CA Back-to-School 360 Series 2015

Back-to-School 2015
Advertising, Promotions, & Pricing Review
Ad Dynamics 360 Series
Overview
Ad Dynamics 360 Series – Back-to-School
Opt-in
Email
Social
Media
Radio
TV
(Net/Spot,
Cable,
Syndicated)
Online
Display
Online
Video
Cinema
360o view of what
impacted the
Back-to-School
2015 shopper
Outdoor
Mobile
Ad Dynamics reviews
the omni-channel
advertising,
promotional, and
pricing activity during
Back-to-School 2015.
Ad Dynamics 360 Series
recaps key calendar events
throughout the year to
understand how retailers and
brands engaged with
consumers to win their
business.
2
FSI/Direct
Mail
Online
Websites
Ecommerce
Trades
Magazines
© 2015 Ad Dynamics. Private and Confidential
Flyers/
Data reviewed in this analysis:
Data types: Print Flyers, Email,
Websites, eCommerce Pricing,
Broadcast, Shopper Survey Insights
Retailers: Amazon, Best Buy,
Hudson’s Bay, Sears, Staples, The
Source, Walmart
ROP
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Back-to-School through the Shoppers’ Eyes
Ad Dynamics Advertising Influence Model
Traditionally, TV and
electronic media were
used to develop brand
equity and awareness.
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Online Video
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Online Display
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Radio
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Social Media
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Web Promos
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Opt-In Email
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Mobile Ads
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Television
While other
media types
were seen as
more tactical,
driving
purchase
decisions.
FSIs/Coupons
Print Flyers
© 2015 Ad Dynamics. Private and Confidential
But these
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continue to evolve
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and
vary by
category.
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Back-to-School 2015 by the numbers…
13.4% decrease in flyers
 Combined, Best Buy, Hudson’s Bay, Sears, Staples, The Source, and Walmart
published 13.4% fewer flyers during July and August this year. Total pages
published also decreased by 6%. This trend goes against shopper behaviors—
according to Ad Dynamics’ most recent Shopper Insight Series survey, 78% of
shoppers use print flyers to find deals, more than any other media type.
Computer Peripherals top promoted category
 Computer Peripherals saw more flyer promotions during July and August than any
category. Interestingly, major appliances saw the largest increase in promotional
support year over year, despite falling outside typical Back-to-School categories.
Average promoted price of Tablets increased 14%
 Average promoted price of Laptops fell 1.3% however. Total flyer promotions for
both categories decreased year over year during July and August.
Prime Day interrupts Back-to-School event
 Amazon.ca held their first ever Prime Day on July 15th, only two weeks prior to the
beginning of the peak BTS shopping weeks. Several competitors responded with
eCommerce sales of their own. However, Walmart.ca did not react with an
eCommerce event, as Walmart.com did in the US.
© 2015 Ad Dynamics. Private and Confidential
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The Changing eCommerce Landscape
How Prime Day interrupted Back-to-School
© 2015 Ad Dynamics. Private and Confidential
5
Prime Day prompts competitive sales in
July, but not at Walmart
Insight: Amazon.ca launched Prime Day on July 15th,
prompting competitive responses from all major
competitors except Walmart.ca.
No competitive
sale advertised at
Walmart.ca
Impact: The emergence of July eCommerce sales may
pull forward some Back-to-School purchases as
shoppers look to take advantage of the sales. Retailers
must be prepared to track competitive online prices to
identify early-season discounts in 2016.
“Thousands of
new Rollbacks”
on Walmart.com
BestBuy.ca oneday “Flash Sale”,
in-store and
online
Sears.ca “Today
Only Up to 60%
Off” sale
© 2015 Ad Dynamics. Private and Confidential
Source: Ad Dynamics Online Panel Data
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Amazon US makes online BTS shopping
convenient for all stakeholders
In addition to Prime Day, Amazon US ramped up efforts to incentivize shoppers to make their BTS
purchases online. Amazon.ca, however, did not offer the School List feature—a potential
opportunity area of improved convenience for BTS shoppers in 2016. Below, we’ve outlined how
Amazon US brought convenience to all students, teachers, and parents.
For students…
• 6-month free trial featuring Prime membership benefits (can
upgrade to a Prime membership at end of trial at a 50% discount)
• Free two-day shipping
• Exclusive access to deals, promotions, sweepstakes and giveaways
• $10 referral credit for any referrals that start Amazon Student trial
• Access to unlimited photo storage
• Streaming of music, TV shows, and movies
© 2015 Ad Dynamics. Private and Confidential
For parents/teachers…
• Teacher create lists for their class on Amazon School Lists page
• Parents easily search for their children’s classes—no need to find
products on their own
• Provides recommendations for grades if teacher does not provide
list
• One-click checkout on Teacher-provided lists
• 100 Back-to-School products at $5 or less
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Email volume highest in August; July emails
push shoppers to eCommerce events
Amazon.ca 7/15 subject line:
“Amazon.ca Customer: Prime Day
Deals on Movies, TV Shows, Video
Games, and More”
BestBuy.ca 7/15 subject line:
“FLASH SALE! Save up to $300 on
Laptops”
Insight: Retailers focused their use of email promotions
during the mid to late August period, yet they also used
email to drive traffic to their mid-July eCommerce sale
events.
Impact: In Ad Dynamics’ most recent Shopper Insight
Series Survey, 49% of shoppers look for promotional
deals in emails from retailers. Email is an excellent
resource to amplify promotional messaging in both
online and print media.
Email Promotional Volume by Week - July/August 2015
# of Emails
Amazon.ca
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Best Buy
Staples
7/15/2015 - 7/22/2015 - 7/29/2015 7/21/2015 7/28/2015
8/4/2015
8/5/2015 8/11/2015
Prime Day 7/15
7/1/2015 7/7/2015
7/8/2015 7/14/2015
© 2015 Ad Dynamics. Private and Confidential
8/12/2015 - 8/19/2015 - 8/26/2015 8/18/2015 8/25/2015
9/1/2015
Source: Ad Dynamics Email Panel Data
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Tiger Direct beat Staples’ online price on four
top-selling laptops
Insight: Tiger Direct’s online price was 5.6% less than Staples, on average, for four top-selling laptops
between July 1st and September 10th.
Impact: 76% of shoppers compare prices on three or more websites prior to making a purchase,
according to our most recent Shopper Insight Series Survey. Understanding where you are priced
versus competition on top-selling products within a category, particularly during key events like BTS,
can help govern in-season price changes to help remain competitive.
Average Online Price Trend (4 products)
Back-to-School 2015
Staples
Tiger Direct
$1,220
$1,200
$1,180
$1,160
$1,140
$1,120
$1,100
$1,080
$1,060
$1,040
Products included:
HP 13” Stream Laptop
HP 17.3” Envy Laptop
HP 15.6” Notebook Laptop
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Ultrabook
$1,020
© 2015 Ad Dynamics. Private and Confidential
Source: Ad Dynamics PriceVision®
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Flyer Review
How advertising volume and use of themes shifted year over year
© 2015 Ad Dynamics. Private and Confidential
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Best Buy scaled back on flyers, total flyer
pages during BTS this year
Insight: Best Buy decreased from 13 to 9 flyers in July and August year
over year, and decreased total flyer pages by 46%. Their decrease
impacted the decline in overall flyer volume across all six retailers.
# of Flyers
2014
2015
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
6/28/15 - 7/5/15 - 7/12/15 - 7/19/15 - 7/26/15 - 8/2/15 7/4/15 7/11/15 7/18/15 7/25/15 8/1/15
8/8/15
2014
8/9/15 - 8/16/15 - 8/23/15 8/15/15 8/22/15 8/27/15
2015
# of Flyer Pages
200
150
100
50
0
6/28/15 - 7/5/15 - 7/12/15 - 7/19/15 - 7/26/15 - 8/2/15 - 8/9/15 - 8/16/15 - 8/23/15 7/4/15 7/11/15 7/18/15 7/25/15 8/1/15
8/8/15 8/15/15 8/22/15 8/27/15
© 2015 Ad Dynamics. Private and Confidential
Ad Dynamics Shopper Insight
78% of shoppers use
print flyers to find
deals, more than any
other media type
Impact: Best Buy’s
decrease shows the
importance of
reviewing competitive
advertising activity on
a competitor by
competitor basis.
Although Best Buy
declined, retailers like
Sears and Staples
increased their flyer
volume this Back-toSchool.
Source: Ad Dynamics FeatureVision®
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Later start to Back-to-School in-store
sale events this year
Insight: Peak flyer promotional weeks for Back-to-School pushed later into August this year
compared to 2014, with 71% of flyers published the week of 8/26 featuring a “Back-to-School”
theme
Impact: With the standard school year running from September 1 – June 30, retailers heavily
promoted last minute Back-to-School sales, rather than featuring their top BTS promotional weeks in
early August. Retailers will need to be prepared to offer promotions to BTS 2016 shoppers
throughout August to compete with those who offered promotions late in the season.
Share of flyers with "Back-to-School" theme on front page
(by week)
2014
2015
80%
70%
50%
56%
50%
40%
30%
0% 0%
0% 0%
0% 0%
11%
44%44% 45%
36%
33%
20%
10%
71%
67%
60%
30%
17%
0%
© 2015 Ad
Private FeatureVision®
and Confidential
Source:
AdDynamics.
Dynamics
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Best Buy versioned Back-to-School TV
campaign by market
Insight: Best Buy invested in a TV ad campaign for Back-to-School
this year. They ran two versions, one English and one French,
that ran in different volumes depending on the market. Toronto
saw the highest number of occurrences during August at 196,
while Montreal only saw 32.
Impact: Best Buy versioned not only the language, but the level
of investment in their TV ad campaign by market. Retailers need
visibility into competitive broadcast ads to understand in which
markets their competitors are investing the most ad dollars.
Advertiser: Best Buy
Media: TV (30 sec)
Market(s): Ottawa,
Vancouver, Toronto,
National
Occurrences: Ottawa (64),
Vancouver (104), Toronto
(196), National Cable (146)
First Run: 8/6/2015
Last Run: 9/9/2015
Advertiser: Best Buy
Media: TV (30 sec)
Market: Montreal
Occurrences: 32
First Run: 8/6/2015
Last Run: 9/5/2015
© 2015 Ad Dynamics. Private and Confidential
Source: Competitrack Broadcast Data
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Category Review
How retailers supported the top Back-to-School categories
© 2015 Ad Dynamics. Private and Confidential
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Sears devotes print to BTS, digital to
Major Appliances
Insight: Sears featured their
BTS sales in print flyers, and
reserved digital flyers for
Major Appliance promotions
Impact: What your
competition promotes in
their print flyer does not
always translate to digital.
Retailers need visibility into
both media channels.
Top Promoted Categories – Print & Digital Flyer Front Pages (July-August 2015)
Best Buy
Staples
The Source
Walmart
Sears
Hudson's Bay
6/30/2015 7/6/2015
7/7/2015 7/13/2015
7/14/2015 7/20/2015
7/21/2015 7/27/2015
7/28/2015 8/3/2015
8/4/2015 8/10/2015
8/11/2015 8/17/2015
8/18/2015 8/24/2015
8/25/2015 8/28/2015
Tablets
Laptops
LED TVs
Laptops
Laptops
Laptops
Laptops
Laptops
Laptops
Wireless
Speakers
(none)
(none)
Tablets
(none)
Computer
Accessories
Laptops
Laptops
Business
Software
(none)
External Drives
(none)
(none)
Cell Phones
(none)
Laptops/Cell
Phones
(none)
Cables
Pillows
Kitchen
Countertop Apps
Office/School
Supplies
Camping
Laptops/Apparel
Apparel
Office/School
Supplies
Apparel
Apparel
Footwear/Major
Appliances
Grills/Major
Appliances
Bedding
Major Appliances
Bedding
Major Appliances
Backpacks
Major Appliances
Backpacks
Footwear
(none)
Women's
Apparel
(none)
Footwear
Women's
Apparel
Dinnerware
Women's
Apparel
Men's Jeans
© 2015 Ad Dynamics. Private and Confidential
Source: Ad Dynamics FeatureVision®
15
Staples allocated higher share of flyer to
laptops than their competition
Insight: Nearly half of Staples’ BTS flyer
promotions were for Computer products—
more than 30% greater share than their
closest competitor.
Computers Share of July/August Flyers
Staples
49.1%
The Source
36.7%
Best Buy
Walmart
Impact: To understand what it will take to win
a category during a key event or holiday,
retailers must know to what extent their
competition is supporting the category.
34.2%
7.2%
© 2015 Ad Dynamics. Private and Confidential
Source: Ad Dynamics FeatureVision®
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Walmart supported Apparel more than
Sears; Hudson’s Bay leads category
Apparel/Footwear % of July/August Flyers
Hudson's Bay
54.7%
Walmart
21.3%
Sears
20.9%
© 2015 Ad Dynamics. Private and Confidential
Insight: Walmart increased the share of their BTS
flyers allocated to Apparel from 18% in 2014 to over
21% in 2015. Sears decreased their support of
Apparel from 26% last year to 21%.
Impact: Particularly during holidays or other
shopping events, cross-channel category
competition is likely to increase, making it crucially
important to promote the categories shoppers want
for that event.
Source: Ad Dynamics FeatureVision®
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Stationery promotions left behind during
Back-to-School
Stationery % of July/August Flyers
Walmart
Insight: Stationery, including Office & School Supplies,
owned only a fraction of the flyer share of Computers
categories during BTS this year in Mass, Electronics,
and Office channel flyers. Stationery categories
accounted for less than 3% of Staples flyer ads, and less
than 1% of Best Buy flyers.
9.1%
Impact: Understanding how promotional support for a
category is trending sheds insight into how important
retailers consider the category to their business. The
decline in Stationery promotional share is indicative of
student migration to digital learning tools.
Staples
Best Buy
2.6%
0.2%
© 2015 Ad Dynamics. Private and Confidential
Source: Ad Dynamics FeatureVision®
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Back-to-School Brand Winners
Who received noteworthy promotional support from their retailer
partners this season?
© 2015 Ad Dynamics. Private and Confidential
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Retailers enhanced flyer support of
Microsoft tablets during BTS
Insight: Microsoft saw its Surface Pro tablet receive a boost in ad
quality in flyers this Back-to-School, thanks to a 208% increase in
total promotions, and a 167% increase in front page promotions.
Best Buy, 8/27
Impact: Brands should work with their retailer partners to find
opportunities to improve the location and size of their flyer ads,
rather than simply looking for more total ads. Improved ad quality
can impact results as effectively as an increase in total ads.
Staples, 8/20
Tablet Flyer Ad Quality by Brand
Ad Dynamics Value Index (ADVI)
SUM OF ADVI
2014
2015
200
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
Source:
Dynamics
© 2015 Ad
Ad Dynamics.
PrivateFeatureVision®
and Confidential
20
Acer overtook HP with the highest
quality laptop flyer promotions
Insight: Acer had the best ad quality (ad block size and page
position) among laptop suppliers this BTS, overtaking HP.
Impact: HP saw two fewer flyer ads than Acer this season,
compared to 30 more than Acer last year. To mitigate the risk
of losing category share, HP must illustrate to their retailer
partners how improving their ad quality will equate to
improved sales impact vs. featuring other laptop brands.
Walmart, 8/26
The Source, 8/27
Laptop Flyer Ad Quality by Brand
Ad Dynamics Value Index (ADVI)
2014
2015
250
SUM OF ADVI
200
150
Best Buy, 8/27
100
50
0
© 2015 Ad Dynamics. Private and Confidential
Source: Ad Dynamics FeatureVision®
21
Cell phone flyer ad quality declines
during BTS 2015
Walmart, 8/26
Insight: Aside from LG, who saw their ADVI more than double
year over year during Back-to-School, retailers did not provide
as high quality of ad support to cell phones as in 2014.
Impact: Cell phone brands need to understand which
categories gained from their drop in ad quality this year to help
open dialogue with their retailers on how to reverse the trend
in 2016, or reallocate their high quality ad placements to a
different time of year.
The Source, 8/13
Best Buy, 8/27
Cell Phone Ad Quality by Brand
Ad Dynamics Value Index (ADVI)
2014
2015
180
160
SUM OF ADVI
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
Samsung Apple
LG
© 2015 Ad Dynamics. Private and Confidential
HTC
Sony
Motorola
ZTE
Alcatel
Bell
Chatr
Source: Ad Dynamics FeatureVision®
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For information on gaining access to the broadcast or
digital data in this report, or to see how retailers
wrapped up their Back-to-School advertising,
promotions, and pricing in September, please contact
your Ad Dynamics account representative.
Thank You
© 2015 Ad Dynamics. Private and Confidential
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