83% of items are being sold when you’re asleep

By 
Cynthia Luo
Jan 5, 2022
Marketplace

Users buy and search more for products online outside of business hours based on data insights from Epsilo.

On average, ecommerce marketplace stores using ecommerce optimisation software Epsilo saw multiple business metrics such as Items Sold, Impressions, Clicks, Ad Spend, etc. with a greater than 50% contribution from non-business hours over the last four weeks.

  • Impressions: 71% of total storefronts had non-business hours contribution of more than 50%
  • Clicks: 70% of total storefronts had non-business hours contribution of more than 50%
  • Ad spend: 77% of total storefronts had non-business hours contribution of more than 50%
  • Items sold: 54% of total storefronts had non-business hours contribution of more than 50%

While ecommerce teams are working hard to keep stores operating efficiently from 9am to 5pm, their shoppers are also busy with their day to day activities (work, family, school, etc.). Research conducted by sleep experts at eachnight also supports the trend as they found 72% of men and women fill up an online shopping cart after their typical bed time.


And 60% of them - driven largely by women - made an online purchase between midnight and 4am revealing another gaping difference between ecommerce and traditional businesses - ecommerce never sleeps.

Again, the trend was especially apparent for Epsilo’s users in the beauty & care category in line with the research:

  • Beauty Brand Official Store #1 in PH gained 73% of Impressions in non-business hours during the L4W
  • Beauty Brand Official Store #2 in PH spent 84% of their Ad Budget in non-business hours during the L4W
  • Beauty Brand Official Store #3 in VN gained 83% of Items Sold in non-business hours during the L4W

This means while you and your team log off, the store can continue to grab sales if the set up is done properly. So what does this mean for ecommerce business owners with stores on retailer/marketplace sites?  

  • Product & store discoverability should be high to ensure late-night browsers can find your products among thousands of similar products from hundreds of other storefronts (aka ads on the retailer/marketplace)
  • Product content (thumbnails, title, description, etc.) should be descriptive and attractive enough to drive conversions without support of chat
  • SKU inventory should be well stocked to capture any demand from the late-night browser
  • And perhaps a push notification is sent out with conversion incentive (voucher, flash deal, etc.) once the A2C is tracked


Overall:


Performance = Execution = Discoverability x Purchasability x Availability x Repeatability


As it’s not commonplace for businesses to ask teams to be operating outside of traditional business hours 9am - 5/6pm), how can a business owner ensure his/her shop is optimized to sell at all times of the day?


With the use of software.

Clients utilize certain Epsilo features to manage their stores during the period where shoppers are most active and employees have gone home. For example, features like #HyperAutomation allow operators to set #Scripts to different #AdObjects (either shops and/or SKUs) to automate & complete tasks on their behalf. Popular settings include:

  1. #Script1: Resume SKU if sellable stock > 0
    (Translation: turn off the ad bid if there no more sellable stocks)
  2. #Script2: Deactivate the SKU-KW if GMV L2D = 0, cost > 0/store benchmark
    (Translation: turn off the ad bid if there hasn’t been any sales gained in the last two days and cost is higher than max setting)
  3. #Script3: Auto-increase RTB+ if ROAS L7D ≥ target ROAS, and ranking ≥x
    (Translation: increase the ad bid (real-time) to increase share of search if return on ad spend product rank has out performed the targets set)

With the right parameters set in place, software can perform the necessary actions to save you ad spend, increase product visibility and boost productivity. Do you know what happens to your business while you sleep?

Contact us for a free 7-day trial to see how Epsilo can make ecommerce marketplace selling effortless (even at 2 in the morning).

Related posts