An external review of digital marketing for Nisbets

1. A wonderful opportunity exists to drive sizeable online growth and ROI across Office Depot’s UK brands inc Viking & Tech Depot. The web needs to be managed and developed as a sales channel (not just a website or 2…) Office Depot’s entrepreneurial and innovative culture looks very appealing Online marketing review Saj Bhojani 7 th December

3. Home page has a transactional feel and passes the 10 second test. However navigation and styling appear outdated with room for improvement. Page is too long and above the fold dominated by single product promotions Customers value brands and can be useful navigation aids Navigation categories feel catalogue centric – too many for the web? Clear value proposition – customers know what Nisbets stand for Clear product campaigns highlight offers and keep home page fresh Not best practise positioning and thus hidden from users Not best practise positioning and thus hidden from users For a next day business – free delivery is a key message and well highlighted Very long page, circa 3 pages in depth with key messages below the fold e.g. phone number, catalogue request etc

4. Bunzl offer a comparable home page which although not best of breed does offer learnings for Nisbets e.g. basket position, use of white space and content found above the fold This is key functionality found where it should be Key messages found above the fold Customers value brands and can be useful navigation aids Space well used to convey key messages and proposition Specialist competitors do not offer any better examples….. highlighting opportunity

5. The retail approach is cleaner, efficient use of real estate following best practise usability and use of Flash. Multi channel is a key focus.

6. Category page works well – evidence of SEO on page optimisation through page titles and meta data. Merchandising and navigation below par Clear sign post that you are in Blenders These are sub categories and options for the customer to filter their results, but they are missing the number of products within each area. Also options are limited e.g. brand, price etc Brands are not dynamic or relevant to browsers session Brands are not dynamic or relevant to browsers session Useful merchandising Category pages are highly visited Blank space = missed opportunity Key function but should not be in this position – generally found at the top of page

7. Navigation highly relevant with filtering options Using a search and merchandising tool enables greater flexibly and efficiency through automated merchandising and filtering options for customer. Clear, consistent design aids user experience Dynamic merchandising drives own brand sales and promotions Image supports descriptions Brand logos are dynamic

8. Search for “Duali” returns good results – search is key to driving sales and conversion Breadcrumb ensure customer is ware of journey Good use of search function i.e. comparing & sorting products for purchase Red usually means an error on the web? Clear search summary stock availability is key Red usually means an error on the web? Clear add to basket – but designs appear outdated Good use of search attribute filtering Valuable real estate wasted

9. Useful product page which does the job – however merchandising, data sheets etc below the fold, no use of product reviews, cross sell hidden Merchandising , pdf’s. content etc below the fold Clear image and brand Clear pricing – but why red (usually suggests an error in the world of the web) Clear pricing and add to basket – but why red (usually suggests an error in the world of the web) Promotion text not overly visible

10. Clean product page that adheres to best practise and gives the customer the info they need and clear signposts for help and reassurance Useful merchandising Fact: Product reviews drive sales Social marketing drives traffic and SEO Live chat – increasing commonplace Delivery info visible above the fold

11. Link Reputation is a key factor in search engines algorithm, clearly Nisbets is a reputable site and leverages existing incoming links – however more analysis required to determine quality of links

12. Quick review of rankings shows Nisbets ranking no 1 for the term Catering equipment . However for greater volume keywords the ranking is not as good e.g. search for “office chair” result shows nothing on the first page Nisbets already at first position for “Catering equipment” The term ‘catering kitchen equipment chair’ actually has more search and work could be employed to get Nisbets ranking for these more product specific areas. Currently Nisbets don’t rank for these types of terms.

13. Opportunity to improve ranking and drive traffic Opportunity to improve ranking and drive traffic Quick review of rankings shows Nisbets ranking no 1 for the term Catering equipment. However for greater volume keywords the ranking is not as good e.g. search for “catering kitchen equipment” result shows nothing on the first page 40,500 11 Catering kitchen equipment 2400 1 Catering equipment Global Monthly search volume Position Keyword

15. Google product/base is a free method of driving traffic within natural results – however it appears Nisbets feed is not being managed. Content optimization is then key in driving rankings once feed set up complete Search for under counter fridge does not bring up Nisbets. Suppliers who have a feed into Google base with under counter fridge include those listed, but Nisbets not listed!

16. Clearly a paid search plan is in place – with some best practice being used such as manufacturers part numbers, and price within ad copy

17. However latest innovations in paid search are not yet implemented

18. Keywords are being managed, potential spend is significant due to volume of searches on some of these keywords but what's important is the ROI and the objective ie traffic or customer acquisition

19. Creative's can also be viewed... Competitive ad copy analysis enables ads to be tweaked and drive increased click through – appears that testing and optimization is limited

20. Aggregators are a great vehicle for driving brand awareness, traffic and cost effective acquisition. Nisbets feed to Kelkoo & Shopping.com appears to be lacking.

21. Clearly Nisbets have an affiliate program with Affiliate Window What is the relationship with the network? More importantly do Nisbets have a relationship with the super affiliates?

22. Affiliates can take many forms and are often experts in PPC and drive traffic to suppliers. However when affiliates are driving traffic from brand keywords such as Viking Direct – this is questionable and a poor experience for customers and costs money where the traffic is almost guaranteed anyway Customer searches for viking direct and gets 3 Viking look a likes…… If the customer chooses the affiliate advert they go to an affiliate site Eventually they get to the Viking site!!!