Online, brands are constantly competing with each other to capture the attention of consumers, reach the coveted spot at the top of the search results page and earn a place in the consumer’s shopping cart. This rivalry is nothing new. Brands have always had to fight to be noticed by shoppers in bricks and mortar stores - but the sheer volume of choice online means that competition on the digital shelf is particularly fierce.

However, one huge benefit of doing business online is that everything can be measured and monitored - from the product pages consumers visit, to where products appear on search results pages, to what ends up in shoppers’ carts.

Search results, ratings and reviews, product availability and a whole host of other factors all play a part in determining how easily your products are discovered by shoppers online, and monitoring them can help you identify where you need to improve. So, it’s vital to measure your digital shelf presence to grow your business and avoid being left behind.

It might help to visualize the process of eCommerce analytics as an engine. Data - so things like the search terms people use to find your products, the demographics of the consumers buying them, and the time they spend browsing - is the fuel that goes into the eCommerce analytics engine. This data is then analyzed by relevant team members, generating insights that can be used to make smart business decisions.

So, what kinds of things can you achieve with eCommerce analytics, exactly?

One way it can be used is to help you to uncover white spaces. These are unfulfilled consumer needs that you’re not currently meeting, creating a possible new opportunity for your business. You can start to identify white spaces through things like product sales data and search results data, which can reveal the products that are most popular and keep you up to date with new trends.

For example, if your brand sells ice cream, and product sales data from your retailer tells you that pecan is an increasingly popular flavor, you might well consider developing a pecan flavored ice cream. Similarly, if search results data from your retailer shows you that people are searching for ‘dairy-free ice cream’ and this isn’t something you currently offer, it may be wise to think about tapping into this space.

eCommerce analytics can also help you to target your product to the appropriate audience.

Data can help you to find out who’s actually buying your products and whether this is in line with your target demographic.

Say you sell wireless headphones and your ads are generally targeted towards young people. However, when you dive into the data, you discover that this specific style of headphones is actually selling mostly to older consumers. You’d likely want to adjust your marketing accordingly - this might mean updating the visuals you use, or changing the channels you advertise through to ones more popular with older generations.

Next, eCommerce analytics can help you assess how well your promotions are performing, and the return on investment, or ROI they’re generating. With all the money you spend on promotions, you’ll want to make sure they’re working well for you! If you’re running a promotion on one of your retail partner’s sites - a new product launch, a bundle deal or a ‘buy one get one free’ offer, for example - it’s crucial to ensure you’re going to profit to make the investment in these promotions worthwhile.

eCommerce analytics can also give you insights on which promotions perform best for certain products and audiences. So, if a previous offer on non-bio detergent did particularly well with a younger audience, you might want to target your next promotion for that product through channels that are popular with that demographic to get a positive ROI.

Finally, wherever you’re selling your products, you’ll likely want to optimize your pricing strategy and - you guessed it! - eCommerce analytics can help you with this too. Brands have always adjusted their prices based on demand, but the beauty of eCommerce is that product sales data can be used to update pricing online in real-time in response to changing trends.

Tailoring your products’ prices in line with consumer demand enables you to sell popular items at higher prices to maximize your profits. However, it’s important to bear in mind that this might be easier to achieve if you have your own D2C store, or if you sell your products on a marketplace. Pricing is generally at the sole discretion of the retailer - so, if you’re working with retail partners, any pricing changes will have to align with their strategy too.

What is eCommerce Analytics?

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