With the e-commerce world exploding over the past 2 years, along with rapidly changing consumer purchasing habits, Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) companies, brands, and manufacturers have been looking at Digital Shelf Analytics (DSA) to help them stay ahead of the competition.
Digital shelf in a nutshell
It is the collection of diverse and rapidly evolving digital touchpoints used by shoppers to engage with brands and discover, research, and purchase products. Consumers today discover, research, and shop products with the aid of digital experiences.
No matter where they buy – in a retail store, from a social influence post, or on an eCommerce site – a shopper creates their own personalized, digitally influenced journey.
Role of Digital shelf analytics software
DSA helps you to measure and optimize product performance across online channels. More than 80% of shoppers don’t go beyond the first page of search results when browsing for products online. Optimize product listings with advanced Digital Shelf Analytics for better product discoverability and higher conversions.
Product data
Brands can collect product data from all retail platforms where their products are being sold to ensure that all product descriptions, names, and images are uniformly displayed. This is vital for brand consistency that instills trust in shoppers.
Promotional data
Brands can collect promotional data from competitors to see when and where discounts are being offered to ensure they closely match competitor pricing and remain competitive.
Key drivers of digital shelf
Out of Stock
It is fundamental because other performance indicators depend on it. If a product isn’t present on the digital shelf it can’t appear in search, any media activations associated with it will be ineffective , and it can’t be sold. It will alert you when a product is OOS (out of stock), allowing you to address any supply chain issues or adjusting media spends you may have for that product, thus saving advertisement costs.
Product Display Page
A well-managed digital shelf ensures that your product is being discovered and sold, with the corresponding product description page (PDP) being updated and optimized when necessary-including names, images, description, prices, promotions and more. Location-based data collection is important to ensure that a product’s performance on the digital shelf is being optimized. Sample-based data collection will capture very few of a product’s performance indicators.
Minimum Advertised Pricing
MAP violations can also be monitored by digital shelf solution. This is of particular interest to category managers. It offers an instant snapshot of all the stores where a product is being listed at a price point lower than the MAP–if the solution employs comprehensive, store-level data analysis.
Customizable digital shelf scorecard with alerts
A scorecard is an immediate way for CPGs to see how their products are performing online. It provides instant insight into what aspects of the digital shelf need attention. The sub-optimal aspects of the digital universe that customers encounter when they explore online will be signaled, allowing manufacturers to constantly fine-tune their digital assets to strengthen their position on the shelf.
Conclusion
As eCommerce accelerates, so are the patterns and shifts of customer demands. It’s not only important to track and monitor what customers are looking for and how they obtain it, but to continually optimize the shelf for a customer-centric supply chain strategy. Businesses building the digital shelf in accordance with their own needs are underutilizing key data for eCommerce insights critical to growth and preserving power on the shelf. At 42Signals, we help brands and retailers optimize all the digital touch points across the online shopping journey and provide greater insights to drive business growth.
