Digital Shelf Analytics

How Can Analytics Detect Counterfeits on E-Commerce Platforms?

Leave a Comment / Blog, Digital Shelf Analytics / Expert Opinion

Counterfeit is a serious issue for brands for many reasons; however, ‘bad reputation’ ranks at the top of the list. Why? A consumer places trust in the brand to receive products described and shown in the ecommerce stores. However, when the customer receives a duplicate or counterfeit product, the brand ‘trust’ is lost forever. Also, fraudulent product sellers target brands that have built their market reputation over time, and such consumer grievances create long-lasting bad publicity. Brands would try to recover their trust and the lost consumer base due to this issue; however, the customer would remain unsure of the brand/product and may not even engage even after rigorous marketing and advertising efforts. In 2020, counterfeit goods caused a loss of 26.3, 10.3, and 4.7 billion euros for the clothing, pharmaceutical, and cosmetics & personal care industries. Besides the loss of sales, counterfeit product sellers could engage in MAP violations, further damaging the brand’s reputation, creating legal issues, and hampering price perception. Knock-offs could also cause health issues, and customers often complain, blame, or sue the brand for their problems, which could further escalate legal problems. Given these facts, brands need a solution to detect counterfeit or fake product sellers across e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Big Basket, BlinkIt, Snapdeal, etc., in real time. eCom Competitive Analytics offers data supported with snapshots of counterfeit products for countering and diminishing consumer problems. Let’s find out how. How Does mScanIt Resolve the Counterfeit Product Distress of the Brands? Tracing Online Seller Activities in Real-Time Reputable brands often enlist the approved sellers on their websites, make mentions on e-commerce platforms, take measures to avoid fakes in their packages, etc. For example, MuscleBlaze Whey Protein comes with authorized seller mentions on their product pages across Amazon, Healthkart, Healthgenie, and other supplement e-commerce stores. Their genuine products also consist of packaging with QR scans through their app, ensuring trust in the brand. However, many reputable e-commerce platforms don’t have a real-time monitoring system for detecting approved third and first-party sellers. mScanIt offers the capability of sighting all types of sellers across e-commerce platforms and gives a chance to brands to revoke unapproved or counterfeit sellers through deep-diving results. Tracking Reviews and Ratings The biggest solutions for detecting counterfeit or fake product sellers on e-commerce platforms are reviews and ratings. Monitoring mScanIt’s word clouds of your brand, which includes the commonly used words/phrases such as fake, duplicate, copy, etc., by users, can help to sight counterfeit or unauthorized sellers. A sudden upsurge in the negative sentiment intensity also becomes a reason to check out the reviews and ratings and the associated negative or neutral word clouds. mScanIt deciphers all forms of sentiment intensity and helps brands set alerts in case of sudden spikes so that the brand can take action in real time. Moreover, the solution detects all types of listings across e-commerce platforms for the said products so that brands can easily see the products sold by authorized and unauthorized e-commerce sellers. Reviewing MAP Violations Counterfeit product sellers often don’t worry about the lowest price of their product on e-commerce platforms, as they might not even deliver it. Also, if they deliver the product, it would be fake, likely costing less than the original manufacturer’s cost. As a result, they often engage in MAP violations. mScanIt offers relief to brands for tracking their MAP violations across e-commerce platforms. Upon deep-diving, brands can review screenshots of the products, e-commerce marketplaces, and types of products sold at an undervalued price. Keeping an Eye on Discounting Analysis As stated earlier, counterfeit product sellers often tend to sell products at lower than the market value. Their offers, discounts, cashback, and other promotions can cause MAP violations and require continuous monitoring. mScanIt’s discounting analysis tracks seller-wise discounts across e-commerce platforms and enables brands to review the highest discounting percentages. Discounting analysis through mScanIt is another solution for finding sellers exceeding the maximum promotional percentages and taking action against them. Simultaneously, the solutions help brands to know the maximum discount competitors are offering for similar product listings com platform-wise and get a summary of the average discount. Bottom Line Not resolving counterfeit product problems on e-commerce platforms is no longer an option for brands, as it has long-lasting and damaging repercussions. Brands need eCom Competitive Analytics, a.k.a. mScanIt, to fight the war against fake or duplicate products every day. Today, mScanIt has become a necessity for brands that want to keep their market reputation intact, enhance their sales/revenue, and track the online activity of sellers/re-sellers while managing their marketing efforts. Connect with us through direct messages, comments, or filling out the contact page form to learn the advantages of mScanIt for your brand. Subscribe to our blog to learn why counterfeits are an e-commerce and brand infringement issue and more.

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How is Analytics Solving D2C Issues?

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The needs of consumers dynamically change time and again. D2C (Direct-to-Consumer) e-commerce has become a blessing in disguise for matching the needs of the growing number of online shoppers. According to a report, 85% of global customers shopped online in 2020, and Amazon was the favorite e-com store for most buyers. Besides Amazon, D2C brands use marketplaces like Flipkart, Big Basket, Etsy, eBay, etc., to diversify their customer portfolio and gather more buyer personas. DTC models offer the advantage of eliminating the middleman, direct connection with the customer base, and offering a lower cost of products to the buyers. Moreover, the brand handles the entire customer experience instead of the retailer or a third-party seller. Personalization, authenticity, smooth shopping experience, etc., make D2C e-commerce appealing to Gen Z and millennials; however, a large proportion of them still like to know about previous customer experiences through reviews & ratings. While deep-diving into R&R gives a perspective to DTC brands; measuring other analytics is also important to get a wider idea of the customer’s needs and decisions influencing the buying decisions. Problems Commonly Faced by D2C E-Commerce Brands Enhancing Customer Journey Orders can go through the roof, especially if D2C e-commerce runs an ad campaign on the online marketplace. Sponsored ads have been one of the biggest sources of higher conversion rates for most brands. However, a long line of customers may also resonate with the ads seen on social media handles and connect with brands advertising on Amazon, Big Basket, Flipkart, etc., and other marketplaces. The connectivity builds trust in the customers’ minds and makes the brand more approachable. However, customer journeys are made nowadays through unboxing or product videos, informative pictures, A+ content, detailed descriptions, titles, etc., which are part of the perfect page analysis. Brands can also derive buyer personas at pin code, product price, stock availability, recommendations, etc. Brands want to build a frictionless journey that enhances the conversion rate and diminishes the cart abandonment rate at all costs. Decoding Data-Based Decisions Customer buying journeys vary across e-commerce platforms. Therefore, analyzing data across online shopping stores has become a priority. Sellers or brands often try to decode the data through the analytics provided by the platform. They often evaluate factors like stock availability, the share of visibility, share-of-shelf, etc., at the deepest level, leaving out a vast majority of the potential customer base. Moreover, the data given by the e-commerce platform may not deliver actionable insights and doesn’t offer a comparative view on a real-time daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Generating actions through insights is left in the hands of the internal team recruited by the brand. Knowing the data is not optional because customers want to connect with the products they bring home. Therefore, enriching the data has become necessary, and brands lack the necessary solution for analyzing the information, which could probably enhance their loyal customer base. Grasping the Ongoing (Invisible) Trends Market and social media trends often influence e-commerce brands. While hygiene was a priority for nearly all brands during the COVID-19 scare, safe delivery was an approach used by others. D2C brands have been shaped to tune into the customer’s needs. For example, watch brands like Fasttrack, Armani, etc., have been focusing on a smartwatch. Meanwhile, smartphone brands like Realme have entered the smartwatch market, too, giving tough competition to their rivals. A while ago, consumers started purchasing cosmetics certified/approved by dermatologists (and it remains ongoing for some niche products). According to a source, people also demand cruelty-free & vegan products derived from caffeine, tea-tree oil, or argan oil. Did you know that established D2C e-commerce brands would drive vast sales compared to native brands? Identifying hidden trends in e-commerce through analytics is challenging; however, it can build roots and scale businesses. While the visibility of such trends remains debatable on social media, the forecasted or foreseeable demand across pin code, variant, and other levels remains unknown. Therefore, brands constantly face problems identifying their customer’s needs and managing availability accordingly. How Does eCom Competitive Analytics Cure Major D2C Problems? Enables Brands to Make Informed Decisions in Real-Time Reviewing analytics at pin code, location, variant, sub-category, platform, and other levels through eCom Competitive Analytics gives a bigger perspective to brands. The distillation of share-of-shelf, keywords search results, the share of visibility, etc., while comparing with competitor information gives more valuable information to brands and signifies their standing on the e-commerce marketplaces and among their rivals. Deciphering this data in real-time provides knowledge of the hidden demand, growth opportunities, favored/unfavored listings, etc. For example, if Brand A has a higher score in the product description, and the information is compared with the Q&A and R&R sections, your brand can reveal whether the customer problems are being addressed. Curates Information for Enhancing the Consumer Journey Wouldn’t you want to know the cost of products similar to your listings in real-time? eCom Competitive Analytics gives you this picture at platform, variant, category, sub-category, and other levels. Therefore, brands can find the factors that make their competitors more favorable than them. For example, if the perfect page analysis of your competitor is 100%, it means that it meets the average review, title, product description, and other criteria that influence buying decisions. Similarly, pricing comparison reveals the average cost of similar products, making rivals favorable and enabling brands to avoid MAP violations. Likewise, if a competitor uses your brand keyword, keyword search analytics would depict the picture and the share-of-shelf under discoverability. If your brand has a lower SOS, it could report the same to the e-commerce platform and resolve the issue. Identifies Problems Every Day Out-of-stock is visible on most seller dashboards, however, are competitors keeping stocks available for the same product isn’t. Moreover, you could view the stockouts of your competitors on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis through eCom Competitive Analytics. Downloading such reports can give an idea of the average sales, stock requirements, etc. But, eCom Competitive Analytics also shows the most commonly used words for a product listing across e-commerce platforms. It means you can come

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How Can eCom Competitive Intelligence Help You to Create Great Product Descriptions?

Leave a Comment / Blog, Digital Shelf Analytics / Expert Opinion

eCommerce platforms like Amazon, Big Basket, BlinkIt, etc., open doors to new brands, competitive pricing, product variants, etc. The factors influencing consumers buying decisions also extend to user-generated content such as Q&As, reviews & ratings, product descriptions, informative & comparative tables, videos & photos, delivery details, etc. According to a Statista report, 22% of online shoppers make buying decisions based on accurate and informative product descriptions. Similarly, other factors have a high or low effect on the buyers’ purchasing decisions. Most businesses create detailed descriptions of their listings on eCom marketplaces based on their product knowledge and could also involve SEO. However, do they review their content score? Do they analyze their perfect page summary? Do they know the detailed score of the distinct aspects on a product page of their competitors? Most likely, the marketers and business heads would answer No. Knowing the product page summary and the content score of your competition and reviewing the pages with the highest score can offer many details. For example, your brand could learn the SEO strategy, commonly optimized keywords, content structure, keyword placement, etc., of the competition. Such information can help your brand improve your listing pages and optimize the content. But, this is just one aspect of it. It can help review the A+, image, and video content, which will likely enhance discoverability on e-commerce marketplaces and increase click-through rate (CTR), likely boosting conversions. What is a Product Description and Why is it So Important? A product description explains “What is the product and its uses? Thats it! But stating more about the listing like a robot or using unfriendly words could make the description uninteresting and drive away users to easy-to-understand or similar relatable products. However, most marketers should realize that the title, price, image, and delivery visible on the product searches have already made the user interested in the product. Also, the informative table is self-explanatory when it comes to features. Still, the user is likely to view the description visible next to the product images or videos of the listing before scrolling down through the A+ content and then visiting the informative and comparative tables. Therefore, it is important to make the product description as compelling as the information on the product search result listings. The question is – How? How Can eCom Marketers Create Great Product Descriptions? We have already established that eCom Competitive Analytics offers insights into the competitors’ content strategies on e-commerce marketplaces. Such insights can help brands curate great product descriptions, as the solution can help recognize customer needs, competitor strengths, ongoing SEO practices, etc. Insights derived through eCom Competitive Intelligence can help in this matter in the following ways: Identify and Implement Informative Words: Most e-commerce marketplaces have approximately 200 words for product descriptions. The consumer is looking for information before checking out reviews & ratings, and Q&As. Knowing the highest content score for the description and checking out the competition with the top results could give a clear picture of the user-friendly information structure, including the product details. SEO-Friendliness: Ideally, brands with a 100% score in the description would likely have a 100% SEO score for their description too. Therefore, brands should identify them and review the keywords and their placement, enabling them to achieve such a result. Post-review brands would also come across keywords that could match the description of their listings. Inclusion of Benefits: Consumers might expect the benefits of a product under the description; however, the description score could reach 100%, even without it. Once again, it is subjective, just like Product Titles. Therefore, analyzing the practices of the competitors through eCom Competitive Intelligence can help you decide on whether the product description should describe the benefits. Before writing a product description based on these aspects, it is necessary to answer the following questions: Should the description: Include words used in brand images or videos. Consist of the keywords included in the title or secondary keywords? Address user queries in the Q&A and R&R sections through the description. Following this approach and competitor intelligence can enable marketers and brands to curate great and compelling product descriptions. The details could help the user decide the advantages of the listing over similar products, upsell recommendations or basket listings, curate loyalty towards the brands, etc. Final Words Product descriptions might seem the simplest form of explanation of the listing; however, it isn’t. Brands require eCom Competitive Analytics to understand more about them. The solution can highlight the score of your brands’ listings versus the competition and offer an understanding of its compelling nature, user-friendliness, keyword, etc., which would affect sales. Get in touch to learn the impact of perfect page analysis of your listings, connect with us through email, or leave us a comment.

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3 Major Quick Commerce Problems Resolved Through mScanIt

Leave a Comment / Blog, Digital Shelf Analytics / Expert Opinion

E-commerce paced up the sale of products largely due to convenience, and quick commerce is boosting these sales through faster deliveries. Earlier online shopping orders were delivered within a week. Then, Amazon introduced two-day, one-day, and same-day delivery, implementing the same approach for groceries or daily need products. Today, Dunzo, Instamart, Zepto, BlinkIt, and other brands have become pioneers in quick deliveries. Quick commerce refers to the delivery of online orders within 15-30 minutes. The fast-delivery concept was first implemented by Domino’s, and you can recall it if you ever received a free pizza due to a delay in delivery. Quick commerce has rapidly gained the attention of Gen Z and millennials who want to watch their favorite sport or movie at home. Both groups made unplanned orders in 2021, which enhanced the purchase of consumables within the year. According to the same source, the Q-Com industry had a revenue of $100 million in 2021, and 70% of the Indian Q-Com revenue came from Delhi, Bangalore, and Mumbai. During the pandemic, safe deliveries were the trend; however, Q-Commerce is bringing its fast-paced delivery concept into the limelight. Q-Commerce has become a substitute for phone-based orders from the nearest retailers and a swift mechanism for receiving frozen, pre-packaged, and fresh orders. Brands offering this service focus on order fulfillment, timely reachability, and swift packaging, which has raised the demand for Micro-Fulfillment Centers (MFCs). Similarly, brands like Buyk are building pipelines based on buyer personas. For example, ordering seasoning for cooking a meal. While the concept is growing in the minds of the buyers, brands face some major challenges in resolving the need to provide everyday need products. How Quick Commerce Works? The general concept of Q-Com is that the customer adds products to the basket, and places an order, which is received by the platform, packaged, collected by the delivery partner, and delivered to the customer’s doorstep. Essentially, Q-Commerce is a form of e-commerce; however, the brands have separate warehouses, commonly referred to as “dark stores,” and deliver within 30 minutes. But, initially, Grofers (now BlinkIt) began the concept of fast doorstep delivery by connecting with local retailers. Also, unlike e-com orders, which often include delivery charges unless a minimum order value is passed, many Q-Com brands offer cheaper cost products in small basket orders with no such fee. Moreover, customers have the option to make orders 24×7, which likely results in impulsive buying during overnight stays, all-night parties, etc. Challenges Faced by Q-Com Brands and mScanIt Solutions Keeping An Optimal Price Globally, 52% of online shoppers make purchase decisions because of the delivery speed, whereas 38% of consumers buy products due to free or discounted shipping. We have already covered that most Q-Com brands offer both of these advantages. Also, the price was the main reason that influenced the shopping decisions of 87% of the consumers in the U.S. So, it would be safe to assume that when delivery speed and fee are no longer concerns, it will remain the likely choice unless the desired product or its quantity remains unavailable. Under such a scenario, keeping an optimal price becomes a primary concern of the Q-Com brands, and keeping an eye on the competitors becomes necessary. mScanIt helps brands review the price differences across online shopping platforms, resolving one of the biggest issues. Managing Stock Availability Stockouts are one of the leading reasons for switching apps, brands, or variants. Also, consumer behavior is rapidly evolving due to Q-Commerce. The changing needs demand managing the growing stock availability and avoiding stockouts. With rapid orders and impulsive buying heightened, the need to manage stocks at pin code, zonal, platform, sub-category, sub-variant, and other levels becomes important. mScanIt meets these requirements by showing stock availability daily, weekly, and monthly, with real-time insights, while showing competitor availability across online marketplaces. The analytics deep-dive into stock availability and help brands avoid stockouts at distinct levels to meet the forecasted requirements. Safeguarding Brand Reputation Quick deliveries don’t mean that consumers would remain satisfied with their orders. Their reaction would have the same sentiment intensity, similar to a regular online shopping experience. However, they might appreciate swift doorstep reachability, which has become a likely factor in reviews and ratings. The demand for safeguarding brand/product/seller reputation has become crucial, and Q-Commerce enhances the chance of replying and resolving consumer issues in real time. Simultaneously, knowing the standing of competitor listings at all levels gives a brand a better perspective of areas of improvement, and mScanIt offers such issues as part of its dashboard. Final Words Q-Commerce brands are transforming consumer behavior, and the changing needs require a solution to manage all aspects that remain relevant across e-commerce platforms. However, price optimization, safeguarding brand reputation, and managing stock availability would take the lead for Q-Com sellers. Brands need a solution that can manage the factors impacting product listings, sales/revenue, content, advertisements, etc., and mScanIt offers deep-diving into all these aspects. For more information about the advantages of eCom Competitive Analytics for your brand, connect with us through email or leave us a comment.

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Why Do MAP Violations Threaten eCom Brands?

Leave a Comment / Blog, Digital Shelf Analytics / Expert Opinion

Product listings on eCommerce marketplaces don’t often have prices varying from the original cost. According to a Statista report, 32% of eCom brands from North America and Europe said they wouldn’t introduce dynamic pricing on eCom stores. MAP or Minimum Advertised Price is the lowest cost at which sellers and re-sellers can sell products on eCom marketplaces like Amazon, Big Basket, Flipkart, etc. Manufacturers, distributors, and retailers create a MAP agreement policy before selling products online. Setting up such a policy upholds the brand’s reputation and ensures retailer margins. Unfortunately, brands constantly face MAP violations through eCom sellers and re-sellers, disrupting this ecosystem and introducing unwanted sellers into the sales funnel. The problem with the brand’s product available at lower than the MAP also drastically spoils the brand’s reputation in the eyes of the consumers. Moreover, such customers often receive counterfeit or duplicate products, further damaging the brand’s credibility and disrupting the existing customer base. Sellers/re-sellers violating the MAP policy often receive negative product reviews and ratings on eCom marketplaces. The problematic areas are mostly addressed towards brands and offer competitors an opportunity to scale their business by offering good quality products. The Bond and Difference Between MSRP and MAP While MAP is the Minimum Advertised Price for selling products that target the retailers, MSRP stands for the Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price and caters to the maximum chargeable limit of a product towards a customer. Retailers can diminish the MSRP for clearing stocks or during festive seasons to increase sales and revenue; however, the same is not true for MAP. Moreover, retailers can face legal actions for violating the MAP agreement policy for breach of contract. Maintaining a product price between the MSRP and MAP enables retailers and brands to continuously incur profit margins while maintaining the brand’s messaging set through the price. After reviewing the product price, it informs the buyer that the brand is not willing to go below a point for selling its products and targets individuals who have a keen interest in its offerings. This ideology is even applied when consumers use discounts, promotions, offers, etc. Key Highlights Between MSRP and MAP MSRP can diminish up to the limit of MAP MAP majorly targets retailers, whereas MSRP aims at customers. Setting price between MAP and MSRP gives clear pricing messaging to the buyers. Discounts, offers, promotions, etc., undertake the MSRP and MAP ideologies. The Fastest Method for Monitoring MAP Violations in Real-Time Reducing such instances from sellers and re-sellers is necessary for eCom brands, given the repercussions of MAP violations. Having first-hand knowledge of the online issues arising from this concern requires continuously monitoring eCom websites and apps. eCom Competitive Analytics, commonly known as mScanIt, uses the latest technology to cite screenshots of MAP violations on eCom marketplaces like Amazon, Big Basket, Flipkart, etc. The solution sends real-time notifications to brands for instances of MAP violations and allows revoking pricing disruption while maintaining brand credibility. Moreover, mScanIt, powered by mFilterIt, also highlights counterfeit product listings found in online shopping stores. How to Reduce Unending MAP Violations? Revoking MAP violations through continuous monitoring is a necessity of the hour; however, brands can also use the following tips for reducing them on eCom marketplaces: Cultivate an Environment of Trust Rewarding retailers diligently following MAP agreement policy is crucial to flagging off MAP violators. The problems of nearing the stock expiration date, low demand, D2C competitors, etc., is common for all e-commerce sellers; however, some manage to follow through with the agreement and achieve their profit margins. Brands can reward such retailers with higher margins, relaxing rules during occasions like Ramadan, Navaratri, Easter, etc., sales, or making them stars in internal communities. Motivating rewards through such rewards can significantly encourage other eCom sellers and re-sellers to take a similar approach. Build Better Communication Channels The recent changes in laws, rules, or guidelines may not reach a common retailer or garner interest unless the brand notifies them about them. The MAP agreement policy might remain intact; however, new opportunities for optimally increasing revenues for brands and retailers may continuously arise. Therefore, brands should take initiatives to communicate useful information that may offer dual advantages continuously. Such an activity would harness better communication channels and resolve common problems faced by retailers due to the ongoing MAP agreement policy. As a result, brands could witness lower MAP violations and higher sales on eCom marketplaces. Harness Goodwill Through Retailers Another method of diminishing MAP violations across eCom marketplaces is by harnessing the goodwill of the retailers. It means that brands should make efforts diligently to reward retailers for achieving high-profit margins while following the MAP agreement policy. By highlighting retailers within internal channels and patting their backs, brands get a chance to achieve the retailer’s goodwill. Moreover, it enhances the chance of good word-of-mouth communication among the peers of the retailers. As a result, brands can expand their goodwill community of retailers in the long run. Enforce Specialists for Revoking MAP Violations Building retailer goodwill, creating better communication channels, and cultivating an environment of trust can prove useful but may not grab the attention of all retailers. Therefore, monitoring MAP violations and enforcing a team of specialists for revoking ongoing & upcoming instances becomes necessary. eCom Competitive Analytics, a.k.a., mScanIt, proves a useful solution backed by a team of data scientists for achieving this goal. It incorporates the parameters designated by the brands and uses them to track deviations across eCom marketplaces. Besides the set KPI deviation alerts, brands also get a fighting chance to deal with retailers through the real-time insights curated through technology. Another advantage of using an automated system for tracking MAP violations is that the brand learns about the competitor prices of similar products across platforms. Navigating into deep-diving helps in enhancing pricing intelligence. Final Words Stopping MAP violations across eCom stores safeguards brand reputation and maintains retailers’ profit margins. However, tacking this problem manually is not humanly possible due to the growing number of counterfeit or duplicate product sellers. As a

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Brand Building Through Online Banner Ads

Leave a Comment / Blog, Digital Shelf Analytics / Noopur Mathur

Display banners are one of the best ways of communicating and catching consumers’ attention, especially on e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Big Basket, and Flipkart. A banner ad is an image accompanied by text and could either be animated or static. Customers who find the banner ad’s content and display interesting often click it to visit the landing page, i.e., usually a product or company page on an eCom website. It reduces search efforts and helps the consumer to reach the desired product directly while communicating the best offers for the product. Brands have realized that banner ads remain memorable for a long time and have a higher recall value. According to Statista, the overall digital display ad spending in 2021 reached $1,633 billion, and ecommerce accounted for 14% of the ad budget. Moreover, as per another report, the share of display banners was 10% of the ecommerce digital ad expenditure in 2020. Banner ads help in creating brand visibility which eventually lifts the business performance. According to a source, customers retargeted through banner ads often convert 70% of the time, and they are 33% more effective than billboards. Banner ads also help a new brand to build its identity. Besides, customers build trust in a brand and learn about innovations through banner ads. However, the advantages of banner ads extend beyond these reasons for marketers and advertisers. 3 Main Reasons Brands Use Banner Ads on eCom Platforms Large Visibility of the Brand Advertisers can use 728×90 pixels for desktop & tablet users and 414 x 125 pixels for mobile users on Amazon. Given the maximum size of the image, it is inevitable that the brand’s visibility will also match the dimensions to meet the consumer’s eye. As a result, ecommerce spaces offer an opportunity to display large brand logos and increase the brand’s visibility. Moreover, consumers are often targeted through such banner ads on eCommerce marketplaces, which increases the retention of the brand in the minds of the consumers, association of a brand with a product/feature, and directly impacts the conversion rate. Great banner ads can uplift conversions by 2%, according to a source. Given that the quarterly conversion rate in 2020 was 2.17%, such a boost would undoubtedly make a difference in revenue/sales. Cost-Effectiveness According to a source, the minimum average cost per click on Amazon is $0.03 but can vary based upon the industry, competition, and your brand’s ad budget. Similarly, another source reveals that the minimum cost per 1000 impressions (CPM) can be 50 cents. Therefore, a display ad on an ecommerce website can be visible to the targeted audience for thousand times for as low as 50 cents. Moreover, the CPC and CPM for banner ads on ecommerce are relatively lower than TV ads, billboards, press releases, and physical newspaper ads. So, it doesn’t put a hole in the brands advertising pocket. Improved Market Response Rates According to a source, targeted displays enhance conversion rate by 30%. Moreover, display ads increase brand recommendation by 10%. eCommerce websites often have product launches, including registrations, early-bird offers, one-day early access, etc., as events. A source states that display ads like banners can enhance event registration by 25%, which could essentially include such events on ecommerce websites. However, banner analysis requires a solution that helps create & evaluate different banner strategies, and learn about the competitor practices, wherein eCom Competitive Analytics comes into play. How mScanIt Banner Analysis Helps Brands? eCommerce Competitive Analytics, a.k.a., mScanIt, encompasses banner analysis, enabling brands to evaluate the best positioning for the ads to boost reach to the target audience. Doing so helps brands to decide on their advertising budget. Moreover, mScanIt, powered by mFilterIt, can categorize the communication mentioned on the banners into different themes like discount, sale, festive offer, and cashback, which can trigger the brands to use the best keywords in their campaigns. Conclusion Developing an effective banner ad is crucial for ecommerce brands; however, so is measuring the results of the display ads. Simultaneously, eCom brands must know the practices of their competitors to acquire an edge, build new strategies, optimize budget, etc. eCom Competitive Analytics helps brands across continents to achieve complete banner analysis on prominent online marketplaces like Amazon, Big Basket, Flipkart, etc. By doing so, brands achieve a full-scale measure of the effectiveness of their banner ads. The insights triggered through the solution also display measures/actions that can enhance the performance of the banner ads on ecommerce stores.

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How Can eCom Brands Drive Sales Through Competitive Analytics?

Leave a Comment / Blog, Digital Shelf Analytics / Expert Opinion

Knowing a consumer’s journey on ecommerce platforms like Amazon, Big Basket, Flipkart, etc., is essential for brands, as it deciphers buyer personas of various product listings under enlisted categories. Simultaneously, it also helps brands connect with their consumers or potential target audiences’ needs and problems while enabling brands to avoid instances that can harm the brand’s reputation. According to Statista, the factors influencing customers’ shopping behavior in the U.S. include competitive pricing, free shipping, product options, reviews, etc. Brands only know their product listings on ecom platforms, but marketplaces hardly give intel about the consumer requirements. Also, brands can only view their progress on the ecom marketplace and require a team of experts to carefully monitor the competition to find areas of improvement, growth opportunities, etc. In addition to this, brands have a chance to discover new trends, competitor practices, and more. Therefore, having such information can undoubtedly impact the sales volume of ecom brands. So, such data is the need of the hour, and eCom Competitive Analytics can offer actionable insights with an in-depth report of each factor influencing sales/revenue/conversion. Let’s find out how this happens? But before we go ahead with this, let’s discuss what is eCom Competitive Analytics? Definition of eCom Competitive Analytics eCom Competitive Analytics evaluates a brand/products ranking versus the competition across the online marketplace using filters. It is also known as mScanIt and is one of the most widely used solutions for measuring share-of-shelf, stock availability, reviews & ratings, keyword-wise performance, etc. For example, knowing that consumers favor Brand A over Brand B, and using phrases like love, enjoyed it, quality, etc., as part of sentiment analysis would likely make the former intake certain practices of the latter. Simultaneously, the negative reviews would highlight features like sellers, broken products, etc., and give a chance to Brand A to resolve the issue. Methods to Boost Sales Using eCom Competitive Analytics Managing Stock Availability: Stockouts are a nightmare for brands. It diverts the potential buyer’s attention toward competition and increases disinterest in the brand, especially during lightning deals or flash sales. Knowing the stock availability across pin codes, cities, or locations and viewing stock availability on a single dashboard can resolve this problem drastically. Moreover, brands can review the data to learn about out-of-stock issues arising with specific retailers and take measures like increasing production or substitution to resolve the problem. Product Page Optimization: Creating SEO-friendly content while managing the character or word limit of the title, product description, page content, etc., is a challenging task. Simultaneously, it requires continuously evaluating the score of such aspects and comparing them with the competition to find areas for improvement, the scope of scale, and reasons for a high score. Optimizing the content on ecom marketplaces helps brands boost their discoverability, visibility, search ranking, etc., resulting in conversions. Pricing Intelligence: Competitive pricing drive 70% of the ecom consumers’ product purchasing decision. Reviewing competitor prices of similar products provides insights on pricing strategies, competing with the top brand, monitoring the scope of increasing price, etc. Moreover, mScanIt’s pricing intelligence also defines the average price per SKU, along with platform & variant-based cost, which gives a more explicit knowledge of creating futuristic prices. Pricing analytics help create promotions, offers, discounts, and offers, which significantly help attract a new customer base. Customer Sentiments: Reviews & ratings encourage 25% of online shoppers to buy from a particular retailer. Knowing the customer’s sentiments through R&R and social media handles can help sight seller/product issues, features/qualities appreciated by the buyers/influencers, understand the brand’s overall reputation, determine consumer needs, etc. Knowing the customer sentiments could help to boost sales by 18-20%. Similarly, other essential metrics can manage issues across ecom stores, enhance the consumer journey, and boost the revenue/sale/conversion. mScanIt is a one-stop shop for ecom brands. It intakes the capacity to monitor ecom metrics, evaluate media & search metrics, and deliver actionable insights for achieving these goals. Final Words In today’s world of quick, social, communication and e-commerce, having a resourceful solution that can measure a brand’s product performance and competitors has become the need of the hour. eCom Competitive Analytics or mScanIt helps brands across continents to measure different scales for boosting discoverability, availability, performance, etc., which impact the sales-driven ecom marketplaces. For more information about the advantages of mScanIt for your organization, connect with us by leaving a comment or contacting us.

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Is Your Product Title Compelling Enough?

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A product title is the second-most visible aspect after viewing the item’s image on any search engine. 57% of online shoppers use search engines like Google, etc., to find more about a product. Another report states that relevant keywords in the title tag help in good SERP 4.39 out of 5.0 times. Creating a compelling title is a priority for eCom brands as it can directly impact their traffic reach, discoverability, and sales. An SEO-friendly title must have the relevant product information created using targeted keywords and confine within the perfect page character limitations while connecting with the target audience’s needs. Simultaneously, brands need to avoid words like sale, offer, promotion, best seller, etc., while creating the product titles. Achieving these aspects also helps brands enhance user experience, generate interest among new buyers, and manage buyer expectations. So, while most people would say, ‘what’s in a name/title?’ we would like to answer this question for you while offering a checklist. So, let’s get onto it. Why Do eCom Marketers Make a Fuss About Product Titles? The average customer visit duration on Amazon is 13 minutes and 11 seconds, stating the average time brands have to convince viewers to become potential buyers. Comparing the visit duration with the 2020 conversion rate by the end of the third quarter, i.e., 2.17%, would mean brands have an average of 2.17% conversion in 13.11 minutes, which likely involves searches and navigation. Given these facts, optimizing product titles and offering a suitable image for ease in product recognition becomes vital besides pricing intelligence and delivery duration. Moreover, suppose you carefully view Amazon’s mobile and webstore. In that case, you will find that the app has a limitation of 79 characters, whereas the website displays no more than 200 characters in the title. However, the limitations can vary based upon the eCom store, categories, and seller/vendor. Marketers want their product features/capabilities to get covered as USPs in the title; however, they often fail in the title score if analyzed carefully. Here is a classic example of characters exceeding the title limit on a laptop: Most SEO experts would ideally identify that the length could decrease and optimize the title by removing either one of the targeted keywords (Smart Watch Smartwatch or Smart Watches for Men). It would also offer an advantage of showing more about the product features. What Makes a Great Product Title? Making a compelling title jots down to length, word placements, and keywords. However, a few facts need to be kept in mind while focusing on these three aspects. Let’s get onto them. Keywords: One of the most influential factors that prompt consumers towards further product exploration on search engines of websites like Google and eCom stores like Amazon, Big Basket, and Flipkart is ‘Keywords.’ Given the average duration, incorporating the right keywords, in the beginning, is always a priority; however, so is avoiding keyword stuffing. Brands don’t want their customers to think that the product looks unworthy of their basket and requires spending more time on the title. The weight of keywords is equal on an entire product page but begins with the title. Word Placement: After deciding on the relevant content of the product, the next step is deciding on word placements or structure. eCom marketplaces have guidelines for helping sellers with product titles, descriptions, and A+ content, yet most sellers score low results in all three aspects. For example, your title could include “Brand name, sub-brand, product, feature, etc. Let’s take the example from the above image,” Noise ColorFit Pulse Spo2 Smart Watch with 10 days battery life….” The keyword is placed after the fourth word when it could easily get placed before “Spo2” and grab higher views even on the mobile app. Length: Although we have already covered this aspect, let’s get more specific. According to a source, the average character length for product titles across most eCom stores is 50-200. The length is decided based on many factors, but one of them is that the customers have a low retention span while searching for online products (which we have already covered). Therefore, short titles often generate the interest of the buyers. Here is a classic example of the keyword ‘laptop backpack’: In this example, the brand fails in the word placement but would score high in length and keyword, as it has a good product description in the title, which is also clearly visible on the mobile app. The Best Method to Ensure Great Product Titles Knowing the title, content, review, and overall score helps brands to make changes in their ongoing content and marketing practices across eCom stores. The best method to continuously review these four scores is eCom Competitive Analytics or mScanIt. The technology-driven solution offers insights for improving the perfect page summary scores across eCom platforms while offering a comparative score review of the competitors. Final Words Brands can only decide whether their product title on eCom stores is more compelling than the competitors by continuously reviewing them through eCom Competitive Analytics. The solution also offers scores for other aspects necessary for creating a perfect page. mScanIt, powered by mFilterIt, is currently being used by major eCom industry leaders across borders and allows brands to learn more about their product listings through in-depth insights. For more information on the advantages of mScanIt for your business, connect with us by dropping a comment or scheduling a demo.

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Most Successful Strategies to Drive Online Sales on eCom Platforms

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Why would a consumer buy your product over the competitors, especially with an ‘n’-number of options on ecom marketplaces? It all boils down to the “trust” a customer has in your brand and its products, created using multiple marketing and advertising strategies over the years. Trust on ecommerce platforms like Amazon, Big Basket, Flipkart, etc., is built by creating a good first impression, offering reassurances, showing off products, etc. However, while your brand is implementing online strategies to achieve this goal, it is also crucial to enhance customer journeys, manage stock availability, understand pricing intelligence, etc. Creating successful ecommerce sales strategies also requires an in-depth understanding of your brand’s product versus the competition to learn about customer issues, most/least appreciated qualities, hero products across different ecom platforms, etc. Therefore, building successful sales strategies is possible through eCom Competitive Analytics, a.k.a., mScanIt. We bring the best methods to increase sales through mScanIt, powered by mFilterIt. 3 Important Strategies That Can Boost Sales Find Out Customer Requirements Viewers on ecommerce platforms often leave their queries under the Q&A or review & rating sections. Answering the commonly asked questions by potential buyers can enhance sales of the product listings. Similarly, knowing the common queries for the product listings across ecommerce platforms can enable brands to improve their customer communication inside and outside the ecommerce store. mScanIt’s question themes encompass the times customers have used a particular phrase as part of the Q&A for a product listing. For example, suppose the theme reveals packaging mentioned sixty-four times under the questions. In that case, the brand will know that they should address it by mentioning details on the product page or running online marketing campaigns. Answering customer queries improves the product information, and 10% of the online shoppers prefer ecommerce purchases versus physical retail stores for this very reason. Besides this, brands can utilize the word cloud representation of the themes in the Q&A section to learn about their consumers. Enhance Your Product Page Captivating a consumer’s attention, especially after clicking on the product listing, requires describing the product and using the apt keywords in the correct arrangement throughout the product page. Clear and crisp information that meets the potential target audiences’ needs will encourage add-to-cart actions and conversions/sales. New users would often build trust through the content and feedback, whereas returning users are already interested in the product but are likely searching whether it encompasses the latest features/qualities. Simultaneously, all potential consumers search for trust signals such as high-quality images, good content copy, detailed product descriptions, easy on the eye title, etc. Wouldn’t that be your perspective, too, if you will buy from a new seller/brand? Overcoming the challenge in developing and achieving perfect page benchmarking can increase consumer base and revenue and enhance the brand reputation without any paid activity, as content copies require only words. eCom Competitive Analytics scores for title, content, and reviews, besides overall score, while measuring it against the competition. The information helps brands to know the highest possible score under each aspect and explore areas of improvement under these avenues through deep diving. Improve Your Ads Given that 10% (more or less if compared with the current year) of the ecommerce advertising budget goes into banner ads, developing a great banner copy is important. Include high-quality images and details that highlight the USP(s) of the product, keep it short, simple, & catchy, etc., are continuously practised by marketers. But why does the ad copy still have such a low score compared to the competition? Knowing the aspects that increase engagement with the rival’s sponsored ads can enable brands to develop better ad copies, find a new target base, build brand trust, and ultimately increase sales. Analyzing the ad copies will help understand the targeted buyer personas and gather more intelligence. Also, if possible, introduce usability factors in your ad copies to reach the correct audience, even if you have a wide net. Enhancing the sponsored ads improves the buyer journey through navigation, which is the only other method besides search engines on ecommerce platforms. The factors that drive sales don’t get limited to or by these three factors only. Measuring and keeping track of share-of-shelf, keyword analytics, the share of sponsored listings, etc., also encourages or drives conversions. All these are part of eCom Competitive Analytics, which is currently used by industry leaders in electronics, FMCG, or other domains. Final Words Knowing the drivers of ecommerce sales also helps to acquire a competitive edge, acquire a higher share of the market revenue, fight back against vulnerabilities, and more. eCom Competitive Analytics derives accurate information about the brand and its competitor’s product listing. Doing so allows brands to explore new growth areas, take action in real-time, reduce MAP violations, and remain attuned with the KPIs. As a result, brands achieve higher revenues and drastically improve their discoverability, availability, visibility, and other essential aspects. For more information on the advantages of eCommerce Intelligence Solution, connect with us by leaving a comment, or drop us an email in the contact section.

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Why are eCommerce Brands Competitive About Share-of-Shelf?

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Retail eCom sales have been booming since 2014. According to Statista, In 2023, global retail e-commerce sales reached an estimated 5.8 trillion U.S. dollars. Projections indicate a 39 percent growth in this figure over the coming years, with expectations to surpass eight trillion dollars by 2027 Nowadays, eCom brands retain their existing and new customers through promotions, offers, subscriptions, and deals, which also gives them a competitive edge. Share-of-Shelf (SOS) has become the next big model for boosting these deliverables. SOS measures the visibility of a product based on a specific keyword under a particular category of an eCom marketplace. A high SOS means that the brand has eased consumer discoverability and product visibility on eCom searches. However, harnessing such results on the eCom store is tiresome as brands constantly need to review the keywords of their brand’s products and competitor listings. Besides visibility, a higher share of digital shelf correlates to more money for the brand. How? Brands with higher visibility, especially on the first-page results, have witnessed higher number of consumers undertaking add-to-cart actions and conversions, hence higher sales. Forecasting such consumer behavior significantly impacts the product marketing strategies, sponsored listings, cross-selling across opportunities across eCom stores, etc. Moreover, the knowledge about the eCom platform offering the highest SOS helps identify which marketplace has consumers more receptive to the brand? – another valuable insight for the sales and marketing team. Similarly, the brand also recognizes the keywords that offer the maximum search visibility to their products and the hero product under the categories. Traditionally, brands measured the share-of-shelf in offline stores by calculating and analyzing the facings and linear listings. Brands reviewed the total products facing a category and compared it with competitors and variants. The linear listing accounted for the total products of a brand listed in a linear length and reviewed against the competitors. However, the story of the share of the digital shelf is entirely different, as they are measured across eCom stores using keywords. Measuring the presence of a brand’s products helps identify trends across eCom stores, cities, and pin codes. 3 Reasons eCom SOS Has Become Highly Competitive Reviewing the share of digital shelf help brands to gain insight into the presence of the product on eCom platforms. Brands can also learn about consumers’ journeys through SOS. Moreover, the need to track the share of sponsored and organic listings has become unavoidable. Tracking the brand’s discoverability under a category using keywords helps detect the most commonly used consumer searches. Moreover, a brand can even decipher its product’s visibility based on competitor, organic/inorganic, and brand keywords. Unfortunately, brands sometimes get zero views on sponsored listings, which is worrisome. Simultaneously, competitors might also be making money by enhancing their visibility using your brand’s keywords. But these are secondary advantages of reviewing the share of digital shelf and can get dealt with by contacting the eCom marketplace. However, the primary advantages offered by keeping track of the SOS are as follows: Optimize Searches Brands often enhance searches using the preferred keywords on pages, results, or lists. Moreover, they are further segmented into long and short-tail keywords. Brands understand that basket conversions and shopper awareness are substantially higher for the top five products (of the first page) on an eCommerce platform than others. So, the need to safeguard ‘brand-specific’ keywords from competitive bidding becomes important for enhancing product visibility. Unfortunately, brand bidding is still a prevalent fraud even in the eCommerce industry and gravely hampers the search results. Share of brand search can summarize keyword search result share across each eCom marketplace. Analyzing the share of voice can prove helpful for benchmarking the top brands/products under definitive categories. Data-driven results help brands curate looped feedback about consumer behavior, optimizing revenue spending. mScanIt even determines insights post SOS analysis based on city, pin code, or other classifications. Such segmentations help brands to optimize their marketing campaigns. Measures Essential KPIs Dashboard of mScanIt tailors the eCom results of Share-of-Shelf (SOS) through Key Performance Indicators (KPI). The KPIs help to enhance search results, display tailored results, improve the user experience, etc., using a single platform. The brands can discover the ongoing product, category, page, trends, besides performance and competitive data. The SOS covers KPIs like SKU range share, overall SOS, top product by search, average page positioning, etc. According to Amazon, the top three search results account for 68% of clicks, and 75% of eCommerce shoppers make decisions based on the first page results. Utilizing SOS KPIs can help brands devise strategies to increase add-to-cart conversions and brand awareness. Influences Consumer and Brand Behavior Another significant advantage of reviewing SOS using an eCommerce competitive analytics solution is determining the consumer behavior or journey. Understanding the habits of the online shoppers on eCommerce platforms like Amazon and Flipkart can help devise multiple strategies. For example, for any given keyword, e.g., brands like Aashirwad, Fortune, Pillsbury, and other brands’ products constantly appear on the first page. Moreover, consumers searching for FMCG or CPG products are almost instantly looking to fill their shelves. Therefore, products of brands with the highest visibility under the search term “atta” will likely incur higher conversion due to urgency. So, SOS retains the capacity to influence consumer behavior. Industry researchers have also suggested that first-page product results in higher add-to-cart actions and conversions under a specific keyword and category. Simultaneously, such brands would significantly diminish their cart abandon rates. Conclusion Measuring the share of the digital shelf has become essential for brands because of the multiple advantages and competitor insights, other than product visibility under different keywords and categories. But, it is only a single discoverability aspect. But, brands require a more in-depth analysis of availability, performance, visibility, search, exec compliance, and brand safety before making the final marketing strategy calls. An eCom Competitive Analytics solution like mScanIt can prove beneficial for achieving these goals while monitoring KPI achievements against the market leaders. In addition, a solution like mScanIt offers an easy mechanism for understanding consumer behavior journeys. SOS is not taken lightly by any

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