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New methods in a very old business, or a couple of words about retargeting

20 January 2021

The e-commerce market has been the fastest-growing branch of commerce for years. In 2018 its estimated value already exceeded PLN 50 billion in Poland alone. The events of recent months, namely the pandemic and the related restrictions on access to traditional retail outlets, have further accelerated the development of e-commerce, forcing many players to implement their plans related to digital transformation much faster. According to a Gemius study, in 2020 as many as 7 out of 10 Internet users shopped online, which experts believe translated into an increase in the value of online sales to nearly 77 billion.

The cover image is no coincidence. The increase of the market value increases its attractiveness and attracts new players, which in turn increases competition, which means the fight for buyers’ attention. Just like in a Moroccan bazaar, online retailers are outdoing each other in finding ways to reach buyers. Buyers, on the other hand, look for alternative offers or lower prices before they make a choice, optimizing their benefits. The higher the value of the planned purchase, the longer the decision-making process and the greater the number of sources of information, both about the actual product and its seller. In the case of a traditional retail chain, the shopper usually visits the nearest store with which he or she has positive associations. The salesperson recommending goods from the store’s limited range acts as an expert. On the other hand, before any online purchase, the shopper visits an average of 3.5 stores, each of which has been selected through price comparison services, and the role of experts is often played by enthusiasts from online forums or Facebook friends. Such a model of the shopping process requires the seller to maintain contact with the buyer and convince them to buy at the right time, and to have the right, individually tailored deal.

Mister, come back!

The Internet facilitates solutions that allow you to “grab the sleeve” of a buyer who saw an offer but ultimately did not make a purchase. How?
Let’s start with the fact that over 95% of online content publishers have their ad space integrated with the programmatic ecosystem, which enables buying specific banner views targeted at specific Internet users. This is done through the so-called RTB (Real Time Bidding). On the other hand, any publisher or online store can mark visitors to their sites with so-called cookies. Cookies are small text files in which the user ID can be stored. Thanks to this ID, each of the users visiting a portal integrated into the programmatic ecosystem can be later recognized. That means you can display banners relevant to them.

What is retargeting?

But how can this benefit an ordinary online store owner? Let’s get back to the example of the traditional distribution network. The seller loses contact with the buyer when the buyer leaves the store. A buyer who does not leave any contact details remains anonymous. On the Internet, the situation seems to be the same. However, thanks to cookies, banners, and programmatic solutions, we can recognize practically every user and reach him or her with an appropriately selected message at the right moment.

One of the leaders among providers of such solutions dedicated to e-commerce stores is 360e-com, which is a part of the Euvic group.

The mechanics of the service seem to be simple. A user who enters the store should be marked with a cookie so that later we can find them on the Internet and encourage them to return.

However, behind this simple mechanism, there are highly complex processes and artificial intelligence algorithms, which allow for detailed programming of complex communication with a particular user, based only on general assumptions. Decisions regarding the choice of the specific time, form, and place of the promotional message delivery are aided by artificial intelligence.

We can also count on the help of artificial intelligence in the selection of the best products that may interest the user. Such products can be shown to users in emails or on banners, so that they can get to know the e-commerce offer better and easily return to the interrupted shopping process. Artificial intelligence algorithms analyze hundreds of thousands of events in the customer’s store to create patterns of behavior that lead to a successful purchase. These patterns allow the store to choose the users they want as customers and find new ones with similar activity patterns. This approach allows for optimization of communication with users, which on the one hand significantly reduces costs, and on the other, significantly reduces the burden of unwanted ads on a user.

Our retargeting offer

So, what makes the 360e-com offer special among other solutions of this type? There are a couple of key distinguishing features:

1. Charging for success only. There are no upfront, installation, or maintenance fees. The only thing the customer pays for is a completed sale made after clicking on a link displayed to a user by 360e-com.
2. Validation of results. Billing is carried out in the so-called “last click” model which means that the customer pays only for these sales that were made after clicking on a link from 360e-com when this was the last click from a paid source. It means that the customer does not have to pay anything to 360e-com, if after clicking on the ad from 360e-com the user also clicked on a link on Facebook or from the Google search engine. Thanks to this solution, the customer does not run the risk of paying twice for generated sales.
3. Flexible charging model. Thanks to its monitoring tools, 360e-com gives its clients the possibility of differentiating sales fees depending on the primary source that brought the user to the store. It helps the store better match the payment to the planned margin and avoid the risk of so-called “margin eating” by marketing fees.

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Article written by: Andrzej Łada, CEO of 360e-com and Bartłomiej Łatka, Retail & Manufacturing Consultant.

You can read more about e-360.com on: 360e-com.pl

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