As the holidays approach, many consumers turn to online shopping
for inventory that is rarely out of stock, favorable pricing, and the
convenience of home delivery. Considering Overstock.com’s
longevity and e-commerce success, it is an ideal subject to study in terms of
web analytics and search engine optimization.
Background.
Overstock.com, founded in 1997, is a longstanding global online retailer. It
started as a closeout liquidator, offering deep discounts to consumers. More recently,
it has expanded to stretch the boundaries of retail. In addition to products
offered in its vast, virtual department store, Overstock also offers software,
insurance services, online car listings…even farmers markets. Handcrafted items
are available via the company’s Worldstock Fair Trade shop (Bloomberg, 2015).
Multiple properties under the Overstock banner enable the company to sell
products as it learns as much as it can about customers’ interests and
communication preferences.
Financial
Position. Overstock.com generates $1.6 billion in annual sales,
conducting 100% of its business online. According to eMarketer, Overstock is
ranked 21 among the top 25 U.S. e-commerce retailers (by revenue). To put
Overstock’s volume in context, top-ranked Amazon earns $79.3 billion in
e-commerce sales, 74% share of its total sales (Zaczkiewicz, 2016).
Web
Analytics Tools. Overstock utilizes multiple analytics tools including
several integrated solutions from Teradata Unified Data Architecture (TCSET,
2015). According to SEOQuake (2016), Google Analytics is also monitoring the
website. Seth Moore, VP, Analytics and Business Intelligence, maintains that analytics
“help build that deeper relationship, that is not scattershot and random.”
Data
Central. Teradata centralizes the data tracking customer actions on
Overstock’s websites and social media channels, integrates this data with
customer preferences (the channel and device they prefer) and also includes external
data (location-based information, for example). A “hub and spoke” structure
unifies data. The hub is the
customer and contains the customer ID, purchases, interactions with customer
service, loyalty program membership and usage, etc. The spokes organize the universe of products, channels, social-media
activity, recommendations, etc. (Reiter, 2015).
Bringing disparate sources of data into one cloud, instead of
attempting to draw insights from discrete data, creates a fuller profile of the
customer, obviously. As Mr. Moore wryly observes, data has traditionally been
housed in silos, even though “the customer who is giving you that data is not
siloed.” Overstock’s unified data enables marketers to enhance each customer’s
online experience, provide help when a customer is struggling, and personalize
communications and promotions.
Mohican Lane, who directs Overstock’s Business Intelligence and
Reporting initiatives, notes that “one of our core competencies at Overstock is
search and search technology.” Overstock’s powerful e-commerce search
technology, integrated with a wealth of data insights, have led to the
development of some unusual yet innovative web properties (Teradata
Corporation, 2015).
Pets Project. Since
many customers who shop for furnishings and other home goods on Overstock tend
to own houses, a natural parallel market was identified: prospective pet
owners. Overstock took the bold step of creating an online adoption service
that aggregates available pets from shelters across the U.S. (Teradata
Corporation, 2015). On pets.overstock.com, people
can search for nearby pets up for adoption, in much the same way they would
search for patio furniture. Noting that the website is a public service only
adds to the good will.
But why invest resources in a website that does not directly
produce e-commerce revenue? The chance to collect more valuable data is priceless.
And, as Overstock gathers data from the pet-adoption channel, it increases
customers’ loyalty and engagement with the brand – not to mention a pipeline of
future pet-oriented purchases. And note the assortment of Overstock websites in
the tabs at the top of the page. Cross-promoting other Overstock properties is
common to all websites.
Data
Visualization. Another use of Teradata analytics is to present
visualizations of customers moving through the website, so Overstock can
improve pathways to conversion and enhance campaigns. This feature is
reminiscent of Google Analytics’ Funnel Visualization Reports (Linden, 2013).
Apparently, the use of Hadoop
programming allows Teradata to process enormous amounts of web-log and social
media data (Facebook and Pinterest) quickly, and deliver reports in “near
time,” meaning hours and minutes versus days. This speed across the unified
analytics platform presents a competitive advantage (Teradata Corporation,
2015).
Collecting
and Leveraging Data. How does Overstock use the data they collect? Monitoring
patterns of online behavior and time spent reveals where customers are
“shockingly patient” and also extremely impatient “in ways you could not
imagine.” Overstock’s analytics measure the sequence of visited assets, and
time invested on each along the way.
The way Teradata describes it, a “decisioning engine” sifts
through data to determine offers and messages. It identifies dimensions of
individual customers to segment, and scores them by examining interactions such
as (Reiter, 2015):
§
Affinity to certain categories of products
§
Channel preference and responsiveness
§
Primary device(s)
§
Loyalty club membership status
§
Interactions with customer service
§
Product reviews or feedback
§
Social media actions
Analytics models slice and dice interaction history, patterns,
social-media activity, and behaviors like whether a customer waits for
promotions to make a purchase. These insights can be used to serve and
influence customers. According to CIO, Bhargav Shah, data is driving (Reiter,
2015):
§
A greater investment in mobile apps and integration
across channels
§
A“Netflix model” of personalization to anticipate needs based
on customer preferences, location and demographics
§
Individualized push notifications that can be viewed on
any device
§
More precise communications to loyalty-program customers
On-Page
SEO. Overstock.com
appears on the first page of Google’s organic results for the search term online shopping indicating on-page and
off-page SEO is strong. Online shopping
is in the page title, plus the term and variations are included in the meta
description and the page’s 28 keywords. Overstock.com’s aged domain (1997)
helps. Other optimal uses of SEO techniques are the number of characters in
meta tags, ALT attributes on images (all), and the inclusion of a sitemap.
Headings are used but not <H1>, <H2>, or <H3>, possibly to
conserve real estate. (Surprisingly, Overstock.com earns income from retargeted
Google AdSense ads from other merchants.)
An
on-page SEO tactic that facilitates data collection from visitors is the use of
internal links (716). In terms of SEO, the home page is a primer on the content
Overstock prioritizes. As Fleischner (2015) reminds us, “Internal linking
provides direct access to your web pages in order of importance.” He advises
marketers to link to main category pages and include keywords, both of which
Overstock does (SEOQuake, 2016).
Numerous
visitor actions provide input for marketers to utilize. Customers can select
their language, post reviews, make lists of favorite products, create a gift
registry, sign up for coupons, become loyalty-program members, and consider Overstock’s
buy-together recommendations. According to the sitemap, other pages are
dedicated to tips and inspiration, promotions, and branded credit cards. As
customers navigate the website, their page visits, paths, and time on page,
among other data, are recorded for Teradata and Google Analytics to analyze.
Recommended
Tools and Enhancements. Suggesting improvements on a legendary e-commerce
website like Overstock.com is a bit challenging. The online retailer has already
incorporated so many data and SEO methods. One thing I wondered is whether
social sharing could be more broadly incorporated into the website somehow? For
example, the gift registry can be shared via email or social media but I do not
see this feature elsewhere.
I could see customers wanting to share special products or
custom lists of Overstock favorites with friends and family – as inspiration or
ideas, not to suggest an immediate purchase. I have the same thought with Give Back Box, a philanthropic effort. Before
the visitor is redirected to the provider’s website, why not allow her to share
this benevolent effort with others and point back to Overstock’s page? Naturally,
Overstock would track these behaviors like everything else.
References
Bloomberg. (2015). Company overview of Overstock.com Inc.
Bloomberg: Internet and Direct Marketing Retail. Retrieved from http://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=675577
Fleischner, M. H. (2015). SEO made simple for 2016: Insider
secrets for driving more traffic to your website (5th ed.). North Charleston,
SC: CreateSpace.
Linden, E. (2013, March). Teradata Aster Discovery platform:
Data acquisition through visualization. Teradata. Retrieved from http://www.teradata.com/Resources/Videos/Teradata-Aster-Discovery-Platform-Data-Acquisition-Through-Visualization/?LangType=1033&LangSelect=true
Reiter, S. (2015, February). Inside Overstock’s transition to
data-driven marketing. Chief Marketer: Special Report. Retrieved from http://cdn.chiefmarketer.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Teradata.pdf
SEOQuake. (2016, November 21). Diagnosis: Overstock.com.
Retrieved from chrome-extension://akdgnmcogleenhbclghghlkkdndkjdjc/common.html?id=5f9ebf4ffb3f2d5ba6a9e237681df462#diagnosis
TCSET. (2015, November 20). Overstock: Revolutionizing data and
analytics to connect soulfully with their customers. Teradata Insights and
Outcomes. Retrieved from http://blogs.teradata.com/customers/overstock-revolutionizing-data-and-analytics-to-connect-soulfully-with-their-customers/
Teradata Corporation. (2015, November 19). [Video].
Overstock.com: Revolutionizing data and analytics to connect soulfully with
their customers. Teradata Corporation. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAitcCce7gw
Zackiewicz, A. (2016, March 7). Amazon, Wal-Mart lead top 25
e-commerce retail list. Womens Wear Daily (WWD). Retrieved from http://wwd.com/business-news/financial/amazon-walmart-top-ecommerce-retailers-10383750/
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