Royal Mail has launched a new service which uses information from the eBay market data programme to deliver information to marketers and advertisers on the kind of products purchased in particular postcode areas.
The Royal Mail Insight Tool provides access to over 140 million UK transactions made on eBay. The data — which is anonymous and aggregated to a postcode level — provides purchase history, type of products bought and levels of spend, and is refreshed monthly to give continually updated access to the latest information on purchases around the UK.
It provides breakdowns of spending habits regarding new or used purchases, peak purchasing periods, frequency and recency of purchase, age, gender, and the product brands purchased. Categories provided through the service include baby; car parts and vehicles; clothes, shoes and accessories; computing; consumer electronics; health and beauty; home and garden; mobile and home phones; sporting goods and video games, as well as over 200 subcategories.
The tool also provides information on the areas of the UK in which certain product types are frequently being purchased, the items sold and their average price.
It can also be used to isolate trends on seasonality, identify high and low spending regions over time, provide gender and age demographics via brand preference and new and used product preference. Says Royal Mail:
The tool is also linked to geodemographic profile insight provided by Callcredit Information Group’s Cameo classification, to add further depth to postcode-level profiling.
Based on this insight, campaign planners can identify other similar areas in the UK and deliver comparable audience demographics. This information can then be overlaid with Royal Mail data, a brand’s own customer database or a cold list, supplying access to a highly targeted base of prospects.
“By providing access to eBay market data, the Royal Mail Insight Tool gives advertisers and planners unprecedented levels of nationwide insight into purchase patterns, levels of spend and purchase type down to postcode level,” says Antony Miller, head of media development at Royal Mail. “This kind of insight is invaluable to brands, helping them to boost their campaign return on investment by improving planning and reducing wastage through better targeting.”
Reports cost £1,500 each with the cost being reimbursed by Royal Mail if the purchaser goes on to purchase a targeted data file for direct marketing purposes.
