Results from the recent Fall Savings promotional period seem to be mixed on the surface, but a deeper dive into the details shows that Independent retailers were able to make the most of the current economic environment.

According to the latest Fall Savings Retail Report, powered by PriMetrix, total units sold during the period were down a little over 3 percent year-over-year, while total volume was up over 3.5 percent. This marks the third promotional period in a row that year-over-year volume increased, a positive sign heading into the final quarter of the year. It was also just the second event to see an annual decrease in the total units sold.

Where Independent retailers performed particularly well was in their ability to upsell customers into larger packages throughout the Fall Savings event.  Leveraging the group’s “Buy More, Save More” messaging, Independent retailers outperformed the industry average in terms of package sales. Where the industry hovers around 74 percent of all purchases being made under duress – meaning they only sell single-piece packages – Nationwide Marketing Group dealers came in 10 points lower at 64 percent. Two-piece packages accounted for 21 percent of all sales during the period, followed by three-piece packages at 7 percent and four-piece packages at 4 percent.

Of the one-piece packages sold, most (45 percent) were a refrigerator, followed by cooking (24 percent), laundry (19 percent) and dish (12 percent).

Sticking with the top-four categories in the appliance space, refrigerators were the clear winner during the Fall Savings period. Volume in the category rose 6.2 percent year-over-year while units sold fell just 0.5 percent. Refrigerators also accounted for 40 percent of all sales by volume, up 1 percent from last year.

Digital Domination

The Fall Savings event provided the first glimpse at the impact of NMG’s OneShop digital platform on retailers’ performance throughout a promotional period. For the Fall Savings event, the top retailers with transactional websites that leverage OneShop’s digital tools saw the number of ecommerce orders increase by 65 percent, on average, according to the report. Ecommerce revenue among the same retailers was up 143 percent on average, with one retailer seeing their online revenue jump 644 percent. And average the ecommerce ticket was up 28 percent.

NMG digital products also helped drive more customers to retailers’ websites throughout the period, according to the report. Total impressions were up 29 percent year-over year, while the average cost per click was just $0.43 (compared to an industry average of $2.11) and the average click through rate was 1.19 percent (nearly double the industry average of 0.61 percent).

For a deeper dive into the report, NMG Members can check out the full Fall Savings Retail Report, powered by PriMetrix, over on MemberNet (login required).