If you’re an ecommerce or multichannel retailer, you know that it’s critical to have up-to-date, accurate information to help you make smart decisions.  That’s never more true than when unexpected external factors cause major shifts in your business - from your supply chain to your advertising performance to your daily sales.  

One thing every business owner has in common right now is a lot of questions.

 
• How are your core performance metrics changing daily and weekly?
 
• Should you keep spending money on ads?
 
• Do you need to adjust your annual forecast?
 
• How is your customer behavior changing - and what do you need to do to adapt?
 
• What’s the best way to continue acquiring new customers?

The best way to answer those questions and chart the right course for your business through external uncertainty? By using the data you have at your fingertips - from across your tech stack - to understand your performance and continue identifying opportunities for growth.  We’ll show you how.

1. Keep a pulse on KPIs

Performance trends can change dramatically by the day or week under normal conditions - not to mention in times of uncertainty.  That means it’s critically important to stay on top of your core KPIs - the metrics that help you understand your business health and guide your strategy on a day-to-day basis.  

You should have an easy, automated way to see things like:

 
• Revenue and profit
 
• Orders and total products sold
 
• Average order value
 
• Site visits and conversion rate

on a daily and weekly basis - and to share them with all the members of your team who need to be in the loop, too.  

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2. Evaluate channel performance

One of the biggest questions on merchants’ minds right now is whether they should stay the course with paid advertising - or cut or reallocate spend across channels.  

The important thing here? Don’t make a snap decision based on emotion. Evaluate your channels and your customer acquisition to see whether it makes sense to adjust your strategy.

 
• Look at your new customer acquisition over the last few weeks
 
• Are you still acquiring new customers? If the answer is yes, don’t shut off your ad spend.
 
• Next, pull performance KPIs by channel - including spend, new customers, total orders, acquisition cost, revenue, profit, AOV and LTV by channel
 
• To minimize cost and maximize opportunity, consider shifting spend to your higher-performing channels or pausing your lower-performing channels

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3. Monitor shifts in buying behavior

Unpredictable external factors can cause your customers’ buying behavior to shift in unforeseen ways.  Your usual best-selling products might take a hit while you find success with a category that was supplemental before - think a fashion brand that sees sales of dresses decline but loungewear spike while everyone stays indoors.  Monitoring your product performance can help you understand and capitalize on these shifts:

 
• Track your hot and cold products and categories week-over-week (and by channel) and look for any changes
 
• Seeing a shift in behavior? Adjust your marketing strategy accordingly
 
• Replace social campaigns with your new hot products and develop creative email campaigns using timely messaging

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4. Segment customers to build loyalty

When there are factors outside of your control impacting your business, it’s more important than ever to focus on what you can control - like connecting with your customers to build loyalty and drive retention.  

Segmenting your customers - using data points like products purchased, amount spent, discount or promo usage, abandoned cart activity, time since last purchase, loyalty status and more - can help you target your communications more effectively and drive better results. Consider:

 
• A winback campaign for customers who haven’t purchased in the last 6 months
 
• A special, can’t-miss promotion or flash sale for your discount shoppers
 
• Creative ways to add value for your VIP customers - like content showing them how to make the most out of your products

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5. Consider promotions to drive acquisition

If you’re seeing sales dip or stall, a promotion or flash sale can help you keep acquisition steady - as well as incentivize existing customers who might be trying to stock up on your products.  One thing to remember: monitor your discount or promotion performance closely to make sure your sales remain profitable.

 
• Look at your previous sales and promotions to see what type of offer has performed well for you in the past
 
• Evaluate your recent product and category trends - what’s selling right now? Promote products that fit the current environment
 
• Use creative, timely messaging to break through the noise and show the value your products can add
 
• Evaluate your promotion using metrics like total amount discounted, total revenue, profitability and attachment rate to ensure you’re hitting your goals and staying profitable

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6. Stay on top of inventory depletion

When external factors impact your warehouse or supply chain - or your customers’ usual buying habits - it can be hard to know when to reorder products to avoid running out.  An easy way to stay on top of it? Automate your inventory reporting.

Setting up automated, scheduled reports will notify you when certain products are close to depletion, which products have the biggest shifts in velocity and more - so you can keep up with demand and any changes in lead time.

 
• Set up depletion reports for your most profitable and most popular products, alerting you to their sell-through rate, velocity and depletion days
 
• Include a report for your hot and cold products so you can monitor what’s selling faster and slower and be aware of changes
 
• Look at period-over-period sales on an individual product or category level to track what’s selling right now

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7. Keep everyone on the same page

External changes don’t just affect your business - they affect your team, too. If your team is working remotely, it’s critical to keep everyone on the same page and working from the same playbook.  

Ensure your entire team has access to the shared apps and documents they need. And, most importantly, create and schedule shared reports to give everyone access to accurate, up-to-date performance data. These reports can be helpful:

 
• A daily report of the previous day’s KPIs, like orders, total revenue, top-selling product, top-performing channel and more
 
• A weekly ad spend and channel performance report for your marketing team
 
• A weekly customer acquisition report, detailing how many new and repeat customers you sold to
 
• A hot and cold products report, so you can see what your customers are purchasing and how that’s changing

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We’re here to help

Have questions about your data or need help identifying the best opportunities for growth right now? We’re here to help.  We’ve helped hundreds of ecommerce merchants, omnichannel retailers, DTC brands and more navigate their data and drive growth. And we know that the best way to keep your business on track is to look at the numbers.  

Want to see how Glew solves channel mapping for multichannel merchants for yourself? Start a free trial today to get insight into your attribution.