Social media failing e-retail?
Contrary to the opinion of many marketers at present, the study by Forrester Research and GSI Commerce showed less than 2% of online sales resulted from a social media referral.
E-mail and search advertising, on the other hand, are much more effective vehicles through which to turn potential buyers into actual customers, it added.
The research analysed data captured from online retailers between 12 November and 20 December 2010, says USA Today.
“The best analogy is in the South, a lot of people go to church on Sunday,” says Fiona Dias, executive VP of strategy and marketing for GSI Commerce.
“If you go with the theory that you should market where the people are, then you should be running off to market during church services. Facebook has the same analogy. Buying things from retailers is maybe tenth on the list of things they want to do on Facebook,” she says.
Shoppers in the study touched some retail marketing vehicle before completing a transaction, writes Tech Journal.
Usually, they explicitly searched for a product or they received retailer's e-mail. In fact, 77% of transactions in hard goods and 82% in soft goods engaged in some interactive marketing tactic.
About half of online shoppers touched at least two marketing points, which the report suggests highlights opportunities for retailers to “think beyond the traditional last-click measurement”.
Share