Retailers must surely be sick of hearing how online can boost their businesses – but utilising pre-shop websites and placing catalogues online is perhaps one of the most fail-safe options for making a transition to the online environment.
According to Paul Marshall, executive manager of Salmat Digital, known as ‘research online, purchase offline’ or ROPO, there are millions of Australians pre-shopping on the internet, with close to 50 per cent of all in store purchases now influenced online.
This trend prompted the launch of Lasoo in 2007, taking advantage of the exponential increase in pre-shop behaviour that has occurred since.
Salmat, the owner of Lasoo, says it is now Australia’s top pre-shop website for customer engagement, with almost two million users spending nine minutes, or three times the industry average, browsing the site each month.
Marshall said that Lasoo was about providing a single source for consumers to help them make better shopping decisions.
Users can search more than 350,000 products listed on Lasoo by category, catalogue or recommended products. Item information can then be printed, consumers directed to the nearest store, products shared via email or social networks, or items added to a shopping list.
“Over the Christmas period we conducted an online survey, with 75 per cent of those that responded stating that they went into store to purchase an item they found on Lasoo,” said Marshall.
“Retailers can ensure their marketing messages, product offers, catalogues and store details are available to browsing customers to give visibility at such a critical phase in the purchase cycle. It can positively influence the consumer to come into the retailer’s bricks and mortar or online store to buy,” he said.
Retailers wishing to post a catalogue online do not have to go through the hassle of setting up their own systems, so long as a direct product feed or a PDF of a product promotion can be provided. The Lasoo team will then structure the catalogue or print ad to ensure it is discoverable against the most relevant consumer searches.
There is no fee to be listed on Lasoo, and retailers pay based on valuable site clicks, or interactions, which represent interest and intent to buy.
“The best way for retailers to capitalise on their investment on Lasoo is to list their full inventory and promotions on the site and then tactically use the various mechanisms.
“Location is an important part of Lasoo’s ability to filter content. Therefore a small local retailer can be discoverable alongside national retailers,” said Marshall.
“Consumers’ preference to purchase locally, matched with their online pre-shop habits, mean that online discoverability by location is one of the greatest marketing opportunities small and large businesses have through sites such as Lasoo.”
But this does not negate the need for hardcopy catalogues. Marshall says paper catalogues are still as important as ever, influencing shoppers in a different way.
“Online catalogues are not substitutes. Roy Morgan data suggests that the internet and paper catalogues influence shopping behaviour more than they ever have, and are the only two media increasing in effectiveness.
“We recommend a multi-channel approach – a presence in both on and offline media – so that you capture both the millions of Australians who religiously utilise paper catalogues to research their retail purchases, and those who use online media.”
