With nearly 60% of consumers planning to shop online this holiday season, it would seem that one of the oldest adages in retail is losing its cogency. "Location, location, location" as the saying goes, are the three most important things in retail, but what happens when everyone essentially has the same location in cyberspace?
The truth is, of course, that all locations online are not equal because of the role that search plays in consumer discovery of products and the retailers that sell them. As this ChannelAdvisor data shows (presented by MediaPost), search now plays the central role that physical location once played, and location on the search results pages is probably as important, or even more important than that storefront on Main Street used to be.
Search may be where consumers start, but it isn't necessarily how they finish their shopping trips. Shopping cart abandonment data and other studies show that consumers visit multiple retailers before making up their minds, and indeed this article notes that it isn't until consumers find the right conditions for their purchase that they pull out the credit card and close the deal. This presents an interesting dilemma for online retailers: if you're one of the first sites a consumer visits, but they continue their search to see if they can find a better deal or read more reviews, will they remember that your site was, in fact, the one they should purchase from? Was your initial "location" advantage wasted?
This is where remarketing shines. It allows retailers to essentially move the store around the web with the consumer. Their store is always right across the street, beckoning to consumers they know are already considering a specific product, and considering their store. It's vital that a retailer be able to recapture the "foot traffic" that search directed to their store in the first place. Remarketing, as part of an overall online marketing strategy, can make the difference between success and failure this holiday season.
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