of effectiveness, companies can strive to be more effective as the e-commerce world evolves around them. In an age of almost limitless choice, these experts came together to navigate the industry through this energy shift and lead companies to success.