How often do you step out to buy a new mobile phone, a pair of shoes, food, or groceries? Even if you do, you probably use your mobile phone or desktop to look for the products on your favorite eCommerce website, or other online delivery platforms, or Google it.
It is an undeniable fact the internet has become an integral part of our buying journeys. It’s not only the early adopters living in metropolitan cities who follow this online first buying routine but interestingly, many people from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities (and even villages) are adopting this behavior; thanks to lower data cost, higher internet penetration, affordable mobile devices, and of course - the mammoth efforts by the eCommerce players.
Online Retailers deliver to 15,000-20,000 pin codes out of nearly 100,000 pin codes in the country
IBEF
India has over 500 million connected users. At least 450 million of them access the internet every day, adding 10 million daily active internet users monthly to the internet community. As per the latest eCommerce report in India - online shoppers in India are expected to reach 220 million by 2025. Given the accelerated online adoption because of COVID-19 and the subsequent lock-downs, this could be achieved much sooner.
So, we agree eCommerce, especially mobile commerce, has become ingrained in the Indian consumers’ buying journey. It provides unprecedented control & convenience to today’s shoppers. Driven by this, most physical retail giants establish themselves with digital storefronts (Apps, Websites) to not let their customer sway to competitors.
All brands, big and small, rely on digital marketing to reach, engage, convert and retain their customers. They are employing Search Engines, Social Media, E-mail Marketing, Re-targeting, Programmatic, and Influencer Marketing.
How do they do that?
Among other strategies and tactics, smart brands leverage eCommerce’s power for customer acquisition at a better ROI. They are going directly to the high-intent captive audience and showing up at the moment when customers are ready to take action.
The industry has termed this as Commerce Advertising. In this, Brands leverage audiences on the eCommerce platform and pay these platforms based on clicks, impressions, or acquisitions (based on their KPIs and pricing models). In a nutshell, it is an ideal scenario where advertisers, e-commerce players, and customers everyone wins.
According to Rajan Anandan, MD, Surge, and Sequoia Capital India LLP , commerce advertising did not exist 3-4 ago in India. But last year, it clocked 300M dollars in the country. He considers commerce advertising as the one delivering the highest ROI. During “Flipkart Connect 2020”, he also pointed out that commerce advertising is growing three times faster than digital advertising.
Exchange4Media
Advantages For Advertisers
Advertisers and marketers are always in the lookout of higher ROI. No matter how many impressions, clicks, and website visits/app installs they get, everything boils down to ROI, i.e., the revenue-generating sales. However, it is still challenging for brands to present the right message to prospective consumers at the right time so that they click the final few buttons!
There are signals available with current digital ad platforms based on interests, in-market-segments, look-alike audiences, and more, mostly probabilistic and not deterministic. Many times, these signals are not accurate, leading to more dollars spent on a prospect yet to make up their mind. Commerce advertising might be the perfect solution here.
There are a few reasons for this -
Awareness - Consideration - Intent - Purchase
Customers visit eCommerce platforms when they are interested in a product or service or even a festive sale. Since they enter the website/app with at least consideration in mind, and with search ads on these eCommerce sites & apps, brands can get to the consumers’ intent or purchase stage. In marketing lingo, advertisers directly access the funnel’s bottom, making it easier for customers to convert.
Logged-in Users & Personalization
Indicators like their past purchases, spend bracket, and affinity towards a brand, and much more, help these platforms deliver the most suitable ads. If, as an advertiser, your ads are matched this way before being displayed, chances of consumers taking action rise considerably.
Categorized Audience Segments
Advertisers get access to pre-categorized segments on consumers based on their behavior (Surfers, Researchers, Focused Customers, Discount Driven, Impulsive Customers & Loyal Customers), interests, and transaction history other parameters. With the help of the platform, they can choose their ideal customer segments for better ROI.
Benefit For Platform Owners
With commerce advertising gaining momentum among the advertisers and marketers and the advent of Direct to Consumer brands, e-retail platforms are finding themselves in a unique position to create more value for these advertisers and their customers at the same time.
Below diagram from an article on MartechToday clearly states how online retailers have augmented their profit model with multiple layers of allied services keeping retaining at the core. And how Kritter, as a platform, is helping those Retailers at all levels -
Why Advertiser Should Opt For Kritter
- Own AdTech Platform - Most of the top e-retailers have their auction-based marketplace. Others are following suit very soon. Owning a programmatic platform makes it easier for commerce players to manage advertisers, bids, and ad delivery. Additionally, they generate more data this way, which in turn goes on to create better advertising products.
- Data – It is a gold mine for Advertisers. And these eCommerce platforms sit on heaps of customer data that directly bind with their unique behavior, searches, product pages, visits, and transactions. As discussed earlier, since this data majorly comes from logged-in users, advertisers can leverage Kritter’s robust First-Party Data Management. All the granular and valuable user-level data can be on-boarded and segmented within the system. Using DMP, Advertisers can analyze those data and setup or tweak their Campaigns accordingly.
- Control - Unlike third-party cookies, the data with eCommerce players never leave the platform, making it a prized possession for them. Additionally, they are in complete control when it comes to creating ad spaces (inventories), setting the price for the advertisers, and choosing the right advertisers, thus creating a seamless experience for their visitors/users. Kritter provides controlled access to the Cloud. So, any data generated by or fed into the system remains secure within the Cloud and with complete ownership.
- Increased User Engagement - When you deliver ads and overall experience based on individual customers’ interests and needs (derived from data), they will be more likely to make the purchase, thus shortening the user’s time to get to the best fit product for them. More engaged customers mean more sales and, eventually, even more customers.
74% of customers feel frustrated when website content is not personalized. And when you frustrate customers, you kill your business. On the brighter side, personalized homepage promotions influenced 85% of consumers to buy while customized shopping cart recommendations influenced 92% of shoppers online.
Instapage
User engagement can be achieved by -
Personalization - Its human nature to check a product’s price and reviews before buying. Here, Advertisers can leverage Kritter algorithms and various targeting capabilities to serve personalized ads and show relevant offers to users.
Ad Formats - Kritter’s SDK is compatible with all ad formats in Android and iOS devices. Easy Tag and SDK Based Integration Expedited the Monetization Process.
Keyword Targeting - Our platform can show sponsored or custom ads (Banner or Video or HTML5) in the product listing section when a user searches for a product.
Targeting and Re-targeting - Geographical, Hyper-local, Demographic, and many other Targeting options, whereas taxonomy, Pixel, or Event-based option for re-targeting.
- And most importantly, Tracking, Attribution, and Reporting - Kritter supports post-back URL, 3rd party impression/click trackers, pixel-based tracking, and other granular insights. In-depth reporting helps in pointing Campaigns in the right direction.
Customers love when they find the best offers and most suited products to their likings. Commerce advertising matches them with the products and brands they would like and fit in their budget.
Dirk Van de Put, CEO of Mondelez International, says, “We’ve already been shifting a lot more advertising into digital, but we are now shifting more of our advertising into the e-commerce sites,”
WARC
Thankfully, at Kritter, we have already mastered the art (and science of it). Apart from providing tailored solutions to the retailers, eCommerce platforms, and payment apps, leading Indian brands and retailers currently leverage our AdTech Platform & Monetization Solutions to –
> Get started quickly, because Kritter is Ready to use white-labeled and In-house Solution
> Achieve competitive advantage by using new Ad formats
> Drive growth immediately using Kritter’s at par Monetization Plan from Branding to Performance
