In several articles on this site, I have emphasised the need for site owners to write editorial around their product catalogue in order to stimulate sales. I have often made references to High Street stores HMV and Waterstones, from which the above picture is taken; as well as online retailer Amazon, which is one of the few retailers which does reasonable product editorial.
I’ve noted that several Affino sites don’t pay heed to our advice, even though the imperical evidence is irrefutable. You are 10 times more likely to buy something from a personal recommendation versus from a generic advertisement or special offer.
As in the picture above, the classic example of catalogue editorial is ’Staff Recommendations’; which is one of several different types of editorial:
- Personal Recommendations - ’Staff Picks’, ’Staff Recommendations’, ’Celebrity’s / Expert’s Favourites’
- Buyer’s Guides - ’Starting a Collection’, ’A Selection of Classics’, ’101 Books You Must Read in Your Lifetime’
- Topical Reminders - ’Recently Reviewed’, ’In the Papers’, ’As seen in / on ...’, ’Currently on Tour / Performing Live’
- Calendar Reminders - ’Perfect for Christmas’, ’Perfect for Father’s day’
The Editorial can either be in the form of prose - i.e. shortish paragraps of descriptive text. As in our Waterstones ’shelf barkers’ picture above, store staff have written personal mini-reviews, normally along the lines of how and why those books inspired them. If you are thinking about buying something, a poignant review or recommendation could be the key turnkey event in convincing you to buy said article whatever it is.
Another great editorial device can be seen on Amazon - by way of ’ListMania’ charts, where both general consumers and experts can post Top 10 or Top 20 lists of their favourites - these are usually grouped around a topic or theme; e.g. ’best indie albums of 2010 to date’. Editorially they work by grouping like content together - if you come across a list where you spot 3 or 4 or more of your favourites, you are likely to think there might be more of what you like, and be encouraged to trial and sample further - which leads to additional and linked-purchase sales of course.
I keep returning back to floor displays of the Oxford Circus HMV store - where increasingly you now see end of aisle display stands with personal editorial notes attached to the shelf edge, or next to the featured products:
- ’New Bands We Like’
- ’Great albums released this year’
- ’Cult Classics’
- ’Guilty Pleasures’
- ’Ones that got away’
Each product displayed would have a little card next to it with a paragraph or two of personable information, often hand-written, and often signed.
I usually make at least one reference to James Bond to illustrate how a number of different editorial elements could be grouped together to showcase the entire James Bond collection. You can obviously group by actor, by year, by locations, by stylistic themes - like cars, Bond girls, and gadgets. You then also have various associative merchandise articles - like soundtracks, die-cast toys and even soundtrack-related artists and personal grooming, clothing and accessories. You cannot have failed to see the amount of product placements, endorsements, tie-ins etc. which are now part and parcel of the James Bond franchise. Clever retailers will use as many parts of the offering as they can to build a convincing retail proposition as a display showcase.
We’ve just recently had the Barclaycard Mercury Prize Awards, rightly won by ’The XX’, and you will have seen in every record store - up and down the country, a large ’Mercury Prize Nominees’ display, featuring all the albums up for the award. The less adept stores will just use the generic branding and merchandising and hope the products will speak for themselves. The more successful and more enterprising will include all manner of editorial inserts into the display - their own opinions and reviews of each of the nominations, possibly the odds of victory, and some kind of chart or sweepstakes system - all designed to make each CD more presentable and attractive to the consumer.
All these techniques can be just as easily carried out online. If you are selling generic products, you need to be able to put your own spin and definitions on the products- to win SEO traffic over to your site in the first place. If you have more of a boutique-based store and are selling somewhat ’unique’ products, you still have to be aware that you will have direct and indirect competitors, and need to construct mini arguments (editorial of course) to convince the potential consumer that buying your offering/s is most definitely the righ choice vs anything else. In terms of buying gifts for your sweetheart - flowers, chocolates, lingerie and jewellery are all competing products, even though at different price points. Get your message right, and chocolates may become absolutely the right thing for the occasion versus much more expensive and more seemingly rewarding alternatives. Clever editorial is all about bending the cosnumer to your will, and convincing them that your solution is perfect for the current occasion. Often, the message will be a large part of creating the occasion and the reason - ’I bought this for you because ...’ (something told me you would likely love it).
A very large part of selling and consumer psychology is about overcoming doubts and convinvcing the consumer that buying what you are selling is absolutely the right decision to be made. This is of course even more important when you cannot compete on price - for then it is the idea of service and added value that is conveyed in your editorial messages - which wins over the customer.
It is never enough to just throw up page after page or rack after rack of product display. You need to intelligently lead the customer into and through your catalogue, stopping to focus on specific areas that appeal for that customer’s preferences. For any ’Big Release’ all the clever stores will build up dedicated displays, where they assemble a ’Product Narrative’ - featuring the new release, alongside essential back catalogue items, as well as those on special offer for said artist / manufacturer / author. There is a further knack in arranging the page in the right way so that customers are led to the higher value / higher priced items first, before they are diverted by heavily discounted wares.
I cannot stress it heavily enough, but good editorial really can be the making of your eCommerce site; anyone who does not make use of it is already on a downward curve. Just keep reminding yourself how much competition there is online, and how easy it is for your customer to flip over and switch their custom to someone else.
Editorial is also great for eeking out new money from old rope; how do you shift your perhaps overly large unsold last-season’s stock. Here we might have:
- ’Your last chance to buy’
- ’For a limited time only’
- ’While stocks last!’
Like with everything in marketing, perception is the key, and perception can be engineered, stimulated and inferred ...
