In global eCommerce, carrying out a big data analysis is useful in a number of contexts. Data can point you in the right direction when it comes to growing your revenue.

In this article, Joanna Chodzynska, the Product Owner at Webinterpret, will give you examples of how to make use of a big eCommerce data analysis to move your online business forward. Read on!

Joanna Chodzynska, the Product Owner at Webinterpret

Use data to make your eCommerce listings right

Webinterpret tools translate millions of listings for international online sellers. The responsibility is huge and we want to get things right. Our tools allow us to conduct analyses and make appropriate adjustments. This translates into noticeable extra revenue for our sellers.

There’s a lot of good news…

We made it happen! The profits from improved listings went from € 0 to € 60,000 in 5 weeks.

So this is how it works…

Thanks to our analysis we can select accounts and listings that are below the average listings-to-sales ratio. We then optimise such listings to maximise eCommerce sales.

The listings-to-sales ratio varies for different sellers. The ratio denotes …

• the number of a single seller’s sold items divided by the number of total listings or
• a single seller’s total revenue divided by the total number of listings.

In Q3 2016 we selected 125,000 listings that generated € 0 in profit in the last 90 days. Then, with the assistance of our eCommerce localisation specialists, we improved the quality of the listings in question, i.e. thanks to better keywords or better attributes.

Thanks to our actions, the listings that originally weren’t profitable started to generate profits and generated more than € 60,000 in only 5 weeks.

See the chart below to check out the daily revenue (cumulative) of the target group (125,000 listings with the original 0 profit value).

Profit increase for the improved listings

Apart from taking care of low-profit items, we’re constantly improving our tools to ensure the best possible quality of all listings.

In other words, not only have the above mentioned 125,000 items seen increased profits, but the general improvement of our listings localisation mechanisms is certain to have a very positive long-term impact.

Use data to understand seasonality on international eCommerce markets

Understanding unique market-specific trends can be crucial for international sales. Together with our Analyst Team we are constantly analysing buying preferences on different marketplaces to optimise our sellers’ accounts and listings accordingly.

What should never be underestimated when it comes to international online markets are seasonality trends.

In Cross Border Trade there are different seasonality trends than on domestic markets.

The reason is as follows: people are wary of longer shipping times. Take Christmas on eBay as an example: very often people wait with their purchases till the last few days before Christmas. If they were to buy last-minute items from abroad, longer shipping times for international listings could cause the gift-buyer an awful lot of stress.

This explains why international sales figures at Christmas won’t be as profitable as on the domestic market: buyers may feel safer ordering from a local seller.

Analyses we carry out help us to draw similar conclusions and help sellers plan their actions wisely throughout the whole year.

In the case of Christmas, it’s worth considering less known local selling peaks on different markets. For example…

• January and February is the carnival season in Germany and Italy. This is when and where you can sell big amounts of fancy dress costumes.
• May and July are a peak selling time in the fashion category in Germany and Australia.
• January, March and May peak in car parts sales in Germany and the UK.

By understanding how seasonality works, online sellers can earn even more internationally than during the Christmas season.

Since Webinterpret is a leader in cross border eCommerce, we feel privileged to have access to the data related to millions of transactions taking place around the globe. Constantly on the lookout for patterns and insights, we want to help you make the best possible business decisions.

A sweater or a jumper: what will sell better online?

One of the areas subject to in-depth analysis at Webinterpret are translations. The way items are translated can make or break your sales deal so we do want to make things right.

In the case of spoken and written language, we can very often use more than one word to describe the same object, e.g. trousers and pants.

However, there’s something to watch out for.

While in spoken language you can use different synonyms and you should still be understood, in written language … it can get tricky, especially in eCommerce.

In eCommerce, listings space for content is very limited. For this reason, the perfect wording can be a game changer. Since the listing title is of utmost importance, we use big data techniques to examine millions of titles.

Our aim is to bring hidden patterns to light and check what really matters when it comes to making sales online. In our latest research we have automatically generated synonyms for words used most frequently in titles. We have also checked how they correlate with revenue.

According to our findings, selecting the right words can double the number of transactions.

To better understand the results of our test…

… on eBay UK in Jumpers & Cardigans in the Women’s Clothing category, the items with the word sweater have the same chance of being sold as the items with the word jumper. However, according to our analysis, when those two words were put in the listing title (e.g. Amazing jumpers / sweaters in different colours!), the transactions per item grew by 20%.

Similarly, let’s consider the case of Hoodie and Kapuzenpullover on eBay Germany. The words come from Kapuzenpullover & Sweats in the Herrenmode category. Using Hoodie in the listing title can uplift sales by 60% compared with the word Kapuzenpullover.

Another example are the words costume and fancy dress from the Fancy Dress & Period Costume category (Fancy Dress> Unisex Fancy Dress) on eBay UK. Having analysed transactions per item in that category, we have found that items with the word fancy dress have a 250% bigger chance of being sold compared with the items with the word costume.

It’s also worth mentioning the terms Turnschuhe and Sneaker in the category Kleidung & Accessories (Herrenschuhe> Turnschuhe & Sneaker) on the German eBay site. Including both Turnschuhe and Sneaker in the title gives you 5 times more transactions per item than including the word Sneaker only.

The above knowledge helps us find patterns and adapt our translation mechanisms accordingly.

Our aim is to use the best possible vocabulary in your listings so as to maximise your sales potential.

In a nutshell

With access to millions of global transactions, Webinterpret helps 30,000 retailers maximise their international sales. If you’re not using our solution yet, please feel free to contact us for a free trial to see how we can boost your sales.

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A sweater or a jumper? A fancy dress or a costume? We know which option will help you make online sales!

Further reading & other sources

3 myths about automated translation for international online sellers
7 must-know facts about the automatic translation of your listings [Global eCommerce]
International sales: the language barrier finally overcome
[INFOGRAPHIC] Overcome the language barrier in international eCommerce

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