The document discusses how The Line, a lifestyle site for women, approached the holidays as a content-driven commerce business. It emphasizes differentiating through exclusive products, events, and content rather than promotions. It recommends analyzing buying habits over holidays and promotional periods to understand conversion funnels and top paths. Dashboards can provide insights into where customers are transacting in their journey and how communication strategies should be planned well in advance.

1. HOLIDAY WRAP-UP: THE EVOLUTION OF A
CONTENT-DRIVEN COMMERCE BUSINESS
Charlie Cole
@CharlieCole
CEO
The Line
Charlie@theline.com
www.linkedin.com/in/charliecole

2. Who are you?
• EVP, Fashion + Retail: Assembled Brands
– Acting CEO of two investments
• Previously: VP, E-Commerce
– Schiff Nutrition
– Lucky Brand

3. What is The Line?
• Lifestyle site targeted
at women
• Offline, non-ground
floor retail store
support
• AOV > $500
• No promotions (thus
far)

4. Holiday Challenges
• Offline, non-ground floor retail store support
• AOV > $500
• No promotions (thus far)
• (Yes, these are the exact same bullets that
describe who we are on the previous slide)

5. What motivates a shopper during the holidays?
• Be different
• Be efficient
• Be thoughtful, personal
• Be on time

6. How thinking like The Line can help you during the holidays
• Differentiate not on price
– Exclusive products
– Events
– Content
– Relationships

7. PRODUCTS

8. Exclusive Products

9. Exclusive Products

10. Exclusive Products

11. Exclusive Products

12. EVENTS

13. Events

15. CONTENT

16. Content
• What are people expecting from you?
• How can you delight them?

41. And what should you expect, look for in the holidays?
• How do you analyze a time with naturally
different buying habits?
– Also applicable to:
• Promotional periods
• New arrivals

42. Dashboards

43. Dashboards

44. Dashboards

45. More detail: Conversion Funnel
• At what point in a customer’s journey are they
transacting?
• Should you be thinking about your
communication strategy for the holidays… in
August?

46. Example: Last Click vs. First Click Interaction
• Google Analytics -> Conversions -> Attribution
MCF Channel Grouping Last Click # Transactions First Click # of Transactions
Direct 26085 17985
Other Paid Marketing 18175 21445
Organic Search 16105 18815
Paid Search 4250 5035
Referral 4210 5450
Social Network 655 760

47. Example: Top Conversion Paths
• Google
Analytics ->
Conversions
-> Multi-
Channel
Funnels ->
Path Length
Path Length in Interactions % of Total
1 21.13%
2 14.35%
3 10.67%
4 6.18%
5 5.28%
6 3.61%
7 2.37%
8 2.05%
9 1.29%
10 0.82%
11 1.32%
12+ 30.93%

48. Executive Summary
• Differentiate on more than price (or reap the
margin consequences next year)
• Think beyond a day-by-day strategy, or even a
Q4 only strategy
• Understand your limitations on your business
based on real traffic + real inventory