Summer is almost over, and for online retailers focused on office supply and electronics, that means some major sales opportunities are beginning. With back-to-school sales already here and Labor Day coming up in just a few weeks, now is the time for these companies to make sure they’re making the most of every online sales opportunity.
Of course, the start of this school year looks quite different from past years as a result of COVID-19. While teachers, administrators, students, and parents are adapting to these new realities, the online retailers and eCommerce companies that aim to sell them supplies must do the same.
The good news? In light of data from both this year and last year, we expect back-to school and Labor Day sales to boost KPIs for online office supply and consumer electronics stores.
Why is that? For starters, we’ve seen this industry’s online sales numbers climb since the start of the coronavirus outbreak. Looking at data from the online office supply and electronics brands working with Namogoo, we can see that online sales were much stronger this past July than in July 2019. Specifically, their total conversions were up a whopping 48%. conversion rate increased of 56%. Taken together, these numbers point to online shoppers with greater purchase intent than in the past.
Furthermore, while many industries are positioned to benefit from either back-to-school or Labor Day sales, online office supply and consumer electronics stores are especially well positioned to see their sales benefit from both events. Last year, we saw especially high sales numbers during the back-to-school period and over Labor Day weekend, and we expect those figures to go even higher this year in light of the trends we’ve seen since the start of the COVID-19 crisis.
To see how the combined effect of back-to-school and Labor Day sales affected last year’s online sales revenue for the online electronics and office supply stores that we work with, we compared their performance between August 1 and September 2, 2019 – a 33-day period ending with Labor Day – with their performance over the previous 33 days (between June 29 and July 31, 2019). Looking at these numbers, we can see that those companies’ total conversions jumped 14%, and conversion rate increase of 23%.
Data based on online office supply and electronics retailers using Namogoo’s Customer Hijacking Prevention solution
In short, the numbers show that last year’s back-to-school sales and Labor Day resulted in a significant increase in purchases from online electronics and office supply stores, and the sales numbers we have seen in recent months are considerably higher than during the same period in 2019. These numbers are encouraging signs for this year’s back-to-school and Labor Day sales.
But, as we’ve seen these stores boost their online sales in recent months, we’ve also seen an increase in the frequency with which visitors to their websites have been targeted by Customer Journey Hijacking. That reality shows no sign of going away anytime soon – which is why August is an especially important time for these companies to stop Customer Journey Hijacking in its tracks by eliminating ad injections.
How do ad injections hurt online office supply and electronics sales?
No matter what the industry, Customer Journey Hijacking is an expensive problem for any retail or eCommerce business relying on an online sales funnel, including those that sell electronics and office supplies. It occurs when a visitor to an eCommerce website views injected ads – typically as a result of software installed on their device when they downloaded a free program, such as a browser extension or mobile app. In most cases, the injected ads a consumer sees while shopping for a product on an eCommerce website promote similar products sold by competing online stores.
In light of the eCommerce trends we’ve seen since the start of the coronavirus outbreak, how much of an impact do ad injections now have on online electronics and office supply sales? To answer this question, we examined data regarding our relevant clients’ websites from March 1 through July 31 of this year and compared it to the same period last year. We found that between March and July of this year, ad injections targeted 17% of visits to the online office supply and electronics stores we work with – up from 15% of visits during the same period last year.
Additionally, our numbers show a more recent increase in Customer Journey Hijacking, with ad injections targeting 19% of shopping sessions on these companies’ websites in July of this year.
That brings us to an important question:
How can these companies stop losing sales due to ad injections?
Today, retailers and eCommerce companies can automatically eliminate ad injections in real time with innovative technology.
Namogoo’s deep learning Customer Hijacking Prevention solution blocks injected ads before they can appear on the screens of visitors to eCommerce websites – instantly raising our clients’ overall online conversion rates by between 1.5% and 5%. Because our cloud-based technology has no need for on-site installation, it can be set up rapidly and remotely. And to help new clients adapt in the face of the challenges they face as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, we are temporarily offering cost-free access to our technology – providing a risk-free way to stop losing sales revenue to Customer Journey Hijacking.
How effectively does our technology enable online office supply and electronics stores to increase their online sales revenue? Our recent data show that between June 21 and July 21 of this year, our clients in this industry made a total of over $19 million that they would have lost had they not used our Customer Hijacking Prevention solution.
Ad injections are a year-round problem for office supply and electronics websites, and Customer Journey Hijacking is only getting more costly as their sales numbers continue to rise. But with back-to-school sales already underway and Labor Day just around the corner, this time of year is especially promising for online stores selling these supplies. By eliminating ad injections now, these retailers can take control of their customer experiences and stop seeing their conversion rates suffer due to ad injections.
Not only will this allow these companies to get more out of their back-to-school and Labor Day sales, but it will prepare them to boost their sales revenue 12 months a year. And with even bigger sales events on the horizon – think Black Friday and Cyber Monday – a customer experience free of ad injections will enable these companies to make the most of future eCommerce opportunities well beyond Labor Day.
Ready to remove ad injections from your online customer experience? Request a Demo
