Product

Intelligence
for E-commerce
Build experiences that drive
repeat purchases
 “
Product Intelligence for E-commerce

Introduction
ECOMMERCE IS
When it comes to retail, the future is written online.

GROWING AT A
Although still relatively a small slice of the overall retail
marketplace—approximately 16 percent—ecommerce is

PACE THAT FAR

growing at a pace that far outstrips the industry as a whole.

OUTSTRIPS
Online spending was up 14.9 percent in 2019, according
to Digital Commerce 360’s analysis of U.S. Department of

THE INDUSTRY
Commerce statistics. By comparison, retail sales overall
grew by only 3.8 percent. As all things digital continue
to dominate and with more direct-to-consumer channels
than ever before, online business is driving the entire
sector, accounting for more than half of retail growth.
AS A WHOLE.
And the world continues to change in ways that are only
accelerating shopping’s digital transformation.

By now, these statistics tell a familiar story, including

the disappearance of brick-and-mortar retailers (12
retailers went bust in 2018, shuttering more than 1,500

2
Product Intelligence for E-commerce

storefronts, according to Digital Commerce). But online

sellers face their own challenges, including an increasingly
crowded, fast-evolving field. Their success will require an
understanding of the critical trends shaping the market—
3
and the resources to stay just ahead of them.

The New Normal

As tempting as it might be to see ecommerce and traditional
retail as completely distinct, today’s customer experience
defies easy division, often merging the digital and analogue.
NEW
In this omnichannel reality, shoppers expect brands to
meet them wherever they are, whether that’s on social
media, online, in their inbox, or on their main street. In
fact, consumers are looking for a full-service solution
that melds these approaches, including linking online and
physical stores. The savviest brands are already doing this;
Nike, for one, has an app that helps customers find items
they are looking for in brick-and-mortar locations.

3
 “
Product Intelligence for E-commerce

Unsurprisingly, mobile devices are playing a major part

in this phenomenon. According to a report by Statista,
approximately 11 percent of online shoppers make
purchases using their smartphones every week. To be
sure, the growing role of social media as a marketing and
APPROXIMATELY
advertising tool is fueling this trend. Hubspot reports that 11 PERCENT OF
ONLINE SHOPPERS
lead conversion rates from social media are 13 percent
higher than the average lead conversion rate across all
channels. There are pitfalls for brands who fail to heed
these shifts: Almost 30% of smartphone shoppers will
USE THEIR
switch sites if the shopping experience is not optimized for SMARTPHONES TO
MAKE PURCHASES
their devices, according to research by Google.

Indeed for brands, there is perhaps nothing more

important than understanding their customers’ journey
ON A WEEKLY
across platforms, channels, and campaigns. BASIS

4
Product Intelligence for E-commerce

A Targeted
HEY ALEX,
chek out the new arrivals of
your favorite shoes brand.
Approach
Also available in your
favorite colors.
To stand out from the crowd, brands are getting increasingly
12:15 personal—to significant results.

To be sure, online shopping has opened broad new

12:15 avenues for generating revenue. But it has also challenged

long-held ways of doing business. Without the opportunity
to build brand loyalty through the human connection
provided by a store clerk, companies have had to
find new ways of cultivating meaningful relationships
with customers—and demonstrating they understand
their needs, as soon as they arise. In other words:
personalization.

A customized approach can translate to as much as 10

to 20 percent more efficient marketing and greater cost
savings, and a 10 to 30 percent boost in revenue and

5
 “
Product Intelligence for E-commerce

retention, according to research by McKinsey, as well

as long-term benefits such as customer satisfaction.
And with so much competition, a brand’s survival may
depend on it; research shows consumers are increasingly
looking for personalization to help them cut through the 75 PERCENT OF
CONSUMERS
ecommerce noise. A study by the Aberdeen Group found
that 75 percent of consumers said they like personalized

SAID THEY LIKE

messaging and that 61 percent of consumers prefer
personally relevant offers, even if it comes at a risk of

PERSONALIZED
reduced browser privacy. That would seem to help explain
the meteoric rise of the subscription model, which a
recent McKinsey study found to have grown 100 percent
every year for the previous five years, one of the many
innovations brands have launched to meet consumer
MESSAGING
demand for customization. Others include direct chats,
text ordering, and custom pricing. Identifying which
approaches, or combination of approaches, work best, can
make or break a company.

6
Product Intelligence for E-commerce
NORTH STAR METRIC
What’s your Product’s
North Star?
What reflects the value that your customers
get from your product?
What is your overall product strategy?
What measurement of engagement that
is a leading indicator of revenue?
7
The North Star
Framework
Indeed, as the industry continues to undergo tremendous
and fast-moving change, companies with an effective
product strategy will have a better shot at staying afloat.
The first step: identifying a North Star metric. The key
measure of success for a company or one of its product
teams, the north star defines the relationship between
the customer problems that the company or product team
is trying to solve and the revenue that the business aims
to generate in the process. It’s also a direct measure of a
company or product’s impact. Unlike such metrics as DAU
or monthly revenue, the North Star speaks directly to the
value delivered to customers, and as a result, is a leading
indicator of future revenue.
Choosing the right one comes down to a company’s core
customer engagement model, or in other words, what
Product Intelligence for E-commerce

“game” it is playing. Amplitude’s own research into three

trillion user actions and the products at more than 40,000
companies has shown there are three possible games:
attention, productivity, and transactions. Most companies
in the ecommerce industry play the transaction game (how
many commercial transactions does your user make on
your platform)). In the transaction game, the North Star
might be the number of repeat purchases in a week or
number of orders placed by subscribers in a month.

To learn more about discovering your company’s North

Star, see Amplitude’s North Star Playbook.

8
Product Intelligence for E-commerce

The Amplitude
Advantage
A pioneer in product intelligence, Amplitude is well-positioned
to help ecommerce companies to stay competitive in this
rapidly changing retail landscape. Our offerings empower
ecommerce companies to build products that deliver
frictionless customer experiences, experiment with ease, and
target the right customers with the right offers at the right time
to drive purchases.

DRIVE RETENTION AND MONETIZATION

When it comes to your bottom line, nothing is more

important than ensuring users come back for repeat
purchases. Amplitude helps you analyze your users’
paths to purchase in Funnels, and then, in just one click,
uncover why certain users convert and others don’t with
Conversion Drivers. Meal kit service Blue Apron boosted

9
Product Intelligence for E-commerce

its conversion rate by 5.5 percent after it used Funnels to

analyze which pages customers visited before signing up Conversion Drivers
for the service. Investigate behaviors performed before conversion or drop-off potential drivers.

Share

FOSTER OMNICHANNEL GROWTH CONVERSION STEP Converted Dropped Off

Analyze behaviors performed before conversion
between this step Step 2: Main Landing Page
30,8% 69,2%

Knowing what channels and platforms motivate users and this step Step 3: Complete Purchase

Step 3: Complete
56,142 125,921

during last 30 days

to return to your product and move through important

Project

milestones is critical to driving a better customer Converted

Behavior of 56,142 converted users
Dropped Off
Behavior of 125,921 dropped off users

experience—and, in turn, repeat purchases. You can

View Recommendation +0.93 1.54 100% 100%

analyze first, third, or fifth purchases in three clicks with Correlation data Hide event

Historical Count. Instacart used Amplitude’s suite of

products to track users across web and mobile to get a
complete picture of user behavior, from landing page to
check out, boosting its activation rate by 10 percent. 220M 8.61M 0.623% 0.340%
Apr 29 - May 29 May 28 since May 27 since Apr 29

10M

UNDERSTAND USER BEHAVIOR 7.5M

5M

2.5M

Understanding user segments’ likes and dislikes is the 0

key to unlocking the behaviors that lead to conversions

Apr 30 May 2 May 4 May 6 May 8 May 10 May 12 May 14 May 16 May 18 May 20 May 22 May 24 May 26 May 28

and higher AOV. Amplitude’s Behavioral Cohorts identifies

the personas you need to know to customize your

10
Product Intelligence for E-commerce

experiences, offerings, pricing, and packaging. Follow-up

by targeting them with the right message at the right time
with Amplitude Engage. Latin American tech start-up
Rappi used Engage to reduce its customer acquisition cost
by 30 percent, while increasing first-time orders by 10
percent.

SUMMARY

It’s a heady time for ecommerce. With growth all but

guaranteed for years to come, online shopping will be a
continued point of focus for companies looking to expand,
a phenomenon that will also bring with it increased
competition and market disruption. The smartest players
will invest now, before it’s too late.

SHOP NOW

11
Product Intelligence for E-commerce

ABOUT AMPLITUDE

Amplitude is the leading product intelligence platform

that helps companies use their customer data to build
great product experiences for systematic business growth.
Headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York,
London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Singapore, Amplitude
is the cross-platform intelligence solution of choice for
modern product and growth teams. Amplitude serves over
30,000 teams at companies like Microsoft, Twitter, Adidas,
CapitalOne, NBC, Hubspot, and Procter & Gamble.

12
Learn more
www.amplitude.com/sales-contact