Non-commercial ‘editorial’ content is earning an ever-greater role in the fortunes of big ecommerce businesses – could your customers (and your sales) benefit from a rich content experience?
By Gabriella Griffith
If you stumble upon online luxury fashion giant Net-A-Porter you’ll notice something different nestling on the top navigation once you’ve made your way past clothing, bags and shoes.
It says ‘trends’. It doesn’t stop there, it also says magazine and TV.
Uber ecommerce entrepreneur and Net-A-Porter co-founder Natalie Massenet has turned her online store into what she calls a “luxury fashion destination.” She has a substantial team of journalists and stylists creating extra content on her site to give her customers a little something more. Something they appreciate.
Judging by the latest profit figures released by the site’s owner, Richemont, the plan is working. The company, which bought Net-A-Porter in 2010 for some £225m, announced a 43% leap in sales and profits of £1.2bn back in May – bolstered by the site.
It is becoming increasingly common to offer a richer experience in online retailing. Brands are offering more of a browsing and editorial experience through their eCommerce sites than ever before.
This has been helped to no end by the emergence of tablet computers and the creation of special retail branded apps. Adobe’s Digital Index 2012 Online Shopping Forecast expected tablets to account for 8% of total Christmas sales in the UK and Deloitte forecast some £500m in Christmas sales to come from tablets.
The technology allows for a visual and enjoyable shopping experience whilst on the go.
Hot on the heels of Net-A-Porter are Harrods, ASOS and Debenhams – which all offer apps with enriched content. The Harrods app digitises the content from its print magazine offering video interviews, fashion shoot footage and even an interactive section to try on virtual make-up
You don’t however have to be a well-established fashion house in order to capitalise on this. Adding extra features to your site can work for many sectors.
Daniel ShenSmith is the CEO of ShenSmith Group which runs eCommerce sites such as SkirtingBoard.co.uk and BackPacks.co.uk.
“Adding extra content to a site helps to build trust with your customers,” he said. “We go to a lot of effort into putting additional information on our site and have looked at hiring reporters to write pieces especially for them.
“Our customers like to see more than just what they are buying. If they are getting information on the products and how to use them and help if they require it, they are more likely to come back to us. We may not offer the cheapest options but because they feel they have gained value from the shopping experience they chose us.”
Top tips for enriching your site with supporting content:
Create an iPad app and mobile friendly site – customers switch channels between desktop and mobile and tablet without even thinking about it. You need to make sure your brand has the sites to support this switching to make it as seamless as possible.
Editorial - the addition of written content around your products if a great way to add value. This could be as simple as a deeper explanation as to what the product is about and how best to use it. Or you can go the whole hog and create independent but relevant content.
Create an attractive browsing experience – Being able to cleanly and easily browse through products will keep people on the site for longer and encourage them to come just for a look as well as when they are intent on buying.
If you’re feeling adventurous you could create a virtual shop floor for people to navigate or simply offer large, high resolution images with products from different angles.
Add widgets – Depending on what your site is and who your customers are, there could be suitable widgets which you could add to create extra value. For example an outdoor activity store could offer a weather widget.
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