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Scaling an eCommerce business is no easy feat. As with anything else, learning from leaders in the space can help you avoid costly mistakes & learn tricks to hit your goals quicker. In order to scale in a reliable and profitable manner, the Blend AI team are big believers in attending, learning & networking at conferences.
Below is a list of the top ecommerce marketing conferences that have been announced for Australia in 2023 (& a couple this side 2023!). As the list grows, we will continue to expand this list.
eTail Australia 2023
Dates: 19-20 Sept 2023
Location: Grand Hyatt Melbourne
Join senior-level decision makers from Australia’s leading retailers and level up your ecommerce and digital marketing strategies. eTail Australia positions itself as “Your only opportunity to learn from and network with Australia’s leading eCommerce and digital marketing retail leaders at one time”. eTail Australia is broken into interactive roundtables, workshops & networking with some of the brightest minds in eCommerce & retail digital marketing.
Some key names on the lineup of speakers set to speak this year include:
- Marcio Oliveira - GM – Business Strategy & AT/High Sierra, Samsonite ANZ
- Negar Mokhtarnia - Director of Product, Pet Circle
- Carina Anderson - Head of Strategic Partnerships & Optimisation, Naked Wines AU
- Ian Jankelowitz - Head of Marketing - eCommerce New Business, WooliesX
- Suhaib Anwar - Head of Growth & Martech, MyDeal.com.au
Sessions range from partnerships to marketing personalisation - led by marketers from some of Australia’s larger ecommerce brands; this is a conference not to be missed.
iMedia B2B eCommerce Summit Australia
Dates: 9-11 October 2023
Location: Sheraton Grand Mirage, Gold Coast
iMedia B2B eCommerce Summit is not to be missed if you work in the B2B ecommerce space. This is one of Australia’s biggest B2B ecommerce conferences. Learn from business leaders behind some of Australia’s largest brands and experience three days of face-to-face business meetings, roundtable discussions, and world-class content, strategies and best practice delivered through diverse and captivating presentations.; iMedia is a great environment to immerse yourself in all things B2B ecommerce.
Industry leaders and experts contributing to this event:
-Chantelle Lane, General Manager Marketing, Bapcor Limited
-John Vikas, Director, Adobe Commerce, Adobe
-Joe Shaw, Head of eCommerce Australia & New Zealand, The Kraft Heinz Company
-Zac Gray, Head of eCommerce, Motion Asia Pacific
-Alice Fitch, Founder, Whola
-Brett Sinclair, Association Director, B2B eCommerce Association
iMedia B2B eCommerce summit is not to be missed & is one of the last big eCom conferences in 2023.
Southern Seller Fest
Dates: 10-12 Nov 2023
Location: ICC SYDNEY
Last year SSF conference was a major success described by many as “The best Amazon event in 2022.” It exceeded expectations, leaving participants hungry for more. This year, get ready for another 3-day magical experience teeming with insights in retail and e-commerce and and gain connections and opportunities to level up your business.
Some key names on the lineup of speakers set to speak this year include:
-Kevin King, E-commerce Entrepreneur and Mentor
-Amy Wees, Ceo, Amazing at Home E-commerce Consulting
-Tomer Rabinovich, Founder, Topdog
-Steve Simonson, Entrepreneur & Award-Winning Businessman
-Danny McMillan, PCC & Amazon Algorithm Specialist
-Paul Barron, Founder, Influx Catalysts
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Understanding the role of customers in the buying process is integral to accurately create success for your company through advertising campaigns. Testing alternative advertising copywriting is the most effective and affordable mode of generating renewed interest in your product offering and creating new audiences.
As Father's Day quickly approaches, test out some of the following ideas to strengthen your ad copies:
1. Share New Trends or Research on Spending Habits
Audiences are intrigued by statistics and facts. But more so, they are concerned with data affirming their own circumstances and choices.
For example, new studies indicate that as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, fathers have taken on more domestic work, shifting traditional notions of fathers as strictly economic providers toward identifying and accepting the role of fathers as more present caregivers.
Targeting your product offering so as to reflect these changing social norms, and acknowledging that your clientele may be faced with these changes (and other factual, societal changes), is important to not only legitimatise your brand image, but to target your product to a more appropriate audience. Try gearing your content and copy toward these statistical changes, and your products will feel more approachable and necessary for consumers.
2. Produce Less Gendered and Generic Content
As we know, father-figures come in a variety of shapes and sizes with familial bonds no longer adhering to the traditional notion of the 'nuclear' family. Making sure your content is accessible to a variety of people during the slew of father's day marketing campaigns (especially if your product offering is not geared toward a predominately male or middle-aged audience i.e. the typical 'Dad' image) will set your business apart. Acknowledging non-paternal figures, mothers, grandparents, uncles and friends are good ways to keep things inclusive - and may even aid you in gearing your product toward the right audience more effectively!
3. Run a Giveaway or Provide a Discount
Reward power is a lucrative tactic to gain interest from consumers in your company. Offering a discount or giveaway will prompt a drive in conversions and profits, allowing you to retain existing customers and attract new ones. The psychology behind this is very simple, by providing some form of recognition or 'prize', customers feel more engaged in the product offering, they are more inclined to choose your product over other competitors who are not providing a reward, and there is deeper engagement that may occur wherein customers become loyal to your business. Running promotions during important trade dates, such as Father's Day, allows a greater chance for attention as there will undoubtedly be a myriad of other advertising campaigns for competing companies circulating.
4. Market with Emotion
Eliciting emotional responses in consumers is integral to effectively persuading them. Attention bias suggests that consumers pay more attention to emotionally stimulating content that evokes a sense of surprise, excitement and nostalgia. By prompting consumers to reflect on their own experiences and feelings, a variety of persuasion tactics can be used to engage users in your product offering. For example, during Father's Day, brands could choose to focus on sentimentality to promote - eliciting feelings of sadness and nostalgia, or they could use humour as a tool to appeal to an audience that would otherwise not be a target of their campaigns.
5. Create Urgency and Demand
Amplifying feelings of urgency relies on a present feeling by consumers of wanting something. During Father's Day there is, and will be, a want for your product offering and as such, there is an integral need to turn that want in to a need. Creating scarcity, and setting deadlines are important to sway audiences, but to truly persuade, your ad copy has to truly convince the psyche. Using words and terms such as 'hurry', 'limited time' and 'last chance' create this sense of urgency in the buying process and prompts consumers to quickly necessitate a purchase. Other ways to aid consumers to shop with you include providing classic gift guide, or showcasing last minute gift ideas with some sort of reward like free delivery.
As always, remember that the images that accompany your copies are additionally important - so choose bright, clear and informative graphics to captivate your audiences and reinforce the copy ideas.
Blend helps by preparing you ahead of time, and providing your business with new and innovative copy and content ideas. Subscribe now to receive alerts about all upcoming marketing events and trade sale dates - in advance!
If you run an eCommerce store, email marketing is an important part of connecting with your customers. Although you have other marketing options, email marketing allows you to build more meaningful relationships to grow your business.
Even though social media has become a crucial part of our daily lives, platforms like Twitter and Facebook still can’t replace good old-fashioned emails. Research shows that email marketing is significantly more effective than social media in attracting customers.
Utilizing email marketing in conjunction with other marketing strategies, like a customized landing page, can even increase conversion rates by up to 25%.
When you look at all of this, you can see why email marketing can be crucial to your eCommerce store. Whether you’re just starting out or want to expand, you’re going to need some email marketing ideas. In this article, we’ll explain how you can use an eCommerce email marketing strategy to grow your business.
Why Email Marketing for eCommerce?
It’s important that you build credibility and brand awareness as an eCommerce business owner. If you want to generate leads, you need to find sustainable channels to reach your target audience. Email marketing makes this possible. Let’s look at a few reasons why email marketing is important for eCommerce.
Impressive Reach and Open Rate
According to recent reports, emails reach about 79% of the people you send them to. Reports conducted by Mailchimp also show that, on average, 21.33% of the people that get your emails actually open them. This is most likely because people generally consider email content important, while social media is mostly visited for pleasure.
Emails are More Personal
When you’re building an eCommerce brand, sending emails lets you add a personal touch to your marketing. This can make your customers feel connected to your business in some way. You should also consider customizing these emails because some customers say they only engage with customized emails and messaging.
Easy to Measure
You’re going to spend on marketing when you’re building an eCommerce store, so why not consider marketing options that help you easily measure the results? With email marketing, you can track details like open rate, bounce rate, click-through rate, and unsubscribe rate; all of which help you know where you stand with your customers.
Email Marketing Statistics You Should Know About
It helps to know a little more about email marketing statistics to understand how to best reach your customers. Below we’ve gathered some important statistics you should know to help you make informed decisions when you’re creating your email marketing strategy.
Over 4.2 Billion Email Users
Email marketing offers you limitless opportunities to reach potential customers. With over 4.2 billion email users, you can rest assured that the market is there.
You can technically send emails at any time, but it’s a good idea to use a planned email campaign because it can help you perfect your eCommerce email marketing strategy. One report shows that the best day to send email marketing campaigns is Friday, which was found to have a high click-through rate. If you didn’t know plan out your email campaign, you wouldn’t know that and may not think of the day you’re sending the email.
Impressive Returns on Investment (ROI)
More than 59% of marketers say that email provides the largest ROI for them. With more than 340 billion emails sent every day, it’s a great idea to get in on these high returns by using email marketing for your business.
Email marketing, unlike social media content, also allows you to customize messages to your customers. This feature makes your audience feel valued and can influence how they see your brand.
A Great Content Marketing Channel
Email marketing is a great channel for content marketing. In fact, email marketing was the most automated digital marketing channel in 2021. As a brand owner, you’ll probably want to pay attention to this channel. You can market a variety of content to your customers without boring them.
People Read Brand Emails in Under Ten Seconds
The average consumer’s attention span is vital for you to factor into your email campaign. A Statista report shows that people spent less than ten seconds reading brand emails in 2021.
This means you either grab their attention or lose them in the first few seconds after they open your email. Make it good—you’ve got no time to waste!
5 Key Emails to Set Up
Here are five key types of emails you should write as an eCommerce store owner.
The Welcome Email
Will your audience continue to open your emails? Your welcome email will determine that. Your job with this email is to make a good impression in the shortest time possible. Make sure it’s memorable because this will make for a soft landing for the rest of your campaigns.
If you get your welcome email right, you might just win some returning customers. A good welcome email should welcome your new subscribers, thank them for subscribing, and let them know what to expect. You may even want to consider adding some appealing, simple graphics to help get their attention.
The Engagement Email
Even though email marketing has a wide reach, you still have to make sure your emails engage your readers. Your goal in this email is to get your audience to take action. You can tell them you offer free shipping or some other incentive that would interest them. Getting them to claim incentives helps to keep their interest.
The Upsell Email
As a brand owner and marketer, your goal is to build relationships and make it easier to upsell. Upselling is ultimately getting a potential customer to buy a more expensive product. One of the most popular ways to do this is to suggest more expensive items or services that go well with what they’re already buying.
When a customer thinks, “Wow! I do need a [insert expensive product] to go with my [purchased product]!” it improves their average order values and is good for your bottom line.
The Cart Abandonment Email
Everybody has done this at one point or another.. You add tons of items to your cart and leave them there. Sometimes people forget to check out because of distractions. It could also be because of high shipping prices.
A cart abandonment email is a way to check on your customers and remind them about their items. You can also use this email to advertise cheaper shipping options.
The Win-Back Email
Eventually, someone is going to unsubscribe for whatever reason. A win-back email is your chance for them to tell you how you can address any issue they might’ve had. It lets you re-engage previous subscribers to see how you can get them back. It might not work 100% of the time, but why not give it a go?
How to Write for Your Audience
The biggest lesson in email marketing is understanding that it’s not generic. The best brands create a specific tone and style to address their audience. To have a meaningful relationship with your customers, you need to know how to write specifically for them.
Start by understanding their needs as customers. When you write emails that resonate with your customers, you sell to them indirectly by sustaining their interest. If they stay interested, your follow-up campaigns will most likely be well-received.
We’ve discussed that most emails are read in under ten seconds, so you don’t want to waste any time by writing long, boring emails. Keep it short, warm, and friendly. Don’t forget to use your emails to introduce new offers and specials to your customers. This shows them you have their interests in mind, which is a great way to strengthen your relationship.
Final Thoughts
Email marketing is a journey. If you want to be successful, you’ve got to learn the tricks of the trade. Knowing important eCommerce email marketing statistics like the ones we shared today will help you create more effective campaigns.
With sustainable campaigns, you can improve your conversion rates and ultimately get more sales. Remember, you can’t always capture 100% of your audience. Start small and celebrate each win.
With Black Friday and Cyber Monday around the corner, are you ready to give your customers what they want? Here’s what people are looking for when deciding where to shop during the November sales events:
🔥 Top Priorities for Shoppers 🔥
- Best Value for Money
- Lowest Prices
- Unbeatable Deals
- Free Shipping Options
- Strongest Discounts
- Best Quality & Reviews
- Hassle-Free Returns
- Always In Stock
- Ability to Compare Brands
- Widest Assortment
- Unique Products They Can't Find Elsewhere
- Sustainability & Ethics
Focus on value, unbeatable prices, and hassle-free experiences, and watch your sales increase.
Source: Statista
Everyone expects to see big “70% off” signs during Black Friday, but is that really the best strategy for your business?
💡 It’s not just about the discounts — it’s about the deals that work for YOUR brand.
The right Black Friday promotion doesn’t have to mean cutting deep into your profits. The best approach is to think strategically about what aligns with your business goals and customers’ needs.
- Want to increase your average order value? Try bundling products or offering tiered discounts to get your customers spending more!
- Looking to move inventory? A Buy One Get One Free deal or flash sale can clear those shelves fast.
- Need to stand out? Create exclusive product launches or offer a mystery discount to build excitement and curiosity. 🤩
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach. Pick deals that fit your brand and business goals. Your customers want more than just big % signs — they’re looking for value, unique offers, and an experience they can’t find anywhere else.
With the right discount strategies, you can drive traffic, increase sales, and make the most of this high-demand shopping season.
Download our Discount Model to calculate COGS, Gross Profit, Gross Margin, Contribution Margin and more.
Here are discounts and deals for Black Friday:
- Tiered Discounts: Offer increasing discounts based on how much a customer spends. For example, “Spend $100, get 10% off; spend $200, get 20% off.” This encourages larger purchases and can be particularly effective if your average order value is lower than you'd like.
- Buy One, Get One Free (BOGO): Provide a free item when a customer purchases another. This is particularly effective for clearing out inventory or encouraging the purchase of high-margin items.
- Bundle Deals: Package multiple products together at a discounted rate. This works well for complementary products and can increase the perceived value of the purchase.
- Flash Sales: Offer deeply discounted prices for a very limited time, such as one hour or until a set amount of stock is sold. This creates urgency and can drive quick purchases.
- Sitewide Discounts: Offer a blanket discount on all products in your store, such as 20% off everything. This is a straightforward approach that appeals to a broad audience.
- Free Shipping: Remove shipping costs for all orders or for orders over a certain amount. This is particularly appealing for customers who are hesitant to pay extra for delivery.
- Gift with Purchase: Provide a free gift when customers make a purchase over a certain amount. This works well if you have surplus inventory or promotional items.
- Mystery Discounts: Offer customers a chance to receive a random discount, such as a mystery code that gives between 10% and 50% off. The element of surprise can be a powerful motivator.
- Loyalty Rewards: Give exclusive discounts or early access to deals for returning customers or members of your loyalty program. This rewards customer loyalty and encourages repeat business.
- Limited-Time Doorbusters: Feature a limited number of high-demand products at a significantly reduced price for a short period, often at the start of Black Friday. This draws in customers early and can create a sense of urgency.
- Coupon Codes: Distribute special Black Friday coupon codes that offer discounts on specific products or categories. This allows you to control which items are discounted while still offering a deal.
- Percentage-Off Discounts: Offer a straightforward percentage discount on certain categories, brands, or products, such as “25% off all electronics.” This is simple and effective for customers who know exactly what they want.
- Price Match Guarantees: Offer to match or beat competitors' prices during Black Friday. This builds trust and can prevent customers from shopping elsewhere.
- Referral Discounts: Provide discounts to customers who refer friends or family to your store. Both the referrer and the referred customer receive a discount, encouraging word-of-mouth marketing.
- Subscription Discounts: Offer a discount on subscription-based products or services for the first few months, encouraging customers to try out a subscription model with a lower initial cost.
- Early Bird Specials: Offer special discounts to customers who shop early in the day or pre-order items before Black Friday. This can help manage demand and avoid overwhelming your website or staff later in the day.
- Buy More, Save More: Encourage larger purchases by offering increasing discounts based on the quantity of items bought. For example, “Buy 2, get 15% off; Buy 3, get 20% off.”
- Exclusive Product Launches: Introduce a new product on Black Friday with a special launch discount or as an exclusive limited edition. This can create excitement and attract attention.
- Cashback Offers: Partner with payment providers to offer cashback on purchases made with specific credit cards or payment methods, providing an additional incentive for customers.
- Seasonal or Thematic Discounts: Align discounts with the holiday season, offering deals on products that are popular as gifts or for holiday use. This can increase sales of seasonal items while fitting the festive spirit of Black Friday.
