ObsessionArt, a London-based online retailer specialising in nude
and erotic prints and decor, is seeing strong sales from
international markets. Overseas sales helped contribute an
overall sales increase of 120 percent in the six months to
February 2010, compared with the same period last year.
Managing director Mark Davis attributes some of the company’s
recent international success to an attractive exchange rate, but
says that investment in web marketing further accelerated
cross-border sales development. “We have been selling
internationally-including [to the] US and Canada-since we opened
our virtual doors in 2006,” says Davis. “In fact, our
very first order was international-to Argentina.” During
the last six months, however, sales to the US and Canada have
rocketed and now account for a quarter of total sales.
Some of the website enhancements undertaken at ObsessionArt
include the launch of a PPC campaign early last year.
ObsessionArt first refined its keywords and costs in the UK
before rolling out the campaign to the States. It also
canonicalised its URLs-the process of telling search engines
which URL they should consider authoritative-to improve
natural-search rankings.
According to Davis, “there’s not a huge difference in
what’s purchased between the US and UK. I think if we were a more
mainstream product, you might start seeing more contrasts in
styles. However, we’re supplying a niche collective of art lovers
whose tastes connect across borders. Not much surprises us
anymore.” What’s more interesting he says, is the
difference in basket sizes from international customers.
“Americans tend to spend more [per order]. It seems that if
they’re going to have items shipped from the UK they want to make
the most of it and order several at once”. The largest
order ObsessionArt received from the States was “just short
of £5,000” by a customer in North Carolina.
Davis says that although the UK remains the company’s core
market, he is keen to grow his overseas business. The company is
now working on geolocation targeting to assess visitors’
countries and display more relevant content and prices in local
currency. It also plans to add more alternative payment methods
such as PayPal to further encourage international orders.
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