Victoria's Secret & Web Analytics

Victoria’s Secret & Web Analytics

E-commerce sales are expected to grow 10-12 percent a year according to analysts and sales are already at all time highs as brick-and-mortar stores have begun expanding their online efforts more and more year after year.  “As a result, total annual retail e-commerce sales are $201 billion, according to the 180 companies tracked by eMarketer. For the top 25 retailers, total annual e-commerce sales come in at $159 billion” (Zaczkiewicz, A. 2016)

Victoria’s Secret ranks 23rd on this list and they are one of the top retailers.  Victoria's Secret seem to be doing all the right things to get more and more customers and visitors to their page as they are providing quality content that keeps them on their site and coming back for more.    

Victoria’s Secret contracts with third-party advertising companies, such as Google Analytics, to deliver tailored online display and banner advertising to customers on other Web sites. To serve this advertising, these third-party companies place, use, or rely on technology, such as cookies and clear gifs, to obtain information about customer interactions. 

They collect information that customers and visitors provide them on their site and they use it to obtain the following information…..

• ·      VS collects personal information directly from the visitor to do all the things typically associated with Web sites. Examples of the information they collect include name, address, phone number, email address, personal preferences, credit card number, purchase and ordering information, demographical information, responses to survey questions and sizing information.
• ·      This information is collected at various places on their site: for instance, when the customer checks out with their online order; subscribe to catalogs, email offers, and Pink mobile messaging offers; participate in surveys; join Victoria's Secret Pink Nation; enter contests or sweepstakes; or interact with special-event or program offers.
• ·      VS may also collect information that the customer provides on their site about people the user knows. For example, they collect the customers gift recipient's contact information to process gift orders. They may also collect contact information about the customer’s friends and family members when they participate in one of VS’s refer-a-friend programs. In these instances, they may send a message to the customer’s friend or family member on their behalf. Customers should only submit email addresses of individuals with whom they have a personal or family relationship and who would want to receive the message from them.  (Victoria’s Secret. n.d.)

The personal information that Victoria’s Secret collects is used to

·      process online orders;

·      open an online account at the visitor’s request;

·      personalize the visitor’s online experience with content and offers that are tailored to their interests;

·      provide customer service, whether it's responding to a request or following up on an order;

·      include the customer in surveys and contests;

·      enable the customer to post content, such as comments or images;

·      facilitate networks of online social activity centered around VS products and services;

·      improve the website, improve the manner in which offers are made on the website, improve purchase decisions of the visitors and the interactions visitors have with their website;

·      enable the customer to interact with third-party content service providers, whether by linking to their sites, viewing their content within our Web environment, or by viewing VS’s own content within their Web environment; and

·      market VS products and services that may be of interest to the visitor--for instance, VS may add the visitor to the Victoria's Secret and Victoria's Secret Pink email list when the visitor makes an online purchase or sign up to receive emails; or they may add the visitor to Victoria's Secret print-catalogue list when they make an online purchase or to the Pink Nation email list if they sign up for Pink Nation.

(Victoria’s Secret. n.d.)

E-commerce retailers like Victoria’s Secret are very thorough when it comes to analytics and their website, so of course, their technology is at its best as well.  They collect navigational information such as IP address from the site which the visitor came from, and the site to which the visitor navigated. Navigational information is largely anonymous in the sense that it doesn't contain the visitor’s name, address, phone number, email address or other information that directly identifies them. However, VS may associate this navigational information with the visitor’s personal information if provided. 

Cookies and clear gifs are also used as they allow VS to associate the customers online navigational information, or purchases and interactions (both online and offline), with any personal information the customer provides (such as name, address, phone number, survey responses, and email address). VS associates this information to deliver products and services to the customer; to improve their business; to transact business; and to market their products and services on this and other Web sites and through a variety of media like email, mobile advertising, and direct mail. As an example, VS may use cookies to keep track of what the customer put into their shopping bag. That can help VS contact the customer if the online session is disrupted in mid-purchase, resulting in an abandoned cart. They can also use this technology to determine whether the customer is interested in participating in special events, given their preferences. The end result is a more personalized experience that's tailored to the customer’s needs and tastes.

(Victoria’s Secret. n.d.)

Victoria’s Secret appears to have all of their bases covered when it come to analytics.  To better improve on their customer’s online experiences they may be able to use a visitor’s or customer’s location to reach out and expand on the areas that are not performing as well in sales as say another location that has a higher online presence in sales.  Encouraging visitors to turn on their location services they may be able to increase more online traffic by sending out notifications, emails, Tweets, Facebook posts, or Instagram and have a tag line for the city or area that is of interest.  By reaching out to certain areas VS will be able to track their promotions in the areas they selected and can see if there was an increase in traffic and sales.  Victoria’s Secret could create goals with filters and funnels to see how many visitors click through on the location promotion/ad and follow through to the purchase.  This may also be a way to track what is selling in particular areas and increase and customize the customer’s overall experience. 

Reference

Zaczkiewicz, A. (2016, March 7). Amazon, Wal-Mart Lead Top 25 E-commerce Retail List. Retrieved November 21, 2016, from http://wwd.com/business-news/financial/amazon-walmart-top-ecommerce-retailers-10383750/

Victoria’s Secret. (n.d.) Retrieved November 21, 2016, from https://www.victoriassecret.com/?cm_mmc=Google-_-Exact-_-Brand%20-%20High%20Volume%20General%20-%20Computers%20-%20Exact-_-victoria%27s%20secret&gclid=Cj0KEQiA08rBBRDUn4qproqwzYMBEiQAqpzns-WYmwpNisVVgnkiUMTWUc6mV6y9ewJ-7GpavHfXeUoaApQR8P8HAQ&gclsrc=aw.ds#overlay-header