Oriental Trading Co. Inc. is generating bigger tickets and more sales online since adding community web site features and functions.
In November Oriental Trading, No. 49 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, added a customer ratings and reviews application from Bazaarvoice and since then shoppers have posted more than 47,000 comments. Based on positive customer reviews, the sales conversion rate on some party and gift products featured on OrientalTrading.com around Valentine’s Day increased by about 70%, says CEO Sam Taylor. “We’re being very aggressive in promoting and displaying the top-rated items based on customer reviews,” says Taylor. “We have a team that goes over all of our reviews, responds to complaints and pinpoints which products are the best sellers.”
Today about two-thirds of sales for Oriental Trading are generated online, although Taylor declines to give a specific number. By adding more community-oriented features such as personalized product recommendations, holiday event reminders and planners and an e-mail a friend tool, Oriental Trading is building for the day when almost all sales will be generated online. “More than 80% of our shoppers are women and we’re developing more ways for them to interact with us and each other,” he says. “By creating a sense of community, we can generate ways to target customers and create better upselling and cross-selling opportunities.”
Oriental Trading is doing a better job of using web analytics to understand shopping behavior and introduce more community-oriented web site features and the effort is paying off, says Taylor. The average shopper on OrientalTrading.com now spends about $71 each time they complete a purchase, compared with about $65 two years ago. "The growth story here is expediting our shift from a traditional catalog company into a retailer that’s driven by e-commerce,” says Taylor. “We accomplish this by creating a sense of a community and a better online shopping experience.”
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