Click Frenzy 2019: What retailers need to know

According to data from Hitwise, last November, Click Frenzy experienced 13.5% Year-on-Year growth from the November 2017 event. The data also showed that the top 30 retailers participating in the event saw an average increase in site traffic of 70.27%.

Click Frenzy is now it in its seventh year with Aussie consumers conditioned to expect huge sales during the 24-hour event. In fact, National Australia Bank’s Chief Economist claims that consumers are so accustomed to November retail sales such as Click Frenzy, that they’re bringing forward their holiday shopping, and in 2018 this contributed to a 1.4% month-on-month decrease in retail spend in December.

Retailers should also note, that in 2018 Aussie shopped more during Click Frenzy then they did during Boxing Day. Data from the Rakuten Marketing Affiliate Network revealed revenue growth of 16% YoY. A key player in the Australian holiday season, it would be remiss for both Australian and international retailers who ship down under to ignore Click Frenzy. But how can retailers really maximise their performance over the event?

The answer is to tailor strategies that ensure retailers will reach and engage consumers.

Think mobile, but don’t ignore desktop:
A recent Rakuten Marketing study found that 36% of Aussie consumers are transacting on mobile, while 50% of online purchases are made on desktop. Supporting this sentiment, data from Click Frenzy’s 2019 Mayhem event revealed that while mobile devices drove 50% of all clicks, more than 60% of sales were made on desktop.

It’s safe to assume that many consumers are browsing deals and promotions via mobile, and then opting to convert via desktop. This concept is reiterated through the results of the May event, which saw conversions peak at 9am on Wednesday, indicating that shoppers were making purchases once they arrived in the office.

When Aussie shoppers do transact on mobile, almost one-third are doing so through apps. This presents an opportunity for retailers to engage with consumers within their own platform. It also, highlights the importance of rewarding affiliate publishers, particularly those in the cashback & loyalty space, for in-app transactions.

Whether it be on mobile web, mobile app or desktop, creating a seamless consumer experience will be imperative to securing performance growth over Click Frenzy.

Build your data:
Last November sales driven by retargeting campaigns experienced a 43% YoY growth throughout the Tuesday of Click Frenzy. Many consumers will begin researching the products they wish to buy in early November, before purchasing during the sales period.

Employing retargeting strategies during this crucial retail period allows marketers to reengage consumers. Retailers who utilise the data available to them to layer in personalisation will increase consumer engagement and the likelihood of conversion.

Further to this, on the Wednesday of last year’s November event, sales driven by paid social campaigns grew by a phenomenal 98% from 2017. Paid social strategies allow retailers to target consumers based on their likes, interests and demographic information that they chose to share. For retailers, this may provide insight into who a person is buying for over the holiday period (children, partners, etc.) and target them at a granular level.

Maintain exposure across Tuesday and Wednesday
When it comes to new product discovery in Australia, search is key. During Click Frenzy 2018, searches on Tuesday were 32% higher than Wednesday, though clicks increased at a faster rate (18%) on the Wednesday.

Digging into the data from Rakuten Marketing’s search channel, cost per click was higher on the Tuesday of the November Click Frenzy 2018 event, then they were on Wednesday. This indicates that there was more competition on the first day of the sale.

Based on this performance data, it will be vital that retailers enter Click Frenzy with concrete exposure, strong bids and solid messaging. Consumers will be searching full force, and competition will be fierce with CPCs reflecting the trend.

By aligning strong budgets and high enough bids to maintain a presence across both Tuesday and Wednesday, retailers will capture the interest of shoppers researching sales. Retailers need to ensure they execute on the right bid strategy and ad messaging across both days; otherwise, an opportunity to reach consumers may be missed.

Maximise your affiliate campaigns
Over the past seven years, Click Frenzy has evolved from a single publisher (Click Frenzy) event to one affiliate publishers throughout Australia leverage. Partnering with several publishers to optimise promotions and having exposure across top-performing affiliates ensures that retailers are front and centre for shoppers during this busy period.

In addition to partnering with publishers across the affiliate landscape, it’s important for retailers to fairly reward their partners for the sales they drive. Dynamic Commissioning strategies allow retailers to incentives publishers more effectively, all the while aligning with your business objectives.

By employing Dynamic Commissioning, retailers can offer publishers variable commission rates across a variety of elements, such as product category or customer status (new vs. existing). This gives retailers looking to acquire valuable new customers over Click Frenzy the opportunity to offer a higher commission to publishers who drive new customers and supports publishers in building strategies that deliver retailers desired results.

For more information on you can drive performance for your brand during Click Frenzy, visit rakutenmarketing.com and speak to one of our experts.