Digital Marketing Analysis: Google Merchandise Store

Module Learning Outcomes

1: Have developed a critical understanding of marketing metrics, evaluation, and analytics, particularly in the context of digital marketing.
2: Develop appropriate analytical and critical evaluation skills to support organisational decision making for marketing.
3: Analyse and assess digital marketing strategies through deployment of relevant web/mobile analytical software and communicate the outcomes of this evaluation to a relevant business audience.
4: Make relevant decisions about taking forward or enhancing marketing campaigns based on this assessment and associated consultation.

The Google Merchandise Store is an ecommerce site that sells Google-branded merchandise. They sell a mix of apparel, lifestyle products and stationery across the globe. 

As one of the world’s largest companies (Statista, 2019), Google employs over 170,000 people. However, the Google Merchandise Store contributes a very small part of their overall revenue, generating around £4,000 revenue per month.

The CEO of the company, Sundar Pichai, is of the opinion that the company’s marketing strategy should try and improve merchandise sales in the future. He has recruited you as a consultant to carry out some digital marketing analysis and advise him on the digital marketing strategy of the Google Merchandise Store. Sundar has provided some specific details and instructions, which are set-out below, to guide your analysis.

1. Given its importance as a storefront, the Google Merchandise Store’s website should adhere to a high standard of accessibility and user experience (UX) in the retail industry. He feels that an accessibility and UX evaluation of his closest competitors’ websites would tell him what the industry benchmark is. This in turn will set the standard for improving his company’s website. You are required to carry out this accessibility and UX analysis on the top two players in the fashion/merchandise industry (based on your own evaluation) and report on the results of your analysis in comparison to the Google Merchandise Store. (10 marks)

Sundar would also like you to conduct some social listening into this industry, and report on the state of social media engagement, looking at most popular social networks, sentiment, influencers, engagement and content types. (10 Marks)

2. Sundar believes that quantitative metrics paint only part of the picture, and some qualitative analysis can yield insights, particularly into the mind of the target market. Accordingly, he would like you to conduct some sentiment analysis of social media comments (e.g. content or sentiment analysis), and report on the qualitative insights you have derived. (10 Marks)

3. In the next level of your analysis, you are required to assess the state of the Google Merchandise Store from a strategic digital marketing perspective. For this purpose, Sundar has given you access to the Google Merchandise Store’s Analytics account. You are expected to conduct a detailed analysis, querying the data as you see appropriate, and extract insights into the performance of The Google Merchandise Store. This analysis should be provided in the form of a Google Data Studio Report Dashboard, which should exceed no more than 5 pages and be attached as an appendix to your main report. You may also wish to supplement your Analytics data from other additional sources as you see fit. (35 Marks)

4. Having conducted several types and levels of analyses thus far, synthesise your key findings and provide recommendations for the next twelve months for Google Merchandise Store.

You are encouraged to focus your recommendations on such matters as:

• Customer segments
• User behaviour
• Landing pages and exit pages
• Search engine ranking positions
• Allocation of advertising budget
• Marketing channels
• E-Commerce performance

You may also highlight any other direction of strategic development based on your findings. Present your recommendations with good justification and business-sense. (35 Marks)