IF OVERALL WEB TRAFFIC IS A PIE, JB HI-FI GOT ITSELF A BIG SLICE

The rise of information technology has expanded people’s communication lines and has made communicating quicker than ever imagined.

Likewise, it presented an opportunity for businesses to get better access to their customers and vice versa.

Now, it’s no longer just paid and print mass media. Instead, a comprehensive integration and management of paid, owned, and earned media is integral to how businesses communicate nowadays. And this is something that JB Hi-Fi is doing a great job at.

If you’re in or have been to Australia, it is highly unlikely that you have not come across JB Hi-Fi at some point. JB Hi-Fi is a leading retailer in the consumer electronics market in Australia, with a variety of product lines available within an expansive network of stores at the convenience of their customers.

It’s a one-stop home appliance and electronics shop without the fuss!

PAID MEDIA

Among the various digital marketing channels of JB Hi-Fi, paid media generates the least amount of traffic to their website. This is usually the case for leading brands in their market category where consumer awareness has already been established.

Still, JB Hi-Fi has a number of paid online advertisements. Looking at their ad library, they have over 100 active advertisements on Facebook and Instagram alone.

Why do they continue to invest their time, money, and effort if the numbers make it clear that visitors themselves choose to go to the website of their own volition?

Let’s have a look at another brand we all know, shall we?

Apple is one of the leading tech companies, and only a minority of their traffic can be traced back to their paid advertisements. But this does not demonstrate that they are doing badly overall. As a matter of fact, it’s the opposite.

If I see a randomly placed ad for a brand that I am already aware of, I likely won’t engage with it at present. However, if the need arises, I am certain that going to their website or physical stores will be part of my information search. Likewise, some of JB Hi-Fi's organic search and direct website visits may have been motivated by a previously screened ad that has popped up on their devices.

In this case, advertising provides a tool to strengthen brand recall and let JB Hi-Fi be the first thing that pops into people's heads when it comes to consumer electronics. While many may not click on the SHOP NOW call-to-action button on their published ads just yet, it reminds them of where to go when the need arises.

JB Hi-Fi is a testament that the amount of paid advertising a company invests in does not decrease as it becomes more and more well-known. Instead, consistent online presence only gets more critical to maintaining their position and remaining relevant, especially since a large chunk of the audience they cater to is made up of tech savvies.

EARNED MEDIA

A large slice of JB Hi-Fi's website traffic is generated by organic search. Meaning, people go to search engines, type some word combinations in the search box, and eventually click on JB Hi-Fi's blue-linked search result.

Using keywords is key, it’s in the name ;)

Some of the ways that this can be optimized are by strategically placing keywords on your website that your target audience might look up. You can reverse engineer this by putting yourself in your customers' shoes and imagining potential pain points, then identifying how questions will be asked to attain solutions.

For instance, a lot of people might be having a hard time looking for a gift for Father's Day. Even more, something that they can buy at a great deal. JB Hi-Fi combined these ideas into one strategically worded heading -- "Dad deals".

As a result, if you look up Father’s Day deals, JB Hi-Fi appears as a top result on Google.

“Staffluencing”

JB Hi-Fi undertakes a number of strategies to optimize earned publicity as positively as they can on their socials. Videos of their staff advertising their product range (I call this "staffluencing" :D) have been garnering positive responses.

Customers feel that they are actually talking to someone, which therefore encourages responses in the form of an entry in the comment section.

Digital Word of Mouth

JB Hi-Fi also strategically schedules their post.

Their Barbie Monopoly post, in particular, garnered 120 shares. The product is not available until November, but to elicit anticipation, they took the chance to promote said product while the recently-premiered Barbie movie at that time was still fresh in people’s heads

By posting relevantly meaningful content, they can take advantage of the share button feature, which is technically a digital form of word of mouth. The post organically gets boosted and reaches audiences beyond JB Hi-Fi’s current followers.

Consider also the number of retweets they have generated for this post -- leveraging BTS’ huge fan base and the loyal dedication of the K-pop group’s fans.

As this content gets shared and retweeted, JB Hi-Fi earns a wider audience than they would have otherwise been able to reach. This makes user-generated messages crucial as they elicit activation in potential customers -- encouraging them to visit the website to explore and learn more.

OWNED MEDIA – The “Destination”

After all that effort to bring people to your website, it now boils down to ensuring that the information they came for is available and that they can navigate smoothly towards it.

JB Hi-Fi has a bounce rate of 38.50% and an average of 4.97 pages per visit - which are impressive numbers by the way. As we now know, majority of their website visits were done with intention; that’s why a significant number of visitors stay and browse multiple pages within the website.

Simply put, “engagement correlates with intent”.

Read more about it here: What’s a Good Bounce Rate? We Asked 500+ Analytics Accounts. Here’s the Average Bounce Rate for Websites. by Andy Crestodina

However, it is easy for people to change their minds especially when almost everything is just a click away nowadays (not to mention how our attention span declines over time). So, it is still important to ensure that people are satisfied when they leave the website.

What is JB Hi-Fi currently doing to the best of its abilities to ensure this does not happen and to smoothly funnel a website visit into an eventual hard conversion and ultimately a lifetime of customer value?

“Mr Smart pointed to JB’s significant web traffic, with nearly 6 million average total weekly sessions across both brands. He is aiming to better leverage its database with over 9 million customers across the group, and trial a new membership program in Australia called JB Perks."

- La Frenz (2022), Financial Review

In 2022, CEO Terry Smart highlighted the substantial amount of web traffic generated by JB Hi-Fi and The Good Guys, a brand that JB Hi-Fi acquired in 2016. This number has grown since, with JB Hi-Fi alone recording a monthly average of about 16 million web visits last month.

More about how well JB Hi-Fi’s website is doing: JB Hi-Fi Smashing It Online As Competitors Struggle To Match Traffic by Channel News

Notably, some of the website’s prominent features that help minimize its bounce rate while maximizing the average pages per visit are as follows:

Sticky Features

Join now for free! - generates leads

Deals for Dad! – an example of their regularly available deals

Clear and concise page prompts

JB Hi-Fi’s website menu is well-categorized into essential features, with relevant sub-selections grouped together, making pages easy to find and follow. It’s a very simple strategy that lets visitors be closer to a solution at every click, but something that is difficult to implement.

Website multi-functionality

JB Hi-Fi also helps streamline the consumer buying process by providing features that facilitate each step from when a problem has been recognized, all on the same website.

1. Information Search – Blog

2. Evaluation of Alternatives – reviews, star ratings, and product descriptions can assist with comparison among available brands

3. Purchase – E-commerce and online payment availability

4. Post-purchase – leave a review and overall service feedback; help and support for delivery, refunds and other available services

RECOMMENDATIONS

Disparity in gender traffic distribution

CEO Terry Smart said that they are getting good opportunities from young customers who regularly upgrade their devices to their latest versions, as well as from the replacement market for the home appliance product category. Interestingly, these segments are not gender-specific.

Based on their web analytics, there is a stark contrast between the total number of male and female visitors, where the majority of the site visitors are comprised of the former. Their current strategy, grounded in the above statement, demonstrates effectiveness. However, there is a potential opportunity to augment these results by targeting the female demographic and appealing to their specific needs and interests.

Live chat feature is not supported by the mobile version

70.6% of JB Hi-Fi’s web visits can be traced back to mobile users. However, a very important support feature is not *supported* by the website’s mobile version. This is particularly crucial to guaranteeing a seamless flow of the customer’s journey through the website.

While comprehensive information is available, unique enquiries and special concerns may arise in the sense that every consumer’s buying situation and preferences may differ from one another. Hence, it is important that these enquiries be addressed promptly, and live chat is one of the most convenient ways to go about it.

REFERENCES

Crestodina, A. (2021). What’s a good bounce rate? we asked 500+ analytics accounts. here’s the average bounce rate for websites. LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/whats-good-bounce-rate-we-asked-500-analytics-heres-andy-crestodina/

LaFrenz, C. (2022). Young tech shoppers to drive retail sales, says jb hi-fi boss. Financial Review. https://www.afr.com/companies/retail/jb-hi-fi-posts-7-7pc-net-profit-jump-july-strong-20220814-p5b9pa

JB Hi-Fi. (n.d.). Posts. [Facebook page]. Facebook. Retrieved August 28, 2023, from https://www.facebook.com/JBHiFi/

JB Hi-Fi. (n.d.). Posts. [Instagram page]. Instagram. Retrieved August 29, 2023, from https://www.instagram.com/jbhifi/

JB Hi-Fi. (n.d.). Posts. [Twitter page]. Twitter. Retrieved August 28, 2023, from https://twitter.com/JBHiFi?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Meta. (n.d.). Jb hi-fi ads library. Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/ads/library/?active_status=all&ad_type=all&country=AU&view_all_page_id=110323122333795&sort_data[direction]=desc&sort_data[mode]=relevancy_monthly_grouped&search_type=page&media_type=all

Semrush. (n.d.). Jbhifi.com.au July 2023 traffic stats. Semrush. https://www.semrush.com/website/jbhifi.com.au/overview/

Similarweb. (n.d.). Apple.com. Similarweb. https://www.similarweb.com/website/apple.com/#interests

Similarweb. (n.d.). Jbhifi.com.au. Similarweb https://www.similarweb.com/website/jbhifi.com.au/#interests