Gift Focus - Jan/Feb 2020 (Issue 117)

185 ONLINE BASKETS alone. Evidently, the results of our trial highlight the frequently missed added value that traditional reactivations strategies can do to boost a business’ conversion rate. So, while it’s been made clear that combining multiple channels leads to a better reactivation success rate – how much could gift stores retrieve were they to implement this optimal strategy? This will depend on the type of gift retailers are selling. In 2017, over half of people in the UK gave clothes and shoes as gifts, according to YouGov’s 2018 article, Christmas gift-giving habits revealed . And it’s the clothes industry that has the most added value to claim from successful reactivation techniques, with more than £850 million of estimated sales revenue left up for grabs – and £226 million for shoes alone. Next up in the list of popular presents are food and drinks, with 50 per cent of shoppers purchasing alcohol for loved ones. Similarly, the food and beverage sector is leaving over £450 million in revenue on the table by not implementing postal mail basket reactivation follow-ups. These numbers represent a huge sum of revenue that gift retailers are leaving in plain sight for competitors to retrieve if they don’t optimise their abandoned basket reactivation systems beforehand. It’s short-sighted for gift marketers to exclusively use electronic communication mediums to engage with their customers, and this surely applies to basket reactivation too. In an increasingly digital world, savvy gift retailers will draw on the valuable trail of information that online consumers leave behind and utilise this to identify deterrents specific to their store offering and what kind of reactivation strategy matches the preferences of their unique client base. Collecting information is the first step to better understanding the customer profiles of basket-abandoners and, in turn, how to rekindle their interest. Finally, gift stores should deploy all channels available to them in order to achieve the best reactivation success rates and retrieve the largest sum of lost revenue. Nick Cole is managing director of Go Inspire Group.