Don't believe the hype! The Australian digital economy VS. Australia's digital marketing

This is an opinion piece from a consumer and marketer on the outside looking at Australian digital marketing. 

·         Hype - The Australian digital economy is not big enough.
·         The Real Deal - A PayPal report has projected Australian online sales growth for 2012 to $33 billion and $37 billion by 2013 end.

·         Hype - There are not that many Australians that purchase products online.
·         The Real Deal - A PwC report highlighted that 53% of Australians aged over 15 have purchased a product or service online.

·         Hype - Australians do not spend a significant amount online.
·         The Real Deal - Competitions.com.au reported that Australians spend an average $2100 online annually. 

·         Hype - Most Australian buy from overseas online retailers.
·         The Real Deal - The competitions.com.au report stated that the majority of online purchases, 53% ($17.5 billion), were on Australian websites, compared to 20% ($6.6 billion) from international websites.     
·         The Real Deal - A CCi report stated that 74% of people who purchased online preferred buying from Australian websites than internationally. 
·         The Real Deal - 8 out of the top 10 retail websites with the most hits are Australian. 

·         Hype - Only Gen Y consumers are the most engaged online
·         The Real Deal - The competitions.com.au report also identified that 69% of Australians aged between 25-54 have shopped online.  

HYPE meaning 'Excessive publicity and the ensuing commotion'. We have been told that due to Australia's geographic location and smaller population size, we have to endure a lot of things that we really should not have to including high prices on clothes, food, and digital marketing that is not in sync with consumer expectations.   

The Australian digital economy vs. Australian digital marketing is like a fight between Ali and Mayor Robert Doyle, the digital economy is much stronger and agile than the digital marketing. This should not be the case, it should be a closer fought match, more like Rocky vs. Apollo Creed; engaging, smart, relevant and maybe someone wearing boxing trunks with the Australian flag printed on it.

Given the strong statistics mentioned above, why do i always hear from people within the industry and observers that Australian digital marketing is about three years behind the US, UK and Europe? The 'real' numbers above are not small, so why are we treating the Australian consumers like a Ted Bullpit or Con the Fruiterer. 

People are quick to cite the small population for the state of Australia's digital marketing, but why are we looking at population size? Shouldn’t we focus on the $33 billion that will be spent in 2012 and the $2100 average spend per person? The population size we need to look at is the digital population, rather than the headcount.

If we look at actual population size we will never move things forward. The digital economy is robust and growing, and this should tell us that the consumers deserve a better standard of website, email campaign, banner advertisement and overall digital marketing experience. If I were an owner of a business, why should I care how big the population is? I would only care that those people are buying from my website. When they do interact with my website, I should care that I am offering them marketing that is befitting their value to me and their digital sophistication. I should strive for my customers to bookmark my website, click on my email/online advert and engage with my company on a social network. 

The digital consumer is experiencing the good, the bad and the ugly of digital marketing strategies from marketers from all parts of the world. Australian digital marketing needs to match the best from the world; otherwise, as eCommerce truly becomes global, there will be a greater propensity to purchase on international rather than domestic company websites. Australian digital marketing needs to consistently deliver excellent digital marketing strategies and programmes across all digital channels, like that of Coca-Cola, Domino’s Pizza and Sainsbury’s. In a slow growing global economy, Australian businesses need consumers to buy Australian more than ever.      

As you know I have just arrived back in Australia and I am vocationally challenged as we speak (the wind cries unemployment). To get my head around the Australian digital market I did my homework by engaging with several Australian company websites and signing up to their eCRM programmes. There are some companies treating customers as they should with their digital marketing, such as Coles, The Age and Ozsale.com.au. My overall digital experience however feels like companies had created a digital footprint because it is the 'new black' or ‘on trend’, rather than being consumer centric. A company’s showroom is not their only business card; it's also their website, emails and other digital marketing assets.  So why would an Australian company risk harming their brand values and image by showing me a business card written on a rhino’s behind? 

The below 'WHY' list represents to me how customers are being let down by Australian digital marketing, consequently turning them into transient online shoppers. In the physical store you would never think of not having a cash-register or appropriate customer service, otherwise customers would take their patronage elsewhere, so why would they not do it online? Customers need to feel valued, so they make that return visit, which is so much easier to do online. Listed below is a sample of my 'WHY' list: 

Why... 

1.     don't you have a website, or at least a Facebook page?

2.     use flash?  

3.     have navigation options that read like the bible?

4.     do you think I have time to look through 17 pages of products?

5.     not have a ecommerce enabled website? 

6.     are all emails created as images?

7.     ask me to register my preferences, when the communications that you serve me does not utilise this insight?

8.     aren't your communications relevant to me, when I have indicated my choices to you on your preference centre?

9.     is there so much information on each page that makes the scroll as long as my arm?

10.  mail me something when the ROI is better to email me?

11.  insist that I mail you my email details?

As we look at the digital population differently to the actual population, we also need to develop digital marketing strategies and programmes to suit a company's actual standing within the digital world. A company’s digital standing could be based on digital PnL. Ideally a company's real and digital world standing should match. My perception is that majority of Australian retailers who have a medium-large business, would be considered be a small-medium business relative to other retailers in the digital economy. I would say that some of the major Australian retail chains online sales and hits would be comparable to a small online business, thus their digital marketing plans need to reflect this. Their digital marketing strategies should leverage their existing off-line assets, such as database and consumer knowledge, to help them focus on growth and retention to elevate them to the same relative level as with its physical store.

This is a country filled with smart digital marketers and consumers, so why are we persisting with having standards that are below what is acceptable, and making excuses for it? The great thing about being Australian is a love of competing and being the best. Our digital marketing standard should match or surpass the sophistication of our digital consumer, not drag them down.