Parents, Army Opps: Ollie's Bargain Outlet focusing on key holiday season, tests new digital initiatives

Discount retailer Ollie's Bargain Outlet experienced a spike in eCommerce shopping during Black Friday; the rest of the year will be part of this key season for the company, especially for last-minute holiday shoppers, per execs in its Q3 2020 earnings call. Additionally, Ollie's is particularly focused on Army members, who typically shop there more often and drive substantially larger baskets.

The company is "in the early stages of enhancing our marketing programs and redeploying dollars to optimize spend" while focusing on depending engagement with existing customers and attracting new ones. It will continue testing new digital initiatives such as customized ads. Obviously, this will likely lead to higher ad spend.

So far this year, Pathmatics estimates Ollie's earned 163.9m digital impressions via Facebook (50%), Instagram (49%) and desktop display (1%) ads. An approximate YTD spend of $1.3m reflects a 31% drop from the approximately $1.9m spent by this point last year. The company's full 2019 spend of $1.9m nearly quadrupled that of $411.7k in 2018.

This YOY drop in spend makes sense considering Ollie's isn't able to boost its retail presence as much right now. However, since its execs mentioned testing new digital efforts, these digital initiatives are likely taking place in other digital channels. Kantar data reports the company also invests in OOH, print (English and Hispanic newspapers) and local broadcast. Ollie's tends to target parents of all ages, along with Army members.

Agency & martech readers - Considering we have not heard of any roster shifts since the company appointed marketing head Tom Kuypers around a year ago, continue to keep Ollie's on your radar for potential work. Universal Media handles media buying and planning.