Recent findings have shown that there has been dramatic growth in the number of retailers expected to suffer during Christmas 2009.  Insolvency specialists, Begbies Traynor, identified 125 companies which are likely to enter into insolvency procedures within the year, which is up 37% from August.  A move to online could make the difference to these companies and help them to survive the recession; this is where MIG can help.

A significant headline was created this week by Fifa vice-president Jack Warner at the Leaders in Football conference, when he associated England’s 2018 World Cup bid with 'lightweight' marketing.  MIG, who were exhibiting on stand 30 at the event, witnessed significant interest in targeted and digital marketing amongst clubs not only based in the UK but across the world.  The businesses behind the clubs recognise that their brand franchise is monetised through the capture and management of their customer databases and marketing communications.  In particular there is now significant interest in MIG's ability to add approximately £1 per annum per record to the bottom line of those businesses.

Zara and H&M Hennes & Mauritz are to enter the realm of online sales in the autumn of 2010. The two high-profile fashion retailers will open their first transactional sites, with Zara also going online in a number of European countries before an extensive rollout in all their markets. Pablo Isla, CEO and deputy chairman of Inditex (owner of fashion retailer Zara), spoke of the move online as "an important strategic step, in line with the Inditex Group’s constant daily search to offer the best service to clients worldwide". The move online is a significant step for any organisation, and MIG have worked with many of their clients to obtain the best response for such transactional sites.

'Give', a new fashion venture from George Davies, recently opened its doors both online and in 24 stores and concessions across the country on 1 October. All stores include touch screens which enable shoppers to explore a wide range of innovative services. Customers can browse the new retailer’s collections and its website in-store, enjoy multiple garment views, catwalk videos and even an in-store tailoring service. MIG have always promoted the importance of multi-channel retailing, and the majority of businesses now agree that a broad spectrum of digital marketing platforms can deliver outstanding results.

Leaders in Football is the world's most exclusive football business event where 1,000 senior executives linked to International Clubs, Leagues, Federations and Brands come together to learn, network and do business. This year’s event takes place at Chelsea Football Club on the 7th and 8th of October. MIG are privileged to have the opportunity to attend the event this autumn and brush shoulders with the most significant business contacts in the football world.

Recent research by Google has shown that Christmas shopping has already begun within the US and UK. Google have found that search interest in 'Christmas gift' has increased sharply over recent weeks, demonstrating increased Christmas shopping activity.

Shopping on the go is becoming more and more popular as the development of web-enabled phones allows users to access multiple channels on the go.

MIG have always promoted the advantages of multi-channel as it encourages shoppers to spend more – a multi-channel shopper spends 15-30% more than a single-channel shopper. However, IDC have found that the current trend is for shoppers on the go to access several different channels simultaneously. These ‘omni-shoppers’ spend 15-30% more than their multi-channel counterparts. This has been made possible through the development of web-enabled phones and this is an opportunity which should not be ignored. An omni-shopper may for example receive a text or email prompting an action to purchase, visit the store and take a snap of the barcode, then compare prices online and connect to a social network for opinions.

MIG have over 10 years experience in email build and have worked with numerous clients during this period to ensure they are making the most of their email offering. MIG has produced emails for LMG and Nectar sponsors for over 5 years which has contributed to our sound understanding and knowledge of what does and doesn’t work. We thought we would share our top tips with you...

Retail experts are predicting that on-line retailers will benefit from the onset of swine flu.

The Marketing Innovation Group, the UK’s leading digital marketing business has recently launched a second broadcast email platform to provide added power and functionality for its clients.

MIG have exclusive access to a new data source of planning permission applications. This will help ensure better campaign responses by targeting specific criteria identified within the data. Not only can you select from these criteria, but the nature of the application can be a good indicator of both the wealth and purchasing requirements of a household.

This unique iBrochure produced by MIG is a single catalogue but appears in 3 languages, English, Spanish and Catalan depending on the user’s preference selected when opening.  The catalogue itself can also be updated at will by amending the product item database that provides content for the catalogue.  Please click here to visit the iBrochure.

For an average cost of around 30-40p per record MIG can append an email address which can ultimately double your sales. For almost 10 years MIG have been working with businesses to migrate them towards a multi-channel approach as we have always believed that customer contact was the key, not the channel. In doing so many of these businesses have managed to dramatically increase their sales. The historic problem that marketers face is a lack of email addresses in their database, but this no longer needs to be a problem.

Call MIG now on 01565 653000 to arrange a free review detailing how you can increase sales through building an email database.

MIG have recently completed a very successful test of Reactivator for GemsTV.

Reactivator is a telephone reactivation solution which enables the lapsed data of previously frequent buyers to be contacted to gather detailed information on the reasons they have lapsed, recent purchasing behaviour and, ultimately, to encourage reactivation with a promotional offer. A sponsored survey can be included to part-fund the survey.

As you may remember from last year, in January I try to review what has happened in the last 12 months and predict what might happen in the next 12 months. I have begun with my first five predictions and you can watch out for a further five in next week's MIG newsletter.

An alarming 50% of British businesses do not currently check the Internet for material about them, according to research released today on Retail Bulletin. These businesses accepted they were unaware of what was being communicated by others on the Internet about their offerings.

A study by E-consultancy predicts the UK market for email marketing platforms is set for strong growth in 2009 as the faltering economy makes customer retention increasingly important. The report estimates the growth for email broadcast platforms will be over 24% to a value of £274 million.

A company, which tried to help Woolworths and MFI, believes businesses must embrace the internet to survive the recession.

The Marketing Innovation Group (MIG) are pleased to announce that email marketing is now the most popular form of direct response marketing, according to a new survey conducted by Direct Partners on a variety of large US companies.

When online shopping first became accepted, one of the most studied metrics for e-retailers was the shopping cart abandonment rate. However, through site security, consumer education and word-of-mouth about positive experiences, e-retailers reduced the percentage of consumers who placed items in their carts but did not end up purchasing them.

Email marketing has become one of the most valuable and best performing marketing channels today.  Businesses are getting an unbelievable return on investment and consumers have benefited from industry best practices, technologies and their own methods for managing their inboxes.  However, for this success to continue email marketing needs to evolve, and successful marketers are already moving away from bulk emailing to a more targeted approach. Below we will summarise the advantages of moving towards an event driven marketing strategy, based on research by iMedia Connections.

Last week's newsletter documented the first section of our 'Beat the Credit Crunch' article. The remainder of Part 1 follows with some simple and practical ways to help you to achieve marketing success during these difficult financial times.

Online fashion retail is becoming 'fashionable' and more big name retailers are debuting transactional websites. MIG are looking to help these newcomers follow in the footsteps of the bold retailers who braved the skeptics of this predominantly cautious web market and remove the barrier to the tangible nature of the product in online sales.

Customer retail interaction specialists, The Marketing Innovation Group (MIG) and Pixel Inspiration, the digital signage agency have announced that they have formed a strategic partnership to deliver an Interactive Store Window (ISW) solution for high-street retailers. Pictured left is Rob Bielby C.E.O for the Marketing Innovation Group and Nikk Smith Pixel Inspirations Technical Director.

MIG has exclusively secured a ‘significant’ permission based email database of some 50m pan European records from an on-going and current consolidation of 14,000 sources of data. It includes over 20m UK consumer email addresses from on-line purchasing sources and over 5m businesses addresses largely obtained from permission registrations from exhibitions and conferences and so includes job titles and purchasing responsibilities.  Initially, only clients of MIG will have access to the data although this is being built as an on-line tool ‘Target Prospector’ which is scheduled for launch later in the year with the web based Intelligent Marketing platform. Existing clients of MIG will benefit from special prices and in some cases FREE email data.  MIG has also announced that it will match any contract price for any business wishing to switch to this more inclusive solution.

MIG has launched the first of a new type of dynamic iBrochure using the the Intelligent Marketing Platform that is controlled by the client themselves, in this case The British Red Cross.  MIG has several dynamic iBrochures running where the content is updated internally to reflect the current stock position or changing prices for clients like GemsTV.  This new version links MIG's iPublisher with iNews within the web based Intelligent Marketing platform so that a client can log in and change the content on the pages.

According to “The State of Retailing Online 2008” a US survey conducted by Forrester Research for Shop.org, e-retail will continue to grow with sales rising 17% this year to $204 billion. The survey also found online retailers allocate 53% of their marketing budgets to online customer acquisition and only 21% to online customer retention.

A new multi-channel retailing report has indicated consumers enjoy shopping across a variety of mediums, including store, website and catalogue.  The report analysed the factors that contribute to this variation and concluded online product research was often a vital driver of offline retail sales.

The Email Experience Council (part of the American DMA), recently released its 2007 Retail Welcome Email Benchmark Study.  This shows welcome emails have significantly higher open rates than regular emails.  Unfortunately the survey also revealed an amazing 25% of retailers do not use this critical tool.

With the online sector developing so quickly, it seems that having an online presence is not enough. Retailers need to meet ever growing customer expectations, with recent research by Capgemini suggesting that 1 in 2 would now like a personalised shopping experience.

E-Retail reached an all time high in the run up to Christmas, with £15.2 billion spent online from October to December, bringing 2007’s e-retail sales to £46.6 billion, (54% higher than in 2006), according to the IMRG Capgemini report.

The challenge facing the direct marketing industry since the introduction of the ‘Electoral Administration Act’, whereby voters were given the option not to have their electoral details available commercially, has increased immensely.  The percentage of people deciding not to let their Electoral Roll details be used for direct mail purposes in 2007 hit 39.75%, an increase of 2.94% on last year's register (according to information services company Experian).

Although the Internet has changed the way we can shop by increasing the speed and ease of buying products, online shoppers are not necessarily impulse buyers.  They prefer to make a considered purchase and will plan ahead, view products, compare prices and do their research before rushing in, according to research conducted among Comet customers.  

A survey conducted by retail specialist Actinic into Christmas trading results has found continued growth in online shopping.  Respondents reported a 27% rise in the number of customers buying online at Christmas compared to the same period in 2006.  They also reported a 46% increase in internet revenues, indicating that not only are more people shopping online, but they are spending more as well.

According to the latest figures from the Mobile Data Association (MDA), 4.825 billion text messages are sent every month in the UK, equivalent to 4,000 every second. The MDA predicts the total number of texts sent by UK mobile users for the whole of 2007 looks set to reach 52 billion. From these figures we can clearly see how popular this medium of communication has become and this should be a driving force for marketers.

A Retail Monitor survey conducted this month by American Express reveals 70% of online shoppers think price is the key driver to shopping online. The survey also revealed 90% of UK shoppers plan to do at least some of their shopping online this year.  Shoppers said buying online reduces much of the stress of Christmas shopping, provides a welcome break from crowds (82%), parking problems (60%), and Christmas music (28%).

A report from media agency ‘Media Planning Group’ indicates the internet has become the key communications tool with 32% of families saying they regularly receive e-mail marketing communications from high street retailers about upcoming sales, with Next, Tesco and Marks & Spencer the most popular communicators.

The growth in online shopping sales shows no signs of slowing. In fact the latest statistics published by the IMRG (Interactive Media in Retail Group) show Septembers year on year growth to have risen yet again, this time to over 75%. This compares with 61% in August. 

A new report by OFCOM indicates UK consumers are spending an average of 36 minutes online everyday. This figure is up 158% on 2002, and shows how the population is moving towards the internet rather than watching TV and listening to the radio.

Having famously spent many years promoting gone-away and bereavement suppression as a ‘no-brainer’, I am now going to be perhaps somewhat controversial and say if I had my time over again, and access to the technology now available, I would not have been so bold and probably would have saved a lot of money, writes Rob Bielby, Chief Executive of the Marketing Innovation Group.

Online sales are surging, eCommerce has truly come of age and there are a number of retailers who are enjoying significant business via multiple channels, and some of these guys still think that they are involved in direct home shopping.....wrong!!

But take heart: For the most part, the metrics that matter for your e-commerce site are the same as or similar to metrics that were around long before “click to buy” became a familiar phrase. There are, though, a few twists of which you should be aware.

LBM is the fastest growing direct marketing company in the United Kingdom, has taken the first licence to resell the e-MSG email platform provided by the Marketing Innovation Group.  The agreement will enable LBM to offer both B2B email prospect data and an email platform to enable its clients to effectively communicate with and report on email campaigns.

Annual Multi-Channel Report from Abacus in the US highlights the growing importance of online for mail order companies.

While the report highlights the shift from traditional mail order, such as telephone, mail and fax, to online continues, the report says that the majority of households continue to order through the traditional channels, with these accounting for 55% of orders, down 4% from 2004.

Source Brand Republic Oct 06

After an initial trial of email Newsletters, the London Chamber of Commerce has taken the licence to use the e-MSG email platform and its web based iNews solution. The iNews solution has been developed by the Marketing Innovation Group as part of their ‘Intelligent Marketing®’ tool kit designed to help marketing and non-marketing people easily and effectively develop the value of their customers via the web.

The importance of measuring return on investment (ROI) on marketing spend was highlighted again in the DMA Consus report. UK Marketing Directors/Senior Marketers cited measurement of marketing effectiveness as their Number1 challenge.

A recent report by Forrester suggest that two-thirds of marketers say that they play a lead role in buying technology. To win their business, vendors must learn the marketing lingo, help marketers prove ROI, and reconsider benefits-based pricing structures.

With everyone online and customers ever harder to please, what can retailers do to stand out from the crowd, and what does the future hold for e-commerce? Ian Davis is Director of Product Strategy at ATG

Despite a continued decline in mailings, expenditure on direct marketing grew 13% in 2005, bringing total direct budgets to £17bn, according to the Direct Marketing Association's annual Census report. The fastest-growing area is digital, with an 80% increase on 2004 to an estimated total of £1.5bn. Direct response TV now accounts for 18% of spend, with most TV ads now offering a web address as a direct-response mechanism

The cannibalisation of print content to online is complementing rather than endangering the future of the UK press, according to a report compiled by Deloitte. The survey, which was conducted in association with the UK Association of Online Publishers (AOP), asked 30 UK publishing firms their opinion on the future of digital publishing, with 70% of those polled not perceiving online content as a threat to print.

A new report confirms that accurate targeting of e-mail marketing messages makes a significant difference. E-mails based on consumers' expressed preferences are, by definition, more relevant and therefore more likely to be read and responded to.

Newspaper and magazine publishers, besieged by the rising costs, tumbling circulation and the frustration of giving their content away on Web sites, are gradually turning to electronic editions as an alternative to print. The technology is in place and vendors are in the marketplace offering to convert print publications to digital facsimiles, experts agree that the evolution of electronic editions is in its early stages.

Consumers demand the convenience offered by direct response and are shopping at levels never seen before. And they are choosing to purchase through multiple DR distribution channels.

The number one question we get asked by every newcomer to our business is, 'how much does it cost to build an iBrochure', they used to ask me the same question about websites. What do these people want to hear? They want to hear a low number so they can go ahead with their plans.

Recent research by Zendor points to the takeup of broadband as having the biggest single influence on growth of online shoppers in 2006.

If the average company possesses email addresses for fewer than one-third of its customers, yet online customer relationships tend to be the most profitable, then how well a company develops its email database can make a big impact on the bottom line!

What are legitimate e-mail marketers supposed to do? They follow CAN-SPAM guidelines. They use proper permission marketing techniques. They mail only to opt-in lists. Still, recipients are increasing hitting the 'This is spam' link.

Consumers request plenty of product information by e-mail but unfortunately, many do not get what they ask for.

The Consumer Email Study points to a confluence of personal and professional email use, a decline in concern regarding spam along with an increase in anxiety regarding viruses and fraud, and confirmation that email drives commerce both online and in stores.