"Shopping basket" without memory problems in e-commerce

o better understand this reality, it is important to start by addressing how people buy and how they are influenced in the act of buying. In physical shops, the way the space and the products are organised strongly influences what ends up in theshopping basket. This is the work of shopper marketing - how to market the brand directly at the point of purchase, with immediate influence on the buyer - which ends up being an essential sales and share establishment tool in a market.

This phenomenon is also helped by the fact that many people don't have shopping lists when they enter retail spaces and, having them, they are often not written down and/or not very strict. There is always room to add something else to the cart and, in fact, retail knows how to work this phenomenon.

A clear example is how IKEA organises its area and aisles, forcing shoppers to go through all the sections, even if they only want to buy one single item, such as cushions. It will be considered a success for the shopper's wallet if the result in the shopping cart is, besides new cushions, just a few more candles and some wine glasses. However, more often than not , the consumer ends up with a larger number of products in the cart and the success is, essentially, for the IKEA wallet.

In e-commerce this reality is different.

While in a physical shop it is clear where people come and go, and in IKEA's case you can even define where they go, in e-commerce shoppers can arrive at the same product page from different sources, such as an online search or clicking through category pages. If we look at the IKEA website, we can clearly see that the reality of physical shops does not transfer directly to e-commerce, since the IKEA webstore does not force us to go through all the categories until we find the cushions. Just use the search bar and type in "cushions" or click on products, then rooms and finally cushions. It doesn't take all day Saturday afternoon and doesn't offer the traditional tools to influence the shoppers' decision-making process.

In e-commerce, shopping lists also take on a different and more sophisticated dimension, such as lists of favourites, lists of past purchases and lists of desired products. These lists, unlike human ones, do not have memory problems and do not force us to look for the product on the shelf. They are just a click away from the add to cart button.

An interesting pattern ine-grocery is that users spend a lot of time the first time they use the webstore selecting products and creating their first shopping cart, but the next time around sessions are quicker and users return to order from their past shopping list. According to Kantar, 55% of online shoppers use the same list from one purchase to the next. 

In a physical shop, even though there is a written shopping list, a shopper every time they enter the shop basically starts from scratch and shopper marketing tactics are there playing their influencing role. In e-commerce you don't start from scratch. Shopping lists are already filled out and convenient and this phenomenon brings implications.

In fact, customers get less exposure to campaigns and highlights than they would with other traditional shopper marketing tactics. The customer can log in to your account and go directly to your list. This type of customer, who bypasses the entry area, has to be worked with alternative tactics to make it known what new features and promotions can be added to their cart. E-commerce shopper marketing has to use tools specific to the digital world, such as content marketing or first basketcampaigns.

Additionally, it is important to look at customer acquisition with a long-term perspective in certain categories, particularly consumables or other categories with a high degree of repetition. A marketing campaign, rather than impacting just one transaction, ends up impacting more transactions if that product ends up in the cart and is ordered repeatedly from there. Instead of thinking about the customer through the lens of a single purchase, you have to think about LTV (lifetime value) and how much you are willing to invest to get on that shopping list that has no memory problems.

Amazon, which despite being a giant is still a pioneer and innovator in the world of e-commerce, has a programme that is even more sophisticated than a simple list. With Subscribe & Save, customers can choose how often they want a product delivered to their home and let Amazon take care of the rest, saving 5% or more over the list price. From there, with the time frequency you set, the product arrives at your home. It's a very popular program for categories like nappies and pet food, and it's not hard to see why. Here the customer's LTV lens gains even greater expression, because from the moment the customer decided that it was going to be the ABC product to be subscribed to, it becomes much more difficult for the XYZ competition to win that customer.

For a brand, getting on the first shopping list, or being chosen for a subscription, is a significant advantage. There is a first mover advantage in being on a shopping list, and a first mover disadvantage in being left off, which translates into having to fight harder and invest more marketing budget to get a competing product off an e-shopping list or subscription.

In Nova SBE Executive Education's e-Commerce Management 360º program, we will address how to work the phenomenon of shopping lists and subscriptions so that your business can create this first mover advantage . The program, which features guest speakers from the area, will cover e-Commerce fundamentals, tools and strategies, so that your organization can take advantage of this sales channel that is gaining more and more importance in all business areas.