The 2 biggest supermarket chains in Australia have been battling it out for years. Over the past few years we have definitely seen Woolworths / Safeway go from strength to strength but digital may change this. Over the past year or so the supermarket chains have shown interest and investment in the channel, but just who is winning the digital war. This article puts the 2 head to head on the digital court to see who is winning the online grocery war.

Search Marketing
Whilst Woolworths seem to rank for some important terms in number 1 position, Coles seems to rank for a larger range of broad volume terms. In addition it seems that Coles is actively combining its organic search strategy with paid search activity to provide them with greater share of voice in the SERPs.

Coles 15 / Woolworths love

Onsite Experience
My user experience on Woolworths was unpleasant from the get go. I tried to locate my suburb, by typing in my postcode but the suburb drop down remained empty. When I was finally able to find my suburb I landed on the online shopping home page. Amongst other elements, the page had a banner stating “Our Great Weekly Specials”, so I tried to click on it to check them out however the page didn’t go anywhere. Locating items was also not an easy task, with sub menu’s a little invisible initially. Overall a disappointing site, one that does not match Woolworth’s in-store experience.

The Coles online store proved far more enjoyable. The express shop is a great tool allowing consumers to type in what they are looking for and then the system returns relevant matches. This combined with the product navigation menu’s provide consumers with different ways to shop. The site’s navigation make it easy to locate products in various categories however my only gripe is that the specials sit at the bottom of the search results rather than at the top of the page. Grocery chains spend a lot of money trying to promote specials – why would they not want to promote them online to increase impulse purchases?

Coles 30 / Woolworths love

Mobile Marketing
Coles Online have delivered a great iPhone application to provide shoppers with the ability to create shopping lists to reference in-store, search for recipes on the move, and identify local in-store specials. What I like about the application is that Coles has not just replicated its site, but rather considered what shoppers need on the move. Coles still seem to be however serving up their regular site to my blackberry so there is still some work to do on this front (as their site didn’t work well on my handset) but at least the mobile strategy elements that they have delivered are to be commended.

Woolworths don’t have an app that I could find but I was able to access their mobile site. At first glance I was pleased to see a mobile site – until I clicked on local specials at which point it served up specials in NSW, as my location was set to the Town Hall in Sydney. After resetting my location the site served up more relevant information. Overall I still think Coles have a very slight advantage in this area (you could almost say the ball was on the line and the call could have gone either way.)

Coles 40 / Woolworths love

Social Media

If all of the above wasn’t enough, it also seems ColesOnline is providing customer service help and responding to general feedback via Twitter (positive and negative) and promoting their latest competitions. At present they have over 1000 followers and the discussion seems to be thriving so they are obviously seem making an impact.

Game Coles

With a fresh new brand and pleasant in-store experience, Woolworths have some work to catch up online. Although recent statistics suggest online sales for Woolworths have grown 40%+ I think their onsite experience is probably hindering higher volumes of sales. I anticipate that Woolworths is probably working on its site and digital strategy so it will be interesting to see if there are any interesting developments in this space.

One thing however is for sure the match is not over – there is still a lot of game time. As a Woolworths shopper I do hope to see them move quickly in the space to compete on a level playing field with Coles.

Got any thoughts on Coles vs Woolworths online? Share them below.

© Digital Marketing Lab Blog

Written By: Teresa Sperti

With just over 6 weeks until the fat man makes his way down the chimney most retailers are in the thick of the promotional season. But are you maximising the online retailing opportunity? This article looks at the when, who and what of online Xmas retailing in Australia to help you ramp up your promotional efforts.

Who?
Nielsen research group says that 38% of Christmas purchases last year were made online, with each internet-connected Australian spending an average of $224 via the web. However who is spending the dosh? A Christmas gifts survey conducted by http://www.itsinthestarsonline.com found 45% of Australian men have never shopped for gifts online, compared to 23.9% of women. From the limited statistics on offer in Australia we are able to draw conclusions that online shopping is a prominent channel for purchasing Christmas gifts and probably is more so for women.

What is however more important to consider is the role that online plays in the entire Christmas shopping process. Whilst 1 in 3 are buying online, many more would be researching their gifts prior to completing the purchase in-store thus it is important to have a presence online over this key season.

When?
Statistics from 2008 show that whilst retailers see the last 6 weeks as the Christmas frenzy, online retailing for Christmas starts to pick up at the start of November - this reinforces the point above that many shoppers hit the net to do their research prior to heading out.

Nielsen Online Xmas Shopping Trends

It is however also interesting to note that online retailing extends far beyond Santa’s visit. January is another core time to capitalize for online retailing so ensure your campaigns extend well beyond the 25th of December.

What?
According to Hitwise, consumer electronics was one category that saw strong performance over the Christmas period in 2008 and continues to be strong in 2009 (refer below). In particular Hitwise stated in their recent Online Retail Series report that Online gaming and consoles are particularly popular around Christmas. Search behaviour plotted by Hitwise demonstrates the increasing demand over the silly season.

Hitwise Electronics Search Trends

Other popular electronics categories include; Mobile, Computers (notebooks and MP3 players) and Cameras. Headphones, Navigation and Set Top Boxes.

But electronics is not the only lucrative channel. According to Mastercard toys are another popular online category in Australia and if we look at Google Insights we can see search volumes for toys have increased significantly over the past 90 days as we move into the peak retailing period.

Google Search Insights - Toys

Further to this, Australia’s National Retailer Association has revealed that 1 in 5 Australian consumers will buy gift vouchers for Christmas – up by 7%. Google’s Insight search shows that one of the hottest places for consumers to look for this is online – with the growth in search obvious from the below graph.

Gift Voucher Searches - Google Search Insight

Other important information: Statistics show that this year Australians plan to spend less at Christmas. A survey from the Westpac-Melbourne Institute revealed 35% of consumers are not willing to spend as much money this Christmas period compared to last year. With consumers being very cost conscious retailers need to consider to tailor their product offerings and messaging to suit those looking to save some money this Xmas.

Got any insight or advice for online retailers? If so share it below.

© Digital Marketing Lab Blog

Written By: Teresa Sperti

There is a definite disconnect between Australian consumer usage of the internet and the investment in digital from organisations. Despite the many articles promoting the potential of digital – it is only few – mainly the pure play online organisations that are benefiting from the digital phenomenon.

However despite the strong signals of consumers both spending increasing amounts of time and money online, organisations are not slow off the mark to invest in the digital channel. And the statistics prove it.

Australian Online Behaviour & Organisations Online Spend
Statistics from Mike Hall, Director of Holler advised that more than 13 million Australians are online and the digital life survey suggests that as a nation we now spend one-third of their leisure time online, which according to Nielsen is 16.1 hours online per week. But our time online is not just spent browsing, according to Mike in 2008 Australians spent approximately $24 billion dollars online.

But the time spent online by consumers is not matched by the online spend of organisations.

The Nielsen advertising report, released in March 2009, demonstrated the significant gap that exists between online promotion and consumers consumption of media. Of the top 10 retail organisations advertising in Australia, only 1% of ad spend is invested online. This same trend currently exists within the beauty & cosmetics sector whilst in the entertainment and leisure sector the proportion is slightly higher at 3%.

So whilst many businesses will claim that Australian consumers are not likely to buy online, the above demonstrates the lack of investment by organisations.

So why is there such a disconnect?
I believe there are several reasons why organisations are not jumping on the digital bandwagon, these are;

Poor Digital Leadership;
Traditional marketers are not equipped to lead the digital charge and champion the digital channel at a senior level. If senior stakeholders are not truly convinced of the opportunity the channel will not be taken seriously, and the appropriate investment will not be made – leaving digital unable to live up to its promises.

Bad Experiences;
Mark Freidin from www.internetretailing.com.au understands the impact a bad online investment experience can have on an organisations attitude towards the channel. Mark has witnessed the early introduction of eCommerce by Australian organisations and feels bad experiences in the earlier part of the decade have left a bitter taste in retailers’ mouths. He says “A lot of national retailers jumped on board in the early stages because everyone else was doing it. Instead of trying to understand this new channel and how it would work (and what it would entail to run and manage) many businesses did not tie eCommerce to their master strategy and spent money on the technology without defining what they wanted to achieve and how they were going to market themselves online. 10 years later in Australia many CEO’S are older, and more wary about their online experiences so they steer clear of selling online.”

Lack of client side knowledge;
Whilst there are many digital consultants and agencies in Australia, there is a lack of digital knowledge on the client side at all levels that are continuing to drive the implementation of digital tactics. Organisations looking to invest in digital must not only invest in the tools, but invest significantly in retraining traditional marketers to ensure they are equipped to drive the value from the digital channel.

Lack of local training & case studies;
Australia has developed a strong community of independent bloggers on various digital topics. However Australia lacks the formal nationwide digital training that is required to re-skill traditional marketing professionals. Many traditional client side marketers wishing to up-skill are unsure of where to go both online and offline to gain the skills required to grow their digital knowledge base. As a result marketers are more inclined to use techniques where their expertise lies and those which they can comfortably implement to show return.

In addition, whilst there are many online case studies for brands successfully leveraging digital channels overseas, Australia lacks the local examples to prove that digital campaigns can be successful in the local market. This makes it difficult for marketers to push the digital agenda within their organisation.

Local big boys aren’t leading the way;
If the big retailers are unable to monetise the digital channel, it casts doubts over its potential. Small to medium organisations are not in the position to take risks and invest in a channel without knowing the outcome – thus these organisations are looking for the reassurance that there is money to be made. Thus as this is not currently occurring it casts doubt over its potential for the wider business landscape in Australia.

Lack of understanding of the online influence for offline sales;
Research by Outrider at the end of 2008 demonstrated that many Australian consumers are researching their purchases online before making the final transaction. Whilst the dependence on the internet during the research phase differs greatly depending on the category, 1 in 4 consumers are researching white goods online prior to purchase, nearly 1 in 2 are researching electronics, automotive and telecommunications, and nearly 80% of consumers research their travel arrangements online.

Thus many organisations are failing to see the direct correlation that exists between online efforts and offline transactions. Organisations need to understand that not being there during the initial research phase, may mean the brand is not in the consumers final decision set when it comes to making the purchase. Until organisations can quantify this, uptake and investment will be slower than it should be in the Australian market.

Do you have any thoughts or insight into why Australia is slower on its uptake of Digital? If so share your thoughts below.

Want to expand your digital knowledge base?
If you are interested in learning more about Digital Marketing in Australia, visit www.internetretailing.com.au. This new site has been created as a knowledge centre to assist Australian organisations to learn about how to market themselves online.

© Digital Marketing Lab Blog

Written By: Teresa Sperti