Press Releases

Next Gen e-commerce shaped by customer behaviour

Break-through technology arrives in ANZ, retailers to benefit

8 September 2009, Melbourne –Software that automates the e-commerce recommendation and offer process for online retailers has arrived in Australia and New Zealand, thanks to online marketing and business optismisation company, Coremetrics.

Intelligent Offer is the first closed loop application that lets retailers automate product offers and recommendations to online customers, whether it be on the website, in the call centre or at the point of sale for “bricks and mortar” shops. Utilising a customer’s shopping history, retailers can now automatically match cross and up-sell opportunities with individual customers to provide exceptional customer service and significantly boost sales. Importantly, it also enables the discovery of products from across the entire inventory that customers might not know were offered by the retailer.

According to Coremetrics’ ANZ general manager, Kevin Mackin, retailers throughout the region have been crying out for a simple hosted service like Intelligent Offer that drastically reduces the time and resources demanded by effective online marketing:

“Most retailers in ANZ understand that customers want to shop online and that they don’t want to be bombarded with irrelevant product offers. So the challenge for retailers is to pitch the right offer, at the right time and in the right manner. Because this can take a lot of time and preparation, many ANZ online retailers have fallen into the trap of issuing blanket cross and up-sell offers.”

Intelligent Offer has been available in the US for some time, with users seeing online revenues grow by as much as 70%. Mackin continued, “Basing product recommendations and special offers on individual actions, history and interests is easy to do and generates amazing results. Take Orvis in the US, as an example, they’re a very large apparel and homewares retailer that’s seen revenues from product recommendations increase by 70%. This result has been sustained and the company’s also saved themselves between eight and ten merchant hours per week, thanks to the automated service.”

The danger with a one-size-fits-all approach to offers and recommendations, Mackin suggests, is that it’s simply too easy for customers to shop elsewhere: “The worst thing you can do is irritate your customers with irrelevant dialogue. Just because you’ve over-bought on a particular product and you’re willing to knock 50% off the price, doesn’t mean you should offer it to every person that visits your online store. Unfortunately, this is where much of the ANZ market sits at the moment. Retailers are struggling to find the time, resources and technology to maximise the cross and up-sell opportunities they’re presented with on a daily basis, and so all their hard work during the conversion process comes undone without ongoing tailored communication.”

About Intelligent Offer
Intelligent Offer leverages the exclusive Coremetrics Lifetime Individual Visitor Experience (LIVE) profile to serve customers highly-tailored experiences based on their individual history. LIVE Profiles enable you to understand the detailed behaviour of each customer, including browsing, shopping, and purchase history and interactions with emails, search initiatives, display advertisements and more. This online information can be combined with offline data to create a true multi-channel view of your customers.

About Coremetrics
Coremetrics is the leading provider of online marketing and business optimisation solutions. Its products help businesses increase revenues and find and retain their most profitable customers by maximising every online interaction.

More than 1,500 online brands globally, transacting more than $20 billion this year, use Coremetrics’ Software as a Service (SaaS) to optimise their online marketing. Coremetrics’ solutions encompass advanced online analytics and integrated precision marketing applications, including search engine bid management, email targeting and cross sell recommendations to acquire customers more cost effectively, increase conversion rates, and increase lifetime customer value.

Coremetrics is consistently recognised by industry analysts and thought leaders, and in 2008 was named to Deloitte's Technology Fast 50 Program for Silicon Valley Internet, Media, Entertainment and Communications companies.  The company is privately held with funding from 3i, Accel Partners, FTV Capital and Highland Capital Partners, and is headquartered in San Mateo, California.http://www.coremetrics.com.au

Media and analyst enquires:
Frances Ward
Solid Ink Communications for Coremetrics
Tel: +61 (0)413 789 335
Email: frances.ward@solidink.com.au

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