[October 28, 2014] |
|
L2 and Demandware Release New Global Study on Content & Commerce
BURLINGTON, Mass. & NEW YORK --(Business Wire)--
Demandware®,
Inc. (NYSE:DWRE), the industry-leading provider of enterprise cloud
commerce solutions, and L2,
Inc., a member-based business intelligence service that benchmarks
the digital competence of brands, today announced the release of a new
report that examines the efforts of 80 global brands to produce and
syndicate content across the consumer shopping experience. The L2
Intelligence Report: Content and Commerce, developed in
partnership with Demandware, analyzes the brands and best practices that
are removing organizational and technological barriers to deliver an
integrated content and commerce experience, and drive sales online and
in-store.
Insights are organized around four types of content believed to have a
disproportionate impact on ecommerce conversion, including blogs,
microsites, videos, tutorials, user generated content and guided selling
tools. The study shows that commerce experiences that are infused with
strategic content can educate, engage and convert the consumer, bringing
them further down the path to purchase and improve a retailer's bottom
line. Yet, for the majority of brands, efforts in branded content
creation are still nascent. The study found that while substantial
budget has been allocated to content, just 39 percent of B2C brands have
a documented content strategy in place, and only 67 percent have a
dedicated executive in place to oversee content efforts.
"Retailers must weave together content and commerce. Too many treat
their brand as a Faberge egg that only a few can manage or touch," said
Scott Galloway, Clinical Professor of Marketing, NYU Stern and Founder
of L2. "The report findings reveal that brand marketing content often
stands in the way of the customer and their needs and disrupts the
shopper's journey."
Additional study highlights include:
-
Many brands expect their content investments to pay dividends only in
the form of increased brand awareness and engagement -- 79 percent of
brands classify awareness as a major goal of their content marketing
programs, while 51 percent now expect their content to drive
conversion.
-
Video is one of the most influential types of digital content in
driving purchasing decisions - with between 35 and 53 percent of
consumers in the world's largest markets using digital video as a
source of recommendations. Despite the maturity of the medium, the
study found that just 1-in-5 brands are investing in product page
videos in Asia compared to 1-in-3 brands in Western Europe, while the
level of adoption in the U.S. is almost half.
-
Beauty brands lead the way in the implementation of guided selling
tools, with 79 percent having created one or more digital experiences
such as foundation finders, skincare diagnostics, shade matchers and
other tools, yet just 7 percent leverage these tools on product pages,
limiting their potential impact as a customer acquisition vehicle.
-
The effectiveness of content varies by region. APAC markets,
specifically South Korea and Japan, have found that user generated
content (UGC) marketing delivers a higher return of their marketing
mix. On average, 19 percent of beauty brands incorporate UGC onto
product pages in Asia, a higher proportion than the U.S. (14 percent)
and Western Europe (0 percent).
The study concludes that three major content and commerce strategy pain
points hamper organizations worldwide, including content ownership,
content objectives and content globalization. Brands have struggled to
identify solutions, and as a result, when benchmarked on their content
performance, the majority falls into a "Weak Content" quadrant when
their scores are averaged across regions. Among brands with "Strong
Content" performance, one-third exhibit high variance across sites -
meaning the integration of content and commerce in some regions is
weaker than in others. Brands with high content variance can often
attribute discrepancies to a disparate platform strategy. They may have
adopted a best-in-breed ecommerce platform in the U.S., but still rely
on homegrown solutions in Europe and/or Asia, making it difficult to
organize for content success globally. On the contrary, the majority of
brands that fall in or near the "Strong Content, Low Variance" quadrant
leverage a single ecommerce platform across multiple regions. The
platform supports efficient content management, and provides a flexible
springboard from which to launch strategic content initiatives that can
be cascaded globally.
"Brands today can choose to compete on price or on brand
differentiation," said Jeffrey Barnett, COO, Demandware. "Competing
head-to-head on price with online marketplaces of massive scale is
extremely challenging. But, brands have the home field advantage when it
comes to content. Leveraging branded content throughout the commerce
experience can be the key to unlocking a compelling and distinctive
shopping experience that will increase consumer engagement, build brand
loyalty and optimize conversion."
To learn more about the study, register
to attend a live webinar with Scott Galloway, Clinical Professor of
Marketing at NYU Stern and Founder of L2, on Thursday, November 6th
at 9:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. EST.
The L2 Methodology
The brands in this study were scored based on the integration of content
(videos, tutorials, look books, guided selling tools, user generated
content and blogs) and commerce. Brands scores were based on how
seamlessly content is integrated into the consumer shopping journey;
each content asset was evaluated for its availability across the
purchase path - homepage, grid page, and product detail page - and its
ability to provide a clear path to purchase to the consumer - either no
commerce integration, links to product pages, integrated buy buttons, or
integrated buy all buttons.
About L2
L2 is a member-based business intelligence ("BI") firm focused on
digital competence of consumer brands. L2 provides member brands with
actionable, data-driven insights on their digital performance. The L2
Digital IQ Index® is the globally recognized benchmark for digital
performance. Analyzing more than 850 data points across Site &
E-Commerce, Digital Marketing, Social Media, and Mobile & Tablets - L2
quantitatively diagnoses brands' digital strengths and weaknesses and
rank peer-to-peer performance. For more information, please visit: http://l2inc.com
or email: [email protected].
About Demandware
Demandware, the category defining leader of enterprise cloud commerce
solutions, empowers the world's leading retailers to continuously
innovate in our complex, consumer-driven world. Demandware's open cloud
platform provides unique benefits including seamless innovation, the
LINK ecosystem of integrated best-of-breed partners, and community
insight to optimize customer experiences. These advantages enable
Demandware customers to lead their markets and grow faster. For more
information, visit http://www.demandware.com,
call +1-888-553-9216 or email [email protected].
Connect With Demandware:
http://twitter.com/demandware
http://www.facebook.com/demandware
http://www.linkedin.com/company/demandware?trk=top_nav_home
http://blog.demandware.com/
Connect with L2:
https://twitter.com/l2_digital
https://www.facebook.com/l2inc
https://www.linkedin.com/company/l2-inc-
http://www.l2inc.com/blog
Demandware is a registered trademark of Demandware, Inc.
[ Back To Homepage ]
|