Download CV
Parker Inks & Refills
Enhancing the online consumer experience
Introduction
With a rich heritage and illustrious history spanning over 100 years, Parker are currently the top-selling Fine Writing brand on Amazon throughout EMEA (UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain).*
The existing eCommerce strategy employed across Amazon EU5 ensures that Parker’s pen sales are impressive, but when it came to inks and refills, strategy was lacking and not up to the same standard.
Consumer complaints and comments also indicated a lack of awareness surrounding refill compatibility, as well as a question on the quality and authenticity of Parker’s presence on Amazon.
Inks and refills (spanning fountain pen ink pots and cartridges, as well as ballpoint, gel and rollerball refills) are incredibly important for incremental sales, serving higher margins than their pen counterparts and a propensity for repeat purchases.
With this in mind, the EMEA Content Team were tasked with refreshing Parker’s ATF (Above The Fold) strategy to address these pain points, and to further cement Parker’s reputation as a trusted, highly respected player in the Fine Writing category.
*MarketShare data sourced via Edge by Ascential, 2022.
Pre-optimisation Amazon Consumer Reviews
Jeremy
★☆☆☆☆
Totally useless
Ordered ink cartridges for Parker Vector pen. These quink refills are not good. They don’t fit Vector pen.
Davo
★★★★☆
Other pen brands may not be available!
I took a bit of a punt on these, as I had read that they MIGHT be compatible refills for (some) other fountain pen brands. But, alas, not mine. I have discovered that it isn't the length which is the problem, but the fact that I like very slim pens, and these cartridges are just a little fatter than the relevant casing of either of my pens. I'm sure Parker pen owners will be happy though.
Helen
★★★★☆
Only buy these from Amazon not third parties
I've had some of these from third party sellers which seem to be knock offs. They don't write smoothly and run out after about 20 pages or so. If you make sure that Amazon is the seller, you'll be sure to get the real thing.
Martin
★☆☆☆☆
Not packaged as in picture!
These came, not packaged as pictured, but two loose items in the plastic package. Would not recommend buying from this seller.
Project Goals
To ideate and execute an ATF strategy for Parker inks and refills at the same level of excellence as the existing pen strategy.
To increase PCOGS and Conversion Rate for Parker inks and refills on Amazon EMEA.
Challenges
Competition within the inks and refills category on Amazon is limited, so there are minimal opportunities to benchmark our content against others.
Communicating compatibility presents a struggle between wanting to promote ‘universal use’ (which is attractive to consumers), while still maintaining the ‘exclusivity’ of Parker as a brand.
Establishing a cohesive visual identity that spans many different ranges is difficult when each has their own distinctive look and feel.
One set of ATF strategy serves 5 different regions (UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain). How do we universally communicate the key messages?
Solutions
Fountain Pen Cartridges
Ballpoint Refills
➊
A cohesive visual theme was established across all inks and refills utilising Parker’s recognisable grey colour and geometric patterns.
➋
Authenticity concerns were addressed with the use of Royal Warrant marks, a Made in France icon, as well as an additional call-out to always use authentic Parker ink.
➌
We balanced exclusivity and compatibility for fountain pen cartridges by signposting Parker’s prestige in the copy, while discretely providing product dimensions and a close-up of the ink cartridge tip.
➍
We provided education on compatibility for ballpoint refills with a callout on the G2 Standard Refill design, along with product dimensions.
➎
English and French copy was utilised across all EMEA ATF images to provide global understanding (with an emphasis on the strongest markets). This was separated with the use of two different fonts.
➎
English and French copy was utilised across all EMEA ATF images to provide global
Before and After
Results
The data collated by our Analytics team shows that in the 13 weeks 'Post Go Live' date (28/01/22) with the enhanced content strategy for Parker inks and refills, we saw an uplift of 23% on PCOGS. Glance Views decreased by 17% which could be due to several external factors affecting traffic, making the increase in Conversion by 111 bps a very positive result.
We decided to collect data again 13 weeks later (noted in the table below as 'Post Post Go Live') to further monitor the impact of our optimisation efforts. The data here shows that Conversion had further increased by 404 bps - another very positive result.
It should be noted that unfortunately, PCOGS on the whole did decrease in this 'Post Post Go Live' period by 19% due to increased Lost Buy Box rates across Inks & Refills. This has been an ongoing issue since June of 2022 that the Trade & Sales teams are aware of and are working with Amazon to rectify.
Putting aside PCOGS performance however, we can confidently conclude that enhancing the content strategy for Parker inks and refills has had a very positive impact on Conversion.
Next Steps
In light of the successful results of this project, the Content Team went on to produce an additional ATF image to support the existing Parker pen strategy, highlighting the ease of installing refills (see below). This serves as an education piece for consumers, as well as driving further incremental sales for inks and refills.
With the opening of the Pixell London Studios in our Hammersmith office, the Content Team can now create e-Commerce-friendly assets, allowing us to tailor content to the specific needs and concerns of our online consumer.
Website design and content © 2024 Jenny Choi.