A loyalty card which can be accessed via an iPhone application, a digital help desk on Twitter and live shopping on television are just some of the future realities earmarked by Myer in its race towards online retailing.
Myer marketing general manager Adam Stapleton revealed the rationale behind a two-year digital overhaul at the Advertising, Marketing and Media summit in Sydney.
Prior to the rollout of a multimedia strategy which kicked off with a Myer website redevelopment in 2008, the retailer was attracting just 250,000 unique visitors to its homepage per month and producing little digital content.
Stapleton said its spring/summer 2010 campaign had already attracted an average of one million unique visitors to myer.com.au per month, with an interactive 30-second commercial receiving a 6.1 per cent click-through rate and an average view time of one minute and 46 seconds.
Consumers can pause the commercial, click on selected products for more details and purchase them through an e-commerce site. Myer currently has a capsule online retail facility with around 5000 SKUs or 2300 products.
“Part of the reason we’re going to this effort of building up the content on our site is to be able to convert it into an online retail space as well,” Stapleton said.
“The important thing we want to get right is that, while in Australia we might compete against ‘the store next door’, when you’re in the online space you’re benchmarking around the world. We need to make sure that our experience, not just at the front end but at the back end, is actually a great experience.”
The latest addition to this strategy will be the launch of an iPad application for its Emporium magazine. Stapelton said that from November, consumers will be able to download a free application allowing them to browse the title using an iPad.
Other key initiatives launched for spring/summer 2011 include ‘how-to videos’ on social media site Youtube, with a spring racing guide featuring milliner Richard Nylon and brand ambassador Rebecca Twigley. There are also behind-the-scenes videos of Myer’s spring/summer campaign shoot, micro sites for key suppliers and interactive, half-page scroll banner ads on selected fashion and lifestyle websites.
“We will harness the benefits of new technologies that will first and foremost benefit our customers,” Stapleton said. “Whether that be an iPad application ... or whether it be the Myer One [loyalty] card going on an iPhone so you no longer have to carry the card around. Or a Twitter help desk. We’ll embrace if it ultimately leads to sales because that’s the business that we’re in.”
Stapleton said he envisaged a “not too distant” future where consumers will be able to stop a Myer advertisement on television, interact with the content and push through to myer.com.au to purchase the featured garments.
Assia Benmedjdoub