Nisbets Digital Marketing Review 7th Dec

A wonderful opportunity exists to drive sizeable online growth and ROI across Office Depot’s UK brands inc Viking & Tech Depot. The web needs to be managed and developed as a sales channel (not just a

website or 2…) Office Depot’s entrepreneurial and innovative culture looks very appealing

Online marketing review

Saj Bhojani

7th December

Executive Summary

– Site is transactional and clearly allows customers to buy, with value added services available

– Site is lacking in best practise merchandising such as attribute filtering in browse mode

– Similarly usability could be improved with front end redesign of key function such as home page, category structure and navigation

– Search marketing is being managed both SEO & PPC, however clear areas for improvement and a more efficient use of spend

– Aggregator/Shopping comparison programme would also drive new acquisition opportunity

Home page has a transactional feel and passes the 10 second test. However navigation and styling appear outdated with room for improvement. Page is too

long and above the fold dominated by single product promotions

Customers value brands and can be useful navigation

aids

Navigation categories feel

catalogue centric – too many for

the web?

Clear value proposition –

customers know what Nisbets

stand for

Clear product campaigns

highlight offers and keep home

page fresh

Not best practise positioning and

thus hidden from users

Not best practise positioning and

thus hidden from users

For a next day business – free delivery is a key

message and well highlighted

Very long page, circa 3 pages in depth with key messages below the fold e.g. phone number, catalogue request etc

Bunzl offer a comparable home page which although not best of breed does offer learnings for Nisbets e.g. basket position, use of white space and content found

above the fold

This is key functionality found where it should be

Key messages found above the

fold

Customers value brands and can be

useful navigation

aids

Space well used to convey key

messages and proposition

Specialist competitors do not

offer any better examples…..highlighting opportunity

The retail approach is cleaner, efficient use of real estate following best practise usability and use of Flash. Multi channel is a key focus.

Category page works well – evidence of SEO on page optimisation through page titles and meta data. Merchandising and navigation below par

Clear sign post that you are in

Blenders

These are sub categories and options for the

customer to filter their results, but they are missing

the number of products within

each area. Also options are limited e.g.

brand, price etc

Brands are not dynamic or relevant to browsers session

Brands are not dynamic or relevant to browsers session

Useful merchandising

Category pages are highly visitedBlank space = missed opportunity

Key function but should not be in this position –

generally found at the top of page

Navigation highly relevant

with filtering options

Using a search and merchandising tool enables greater flexibly and efficiency through automated merchandising and filtering options for customer.

Clear, consistent design aids user experience

Dynamic merchandising

drives own brand sales

and promotions

Image supports

descriptions

Brand logos are dynamic

Search for “Duali” returns good results – search is key to driving sales and conversion

Breadcrumb ensure customer is

ware of journey

Good use of search

function i.e. comparing &

sorting products for

purchaseRed usually means an

error on the web?

Clear search summary

stock availability is key

Red usually means an error on the web?

Clear add to basket – but designs appear

outdated

Good use of search

attribute filtering

Valuable real estate wasted

Useful product page which does the job – however merchandising, data sheets etc below the fold, no use of product reviews, cross sell hidden

Merchandising , pdf’s. content etc

below the fold

Clear image and brand

Clear pricing – but why red (usually suggests an error

in the world of the web)

Clear pricing and add to basket – but why red (usually suggests an

error in the world of the web)

Promotion text not

overly visible

Clean product page that adheres to best practise and gives the customer the info they need and clear signposts for help and reassurance

Useful merchandising

Fact: Product reviews drive

sales

Social marketing drives traffic and

SEO

Live chat – increasing

commonplace

Delivery info visible above the

fold

Link Reputation is a key factor in search engines algorithm, clearly Nisbets is a reputable site and leverages existing incoming links – however more analysis

required to determine quality of links

Quick review of rankings shows Nisbets ranking no 1 for the term Catering equipment . However for greater volume keywords the ranking is not as good

e.g. search for “office chair” result shows nothing on the first page

Nisbets already at first position for “Catering equipment”

The term ‘catering kitchen equipment chair’ actually has more search and work could be employed to get Nisbets ranking for these more product specific areas.

Currently Nisbets don’t rank for these types of terms.

Opportunity to improve ranking and drive traffic

Opportunity to improve ranking and drive traffic

Quick review of rankings shows Nisbets ranking no 1 for the term Catering equipment. However for greater volume keywords the ranking is not as good e.g. search for “catering kitchen equipment” result shows nothing on the first

page

Keyword Position Global Monthly search volume

Catering equipment 1 2400

Catering kitchen equipment

11 40,500

Titles & Descriptions are dynamic which is great for SEO – however these should be defined and optimized in line with regular keyword research (which

appears to be lacking)

• Displayed in SERPS

• Important ranking factor as well as to increase visitor CTR’s

Analysis

They all require optimisation & restructuring with relevant key phrases would help to improve rankings for certain phrases on relevant pages.

Product categories and product cards could be automated to pull keywords from the database. The database may require formatting inline with new KW research

Google product/base is a free method of driving traffic within natural results – however it appears Nisbets feed is not being managed. Content

optimization is then key in driving rankings once feed set up complete

Search for under counter fridge does not bring up Nisbets.

Suppliers who have a feed into Google base with under counter fridge include those listed, but

Nisbets not listed!

Clearly a paid search plan is in place – with some best practice being used such as manufacturers part numbers, and price within ad copy

However latest innovations in paid search are not yet implemented

Keywords are being managed, potential spend is significant due to volume of searches on some of these keywords but what's important is the ROI and the

objective ie traffic or customer acquisition

Creative's can also be viewed...

Competitive ad copy analysis enables ads to be tweaked and drive increased click through – appears that testing and optimization is limited

Aggregators are a great vehicle for driving brand awareness, traffic and cost effective acquisition. Nisbets feed to Kelkoo & Shopping.com appears to be

lacking.

Clearly Nisbets have an affiliate program with Affiliate WindowWhat is the relationship with the network? More importantly do Nisbets have a

relationship with the super affiliates?

Affiliates can take many forms and are often experts in PPC and drive traffic to suppliers. However when affiliates are driving traffic from brand keywords such as Viking Direct – this is questionable and a poor experience for customers and

costs money where the traffic is almost guaranteed anyway

Customer searches for viking direct and gets 3 Viking look a likes……

If the customer chooses the affiliate advert they go to an affiliate site

Eventually they get to the Viking site!!!

Executive Summary

– Site is transactional and clearly allows customers to buy, with value added services available

– Site is lacking in best practise merchandising such as attribute filtering in browse mode

– Similarly usability could be improved with front end redesign of key function such as home page, category structure and navigation

– Search marketing is being managed both SEO & PPC, however clear areas for improvement and a more efficient use of spend

– Aggregator/Shopping comparison programme would also drive new acquisition opportunity