New survey insight into your competitors’ marketing
NAB has offered an excellent insight into what Australian businesses – all 2.1 million of them – are doing to improve their competitiveness.
Its survey of two December quarters compared side by side, showed that the two main activities to gain an advantage used by modern businesses are:
- The company website.
- Launching a new product
The other dominant action was “online marketing” (3rd), which was about a third stronger than “offline marketing” (5th).
Between the two was “reduced pricing”, which was less prevalent in the second period, which is a promising sign for the profitability of Australian business.
Here is an infographic of the study.
NAB provides authoritative surveys. This one is essentially telling you what your competitors are up to.
So what specifically are companies doing with their website marketing? To understand this, we need to ask: what are customers doing that is making organisations turn to web development and online marketing?
Roy Morgan Research is one of Australia’s leading research agencies. It reports that 7.7 million people make an internet purchase in an average four-week period. It found that the traditional hotspots – such as clothes and travel purchases - continue to grow.
What was really interesting was that niche markets are also starting to show promise, citing the growth in ecommerce sales of car parts as a prime example of a sector that was starting to sell online.
Naturally the auto industry is responding by increasing its investment in its online assets.
Positioning your business to meet the emerging needs of your customers can be seen at all levels of business, both big and small. IKEA has announced it is launching a new website; an online storefront dedicated to ecommerce sales. Their big data backs up this decision. If we again cite Roy Morgan, it shows that IKEA shoppers are much more likely than the average shopper to buy online.
Armed with that knowledge, it’s a no-brainer for IKEA. If 76% of your customer base bought online at least four times a year – compared to the national average of 55% - wouldn’t you be making the move to an ecommerce solution?
Summary Points:
- If you run a business, National Australia Bank says your competitors are focusing their attention on developing their website, new products and online marketing. Make sure they don’t overtake you.
- Even if you do not fit into the demographic of buying online, it is critical that you look at your customer base to see how they are changing. This requires more than conversations with clients you have known for years. It entails researching your industry sector so that you can project forward to see what the target audience of the future wants. The reality is that you will not become an overnight expert, so starting small and starting now is a sound strategy.
