Shoppability 101: Shoppability Basics and Debunking the Most Common Misconceptions
Shoppability is a term that’s been thrown around frequently over the past few years. At first glance, the idea of shoppability seems self-explanatory, but exploring the nuances of shoppability brings to light a host of questions about what true shoppability actually means and what it really looks like in action.
Here at Chicory, we believe that shoppability is more than a call-to-action. While “Buy Now” and “Add-to-Cart” messages trigger shoppers to engage, successfully adding products to retailer baskets is what moves consumers down the purchase funnel. Shoppability is effective when strategically utilized for seamless basket building, turning a moment of inspiration into one of purchase.
1. What is shoppability?
While some may think that all shoppable tech is the same, some shoppable tech is a literal add-to-cart, while others just redirect to a product description page and do not add the product to the cart. Here, we think of true shoppability as basket building because it’s most effective to lead consumers directly from the point of inspiration to the point of purchase with as few clicks as possible.
However, this doesn’t mean that there are zero use cases for shoppability driving to product description pages or more general searches. A brand that offers a wide range of products in a single category may want to drive to a product search, and a commodity board cannot drive to a single product, but must promote usage and sales of an entire category. Additionally, a brand may want the educational capability that comes with product description pages, and as such, may choose to drive from shoppable media or links to a product page rather than add the advertised item to the cart.
But, we’ve found that going from a shoppable ad in a digital recipe directly to the checkout page with the advertised product already in the cart is far more effective at driving lower-funnel actions than leading a shopper to a product description page where they’ll need to manually add the item to the cart. Here, you only give the shopper more opportunities to drop off and travel out of the retail environment.
2. What kind of data can shoppable tech offer?
While every brand would love to receive consumer conversion data back from retailers, that's not something they're willing to provide. The next best data set is seeing actual, confirmed products added to cart. This gives brands and retailers more insight into how the pre-shop search for inspiration translates into real consideration and ultimately true purchase intent.
In fact, a Chicory survey revealed that 56% of online grocery shoppers are likely to buy the same things weekly and 58% are likely to repeat previous grocery shopping orders, indicating that lifetime value can be high if brands manage to actually make it into the digital cart in the first place.
However, shoppable activations that drive to product description pages don't have visibility into that true intent, and brands have to settle further up the funnel at engagement or clicks driving to a landing page.
On the other hand, shoppable solution providers who have the capabilities to add products directly to retailer carts via API-based integrations and more importantly, direct relationships with retailers and their retail media networks, can offer brands lower funnel add-to-cart metrics and actionable consumer insights.
ROAS
Average spend per household
Amount of new and lapsed shoppers who purchased
Percent of sales attributed to ecommerce shoppers
3. How can shopper marketers use shoppability?
Shopper marketing teams are measured on sales driven through a specific retailer. So, shopper marketing campaigns that integrate shoppability need to be measurable, quantifiable and highly visible to both the manufacturer and the retailer.
Further, as brands realize the value of getting a product into a shopper’s cart, in lieu of getting retailer conversion data, sophisticated brands are now building models to quantify the value of a carted product.
For more insights on shoppability in action and how shopper marketers can use shoppability to achieve lower funnel results, keep an eye out for our next article, shoppability features that should be on a shopper marketer’s checklist.