It’s been a barnstorming year for online sales, and the UK’s sofa sellers have worked hard to make the most of the opportunities – Salience’s Natalie Took looks at the players doing a good (and not-so-good) job of standing out …
If this year has taught us anything, it’s the importance of having a good digital presence. Lockdowns have put the shutters up on high streets and retail parks, begging the question, if customers can’t find you online, how can you sell?
Earlier this year, Salience looked at the online sofa market in their yearly Sofa Market Report. This report looks at various KPIs in the digital marketing world to see how big brands and smaller business are doing online. So, put your feet up and have a read of some of the main findings that came out of this report …
M Sofas catch the eye
Looking at visibility, the sofa market is looking good, with an overall visibility increase of +2%. This means that brands who specialise in this market are becoming more visible on search engines than general brands.
Within this overall increase there have been some incredible winners, and those that have let their SEO strategy fray at the edges.
DFS and SCS hold the two top spots respectively, despite visibility losses. However, as smaller brands have bounced up the charts, a repeat of this next year could see these brands fall down.
M Sofas have had a brilliant year, refurbishing their visibility. With a visibility increase of +191%, they have bounced into the top five. This is the second year that this brand has climbed the rankings (last year they just made it into the top 10) – if they keep up the good work they could contend with the giants of the sofa world.
Another brand to bounce up the charts is Leather Sofa World. These guys have seen a visibility increase of +78%, allowing them to sit in eighth position.
On the other hand, there’s Sofa Workshop, whose online visibility hasn’t just started to fray at the edges – it’s completely falling apart. With a visibility decrease of -71%, they have seen a massive drop from eightth place to 18th. They definitely need a renovation!
Natuzzi gets social (safely)
Staying connected has been important during lockdowns, and this is just as important for brands and customers. Social media is the perfect place to stay connected and engage with both existing customers and potential customers.
Leading our social charts are DFS. However, they actually have a very low owned social score. They are leading purely due to brand reach – not an unusual situation for such a well-known high-street brand.
If you remove the brand reach, Natuzzi is leading by a long way. With an owned social score of over 2000, they score over three times that of Loaf, who come in second. Natuzzi have over 1.6 million followers over a number of platforms. Sharing high-quality images, they gain thousands of likes. But they are not really doing anything stand-out, so if another brand started to do more on social, they could easily take over.
There’s lots to look at in digital marketing, and those with good strategies are certainly likely to do better during lockdowns.
