Top-Rated Products: A Merchant’s New Best Friend

Hey everyone

Last week, my good friend Chip Arndt, EVP Business Development/Co-Founder of Merchant Advantage, invited me to be a guest blogger on his highly insightful and entertaining www.etaildtail.com.

So I penned up some thoughts on the newly forming merchandising battle between Top-Rated vs. Best Selling products. I got so many emails on the subject that I thought you all might enjoy the read as well…

Move over Best Sellers, a more powerful and proven enticement has arrived!

As a former merchant myself, (former VP of Marketing at Wine.com) I understand the power of merchandising and the important role that the merchandising of most popular and best selling products play in getting your customer’s attention. That’s why I am thrilled to be sharing with you the latest “hidden gem” that comes from leveraging customer reviews on your websites: I want you all to meet Top-Rated Products.

The marketing of best sellers, up to now, has probably been the surest and easiest way for merchants to generate quick sales. Let’s face it, somewhere at the core of our buying public is the notion of “having what everyone else has,” so advertising what is most popular in the form of best selling items is a “no brainer” of sorts. There are some inherent problems with this approach, however, as a product’s selling popularity can be due to a myriad or reasons, the most often being discount or sale pricing. So while best sellers can often drive sales, they don’t often drive matching profits!

Now let’s meet Top-Rated or as my friends at Mountain Gear, User-Approved Products (you have got to love that one!). First of all, these items all have one thing in common – customers rave about their off-the-shelf performance. And one thing we have heard over and over and over again from our clients these past months is that shoppers are willing to pay for guaranteed performance. These items, then, are often sold at full price with no need for coupon or discount incentives to drive heightened consumer interest. They garner attention simply by being rated as standouts by the customers that use them!

Here are some interesting data points and or general trends associated with Top-Rated vs. Best Seller email and website campaigns as shared by clients including Brookstone, Staples, REI, Onlineshoes and Mountain Gear. Highlights of Top rated merchandising include:

• Open rates with Top-Rated subject lines outperformed Best Seller campaign and open rates for email
• Equal and or increased click-thru rates for email campaigns
• Mountain Gear saw a 50% higher AOV with Top-Rated email campaigns
• For website merchandising efforts, REI saw their Top-Rated category outperform corresponding Best Sellers by a $20 higher AOV as top-rated items are often sold at full price (yea!)
• Top Rated as a presentation sort on category pages (dropdown menu choice) is becoming the preferred customer experience

The rate at which our clients are sharing these wins with us is all the proof I need to say the rest of you merchants out there, let me introduce you to your new best friend – Top Rated Products!

Hope this helps get your Q2 ’08 off to a rousing start!