Now, you might be wondering - if planning for an eRetail event is so important, how exactly do you go about it? Well, that’s a very good question, and there are a few key steps you should follow…

Firstly, choose your partners. As we’ve already mentioned, many retailers hold sales on major eRetail event days, and they all want to strike a great deal with brands. Resources are often limited, so you’ll have to carefully evaluate which retailers are best to partner with depending on things like site traffic, the kinds of discounts they’re expecting you to fund, ad space and opportunities for special deals.

Then, you’ll need to clearly define your objectives. We’ve looked at the range of benefits for brands that take part in these online events, from new customer acquisition, to brand awareness or increased revenue. It’s important to define which of these you’re looking to achieve early on, so that those involved understand what success looks like for your brand and you can choose which key performance indicators - or KPIs - to measure. Some examples of common KPIs include brand awareness, revenue, traffic increase to product detail pages, and conversion rate - but we’ll look at KPIs in a little more detail later.

Once you’ve defined your objectives, you’ll need to gather the right team to help you achieve your goals. Planning for these events needs input from different people and departments, so it’s important to include the right stakeholders from across your organization who can come together and ensure success. Make sure that everyone is clear and aligned on any goals, objectives, and how you’ll be measuring success, as well as roles, expectations and timings.

For example, at the beginning of the planning process, you’ll need to call on marketing for help with budget and ad placement. The finance team can help you with target profitability, and the supply chain team can assist with product availability and delivery. You’ll also want to involve external partners like media agencies and third-party logistics companies so they can plan their resources and offer their expertise.

Next on the list is to identify the right offer. These events are busy times with lots of competition, so you’ll need to work with your merchandising and product teams to pick the right product and offer that can compete in terms of price, as well as get you the ratings and reviews needed to stand out. A word of advice here - keep things simple. Make the discount clear so the consumer easily understands the offer and is less likely to pull away before making a purchase. The easiest way to do this is with a straight percentage off the regular retail price, rather than more complicated offers like, say, bundle deals or buy 2 get the 3rd half price.

Once the offer is decided, you’ll need to check your inventory and distribution capabilities.

If the retailer is storing the stock and fulfilling the order themselves, they may prep their warehouses for an event 2-4 weeks in advance, so if your product isn’t there, it might not make an appearance on the digital shelf either!

If you’re the one fulfilling the order, make sure you have the team in your distribution center ready to fulfill the increased demand, and avoid disappointing your consumers.

You’ll also have to consider things like fulfillment and potential supply chain issues, and you’ll probably want to take a collaborative approach with the retailer to make sure you understand how their supply chain works. This means you’ll know what’s expected of you and when, helping you to remain agile and prepared.

If you’re going to invest in an eRetail event, you’ll want to make sure your products and offers stand out, so the next thing on the list is to leverage all of your marketing channels. Work with your marketing partners to ensure you’re making the best use of the right owned media - like brand websites, organic social media and blogs. You’ll also need to think about how to get the most out of advertising on the retailer's site.

The opportunities for specific on-site media will depend on each retailer and the event in question. It might be as simple as, say, search and display ads or featured deals, or it could be something more advanced like live-streaming.

Many brands even call on their own influencers to promote offers and drive traffic to the retailer sites.

Next up, optimize your product content. When a consumer lands on your product detail page, you’ll want to make sure it’s looking ship-shape, giving them the best impression of both your brand and product. Make sure your product content, like titles, bullet points, images and descriptions, are up to date and give all of the detailed information a consumer needs. That means ensuring all your content is search engine optimized - or ‘SEO’ friendly .

Think about how to improve your product’s visibility by researching the keywords your consumer may use, and then optimize your content with those keywords so that it appears in the right search results and can be found easily on the retailer’s site.

Finally, plan your retention strategy. eRetail events are more than just connecting with a consumer to make a sale on the day - you’ll want to establish a longer-term relationship with them and ideally keep them coming back for more. Inserts - which are quite a big deal and we’ll be coming back to later - can be left in the product box or packaging, so that when the consumer receives their purchase, they have a reason to visit your brand’s website. Or, you could offer them a coupon on a future purchase. Ideas like these must be planned in advance, but are a great way to encourage future interactions and further opportunities for revenue!

How to Plan & Measure Success

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