A digital first approach transforms business results

Marketers are adopting ecommerce at a rapid rate and can reap great rewards, said Michael King, Head of Reprise Digital South Africa, an IPG Mediabrands company. In the past, and especially in South Africa, brands have been reluctant to sell goods and services online and consumers have been hesitant to share their credit card details. In today’s market you’d be hard pressed to find a brand that doesn’t have an online presence – but that’s not all that’s required.

What exactly does ecommerce mean? Shopify defines it as the buying and selling of goods or services using the internet, and the transfer of money and data to execute these transactions. Ecommerce often refers to the sale of physical products online, but it can also describe any kind of commercial transaction that is facilitated through the internet. According to Magna, IPG Mediabrands’ research division, digital investment will exceed traditional media globally for the first time in 2019. Around the world, marketers are also realising that consumers are going into brick and mortar stores less and less, opting instead to purchase goods online in the comfort of their homes or offices. This behaviour has given rise to a bigger requirement for ecommerce at a global level.

The forecasts by World Wide Worx for the next three years (2018 – 2020) show online retail sales more than doubling from 2016 to almost R20 billion, a year sooner than originally forecast. With online sales making up 1.4 per cent or R14 billion of total retail sales, and 4 per cent of consumer shopping online, this sector is on a firm footing. Even so, for e-commerce to really take off, local online businesses need to start reinvesting their earnings.

At this point, let’s introduce Performance Marketing. In our opinion this is what every marketer should strive for – effectively measuring the actual value of a sale and its profitability. Performance marketing has given us the ability to accurately measure Return on Adspend and what that means for the profitability of a business. This allows us to prove exactly where and how a marketing campaign is or isn’t delivering. Having a clear ecommerce strategy has proven to be very effective for many of clients. With an effectively optimised digital media strategy combined with our performance methodology and proprietary technology tools, and landing pages that facilitate a seamless user experience, we’ve seen very successful results. We were not only able to decrease one insurance brand’s actual cost per lead by 44 per cent but we also increased their amount of leads by 50 per cent. Digital adoption investment in this category and for other ecommerce related clients has increased on average by more than 50 per cent in the last three years!

At Reprise Digital, we reconnect the dots between purchase intent and real life transactions. Our team drives direct response outcomes by building experiences that move consumers from discovery to fulfilment. Value is delivered at every point within the digital commerce ecosystem by focusing on the balance of reach and ROI optimisation. We believe that performance is everything and we deliver that through industry leading digital media campaigns. Our team of mobile, search and social specialists work closely with our clients to deliver best in class service and to reimagine best practices in digital media for the future.