In a recent analysis of over 100 consumer brands, we’ve observed a significant trend: e-commerce platforms now dominate advertising spends, comprising over 70% of the overall budget, with the remainder allocated to giants like Google and Meta. This shift underscores the growing importance of e-commerce platforms as advertising channels and highlights the need for a strategic approach to maximize returns.
Key practices imbibed by Top Brands:
- Commanding over Channels with a single unified view: By integrating multiple channels at a single place, you can identify performing and non-performing channels, and create channel specific strategies. Is a specific category, like home décor, experiencing explosive growth on a new social commerce platform? Or maybe sporting equipment sells well on Flipkart, while beauty products thrive on Amazon. This analysis allows you to tailor your approach for each channel, maximizing visibility and sales for your product categories for each channel.
- Localization opportunities with Regional Performance tracking: Gain granular insights by monitoring performance across regions within each channel. This ensures your campaigns are geographically optimized and resonate with local audiences. Are your marketing efforts yielding exceptional results in metropolitan areas but falling flat in rural regions? Unearth these discrepancies and tailor your campaigns to resonate with the unique preferences and needs of each audience segment.
- Campaigns & Keyword Optimization: Track investments across branded, generic, and competitor keywords, and analyze their RoAS across different channels. Are certain branded keywords generating exceptional results on a platform with a loyal customer base, while competitor keywords prove more effective on a newer marketplace? Use these insights to maximize your keyword ROI across the board.
- Championing Category: Monitor spending and RoAS across different product categories within each channel. This allows for setting benchmarks and targets, ensuring you allocate resources effectively. Identify which categories are thriving and which are lagging, and adjust your strategy accordingly. Is the market for athletic wear booming on Flipkart, while electronics see better traction on Amazon? Unearth these trends and tailor your ad spend to capitalize on each platform’s strengths.
- Drilling Down into Product view: Diving deeper into top contributing products/ASINs performance across channels helps in finding the sweet spot for your brands product-channel mix. Is a particular product of a running shoes brand excelling on Amazon but underperforming on Flipkart? Uncover these disparities and refine your product descriptions, imagery, and targeting to resonate with each platform’s audience.
By implementing these practices, brands gain the agility to constantly refine their approach. The data-driven insights gleaned from a “balcony view” empower them to dedicate budgets with unparalleled efficiency, leading to significant improvements in RoAS – we’ve seen evidence of this with over 55% growth in some cases.
The Power of a Unified Dashboard
Integrating data from all channels into a single dashboard or Management Information System (MIS) is often an underrated step but unlocks various benefits as realised by top brands. This centralised view empowers you to:
- Identify trends and patterns across your entire e-commerce marketing landscape. Spot hidden opportunities and potential roadblocks before they arise. Is a particular product category experiencing a surge in demand across multiple platforms? Capitalize on this trend by increasing your ad spend and optimizing your product listings for that category.
- Make data-driven decisions with confidence, ensuring your campaigns are strategically aligned and deliver on your marketing objectives. Did a recent campaign underperform on a specific platform? Analyse the data to pinpoint the cause, be it keyword selection, ad copy, or targeting, and implement swift adjustments to get your campaign back on track.
- Optimise budgets with pinpoint accuracy, maximising return on investment. Allocate resources to the channels, tactics, and products that are demonstrably driving the most sales. By constantly monitoring performance and refining your approach, you can ensure your marketing budget stretches further and delivers a higher return.
