Avrora: Analytics Transformation with OWOX BI

Ievgen Krasovytskyi

Head of Marketing

Vadym Kramarenko

Growth Marketing Manager

May 30, 2024

The Customer: Avrora - Leading the "One Dollar Stores" Market in Ukraine with Over 1,400 Outlets

Founded in 2011, Avrora has quickly risen to become Ukraine’s market leader in the one-dollar store segment. Backed by HorizonCapital, Avrora operates across 23 regions and has over 1,400 stores across Ukraine.

Avrora is committed to making everyday and trendy items accessible and memorable. The company aims to create lasting memories for the children who visit their stores today and for decades to come. Avrora's vision is rooted in the belief that shopping should be both economical and enjoyable, making Avrora a household name among families in Ukraine.

Industry: Retail

Staff: Over 13,000 employees

Challenges:

❌ Reliance on basic analytics solutions with limited insights

❌ Disconnected reporting tools and data discrepancies

❌ Time-consuming, manual report management

❌ Frustrated analytics team due to tech stack constraints

Solutions:

🔄 Business logic and data model creation tailored to specific needs

🔄 Implementation of OWOX BI Pipelines, Streaming and Transformation

🔄 Innovative Reports (ROPO, RFM, Cohort, etc.) built-in Google Looker Studio

Results:

✅ 6 weeks to robust analytics system implementation

✅ 98% of Avrora’s analytical needs are now met by OWOX BI

✅ Report generation time reduced from half a day to a few minutes

✅ 10% increase in direct promo sales achieved after 1 month

✅ 500,000 → 1.5 million monthly website users in 8 months

The Challenge: Inefficient Data Handling and Disconnected Analytical Systems

Before collaborating with OWOX BI, Avrora’s approach to data analytics was fragmented and limited:

Primary reliance on basic Google Analytics for tracking general web traffic and sales data.
Use of multiple, unconnected reporting tools, including internal CRM and financial reporting systems, leading to significant discrepancies in data handling.
Extensive manual effort was required to compile monthly reports, consuming valuable time and resources.
Frustration and limitations felt by the analytics team due to inadequate tools.

Konstantin, e-commerce director at Avrora, highlighted the initial challenges:

"Initially, we used simple tools like Google Analytics, which provided basic insights. However, we soon realized the need for a more robust end-to-end analytics solution to truly understand our marketing effectiveness and customer behavior across multiple channels and devices."

Alyona, leader of loyalty at Avrora, vividly described the pre-OWOX era:

"I am a person driven by numbers and data to make informed decisions. Initially, what I found lacking was structured data – information on where customers came from, their actions on our site, and their paths."

With the basic tools at Avrora's disposal, it was nearly impossible to:

Distinguish new customers from returning ones
Get clarity on customer website behavior
Understand their purchasing patterns

Alyona further detailed the cumbersome nature of their old systems:

"Imagine trying to manage reports manually in Excel for an entire year, where large data sets would often exceed the capabilities of the software. This process was time-consuming and almost impossible to manage effectively."

Avrora's Analytics Goals

Avrora aimed to establish comprehensive end-to-end analytics to track the entire customer journey – from initial website visits through to purchase and return visits. The goal was to integrate data across various channels into a unified view, enhancing the understanding and engagement with customers at every touchpoint.

The Solution: A Tailored 5-Step Analytics Enhancement Plan with OWOX BI

Faced with the challenge of upgrading their analytics, Avrora sought a solution that not only met their specific needs but also ensured data security and trust.

When considering analytics solutions, there were top 2 priorities for Avrora:

Understanding the attribution model
Funnel analytics data

After evaluating various options, they discovered OWOX BI – a platform recognized for its customizable, secure analytics capabilities.

OWOX BI is an all-in-one marketing analytics platform that helps companies like Semrush, RainbowShops, Allo, and Comfy automate digital reporting. In the last 15+ years, we’ve served 2,000+ businesses across 23 industries.

Konstantin, reflecting on the selection process, emphasized the importance of data handling and integration:

"We assessed other platforms, but many relied on third-party services that didn’t inspire confidence. With OWOX BI, we found a partner we could trust, one that provided end-to-end analytics integral to our marketing and commercial strategies."

Alyona, leader of the loyalty program, also highlighted the decision factors:

"Choosing OWOX was driven by its strong reputation and the team’s evident expertise. From the start, it was clear they understood our needs without needing extensive explanations – a testament to their experience and customer-centric approach."

In August 2023, Avrora partnered with OWOX BI to overhaul its analytics framework.

The collaborative effort focused on 5 key steps:

User Behavior Outline: Understanding Avrora’s unique needs and challenges as a result of their client’s behavior.
Data Model Creation: Building a foundation for accurate data analysis. The new data model ensured that team totals matched accurately across over 10+ reports on the dashboard.
Setting up OWOX BI Pipelines: For data integration into single storage.
OWOX BI Streaming Setup: To enhance accurate user behavior data collection.
Deployment of OWOX BI Transformations: For data preparation and reporting on a schedule.

This strategic plan was not only about integrating new tools but also about aligning them with Avrora’s expansive retail operations and marketing strategies.

The Implementation: Seamless Integration with OWOX BI in Just 6 weeks

Avrora's diverse range of channels, including Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Viber, and email marketing required specialized integration strategies and presented unique integration challenges. Throughout the implementation of OWOX BI, Avrora's team actively participated by meticulously collecting and uploading data to Google BigQuery (GBQ), ensuring a comprehensive data framework.

The introduction of the OWOX BI platform revolutionized their analytics approach by collecting and merging data from multiple sources in a single place.

Current Data Utilized by Avrora Includes:

Advertising Data: Impressions, clicks, and costs directly from platforms like Google Ads and Facebook Ads.
User Behavior Data: Event-based tracking on the website aligns with contemporary analytics practices, providing deeper insights into user interactions.
Purchase and Cost Data: Integration of internal systems data that includes up-to-date purchase statuses and associated costs.
Organic Channel Costs: Incorporation of organic channel expenditures into the financial model, recognizing their influence on overall traffic and conversion rates.

Expanded Data Sources and Advanced Reporting

Mariia, a digital marketer at Avrora, detailed the expanded data integration:

"Besides our primary channels, we've recently integrated CPA networks and other retention tools such as Viber web-push and email marketing, enhancing our outreach and engagement capabilities."

OWOX BI's implementation also included specialized pipelines like Openexchangerates for Facebook Ads, ensuring accurate cost sync across ad spends at multiple accounts internationally.

From Complex Data to Actionable Reports

The integration process also focused on simplifying data analysis. Previously, Avrora's team had to juggle multiple systems to manage data, leading to inefficiencies and potential for error. OWOX BI streamlined this process by consolidating all siloed data into end-user-friendly reports, fastening decision-making.

Innovative Margin Report for More Financial Insights

One of the innovations that the OWOX team put together was the margin report.

It's a unique report that tracks product margins and allows end-users to access and understand data by different date ranges – an invaluable tool for day-to-day operations.

In the retail environment, margin data must align with the actual dates of income and expenses, which often differ from online behavioral data typically marked by the session date.

Now, Avrora can view and reconcile financial data for specific date ranges on a single interface. This feature ensures that Aurora's team can fully trust and rely on the data provided, enhancing accuracy in financial reporting and strategic decision-making.

Cohort Analysis Report for Customer Journey Insights

One of the key analytics tactics implemented was the advanced cohort analysis. This report leveraged Avrora's historical sales data from the CRM, allowing the team to track current customer behaviors and transactions with unprecedented accuracy.

The integration of data before the partnership with OWOX BI ensures that insights are not confined to recent interactions alone.

By incorporating legacy data into the current data model, Avrora gains a comprehensive view of customer activities across an extended timeline. This holistic approach allows Avrora to make informed decisions based on a complete picture of customer engagements over time.

Historical data integration proved invaluable, especially since Avrora had only begun utilizing OWOX BI in August 2023.

Before this integration, previous clients were inaccurately recognized as new due to the lack of historical visibility. With advanced modeling in OWOX BI, Avrora could access and analyze both online and offline sales data from preceding months, offering a holistic view of the customer journey across all touchpoints.

Alyona also commented on the utility of the new cohort report:

"The flexibility of the new cohort report is incredible. It allows us to define a customer's journey in several ways – whether they visited the website, made a purchase, or completed a pickup. This granularity helps us understand not just sales metrics, but also customer retention and engagement patterns."

Dashboard for Real-Time Promo Campaign Adjustments

The OWOX BI implementation also introduced the innovative promo report feature. This dual-view report system allowed Avrora to analyze customer preferences in depth – from products viewed to products bought. It merges data from promotional views with actual purchase behavior, providing a comprehensive view of the promotional campaigns' impact on sales.

Alyona, a data-driven professional at Avrora, shared her enthusiasm about the new promotional analysis capabilities:

"The promo report has fundamentally changed how we view our marketing effectiveness. We can now drill down into customer search behaviors on our site, linking search terms on our website to purchase decisions. This not only helps us understand what drives sales but also enables us to tailor our promotions more effectively."

This report enabled Avrora to conduct targeted promotional analysis, leading to noticeable increases in sales during strategic marketing campaigns, known as "benefit hours."

These insights allow Avrora to optimize promotional strategies and adjust marketing efforts based on real-time data coming in.

Optimized Marketing Strategies with RFM Analysis Report

The RFM (Recency, Frequency, Monetary value) analysis report is a pivotal tool for Avrora, enabling the company to dissect and understand customer behaviors in distinct segments based on their purchasing patterns. This analysis aids in identifying which customer groups are most valuable and how they engage with Avrora's offerings.

Aurora's analysts, based on the Data Model created by OWOX, have successfully integrated an RFM report into their daily operations. The key advantage here is transparency and accessibility: instead of data being siloed or hidden, it's stored in a Data Warehouse (DWH) as Modeled Objects. This storage solution is not only managed by Avrora but is also structured in a way that simplifies the creation of both regular and ad-hoc reports.

This way, Avrora can get useful information quickly and the numbers always match! As a result, it helps them target marketing based on customer information and make marketing better overall.

Setting the Stage for Scalable Growth

The installation of OWOX BI transformed Avrora's approach to data analytics from a fragmented data collection into a smooth, insightful process.

The immediate access to integrated reports empowered the marketing team to make informed decisions swiftly.

Mariia reflected on the operational improvements:

"Implementing OWOX BI has saved us countless hours and also given us the clarity and confidence to make data-driven decisions rapidly."

By integrating OWOX BI, Avrora has established a solid foundation for the decision-making process for digital and marketing teams, setting the stage for continued growth.

The Benefits: Why Avrora Chose OWOX BI Over Other Solutions on the Market

OWOX BI stood out to Avrora for its robust capabilities, but what’s even more important, is team expertise in setting up analytics for e-commerce brands.

It was all about advanced platform and experience in cohort analysis for a detailed examination of customer behaviors and trends, beyond just successful transactions, a deep understanding of return-online-purchase-offline analytics and so much more, because this depth of insight was very important for Avrora to grow its sales and personalize customer communications to boost conversion rates.

Avrora's search for an analytics solution led them to OWOX BI, a platform that stood out for being a holistic, true all-in-one, data security and ownership, offering a 360-degree view of customer actions that matched Avrora's specific needs.

Key Factors Driving the Decision

Integrations: OWOX BI provided seamless data integration for Avrora’s diverse marketing channels.
Trust and Security: Unlike other platforms that relied on third-party services, OWOX BI offered a secure, in-house solution that Avrora could trust with its sensitive revenue data.
Customization and Flexibility: The ability to tailor the platform to fit Avrora's unique operational requirements sets it apart from other tools.

Digital marketer Mariia from Avrora added:

"Joining Avrora in 2023 and encountering OWOX BI was a revelation because it helped us save lots of hours on report generation and reduce our reliance on manual data handling.

We now have a clearer understanding of our marketing ROI and can allocate resources more effectively. OWOX BI addresses nearly 98% of our analytical needs that were previously unmet by other platforms."

Empowering Avrora with Advanced Analytical Tools

With OWOX BI, Avrora gained access to powerful instruments that enabled daily insights into customer behavior, such as:

New vs. Returning Customers: Accurately identifying the frequency of visits and customer loyalty.
Purchase Frequency and Average Order Value: Understanding spending behavior to tailor marketing strategies.
Lifetime Value Prediction: Estimating the long-term value of customer relationships.

Importantly, these analytics are not based on conventional definitions, such as assigning new client IDs for new users. Instead, Avrora utilizes advanced profiling techniques that ensure accurate identification of new and returning users by dynamically updating connections based on observed identifiers.

These in-depth insights empower Avrora's team to tailor their communications and manage sales more strategically.

Alyona, a data-driven professional at Avrora, highlighted how OWOX BI revolutionized Avrora’s approach to promotional campaigns:

"Previously, preparing for mailings was cumbersome, involving tedious manual work with spreadsheets. Now, thanks to OWOX BI, I can quickly segment our audience and prepare targeted communications in just a few clicks, allowing for more effective marketing outreach."

Measurable Results and Impact

In early 2024, Avrora began to see significant improvements in its marketing communications, attributed to the insights provided by OWOX BI.

Alyona also shared:

"We saw about a 10% increase in direct promo sales within just a month of using OWOX BI’s data. Moreover, communication with clients, which used to take hours, now takes mere minutes, freeing up valuable time for strategic initiatives.”

Our approach with Avrora was to build everything on a solid data model from the start. This alignment ensured that all data across reports was consistent and reliable, eliminating discrepancies and confusion. Now, Avrora’s team can access unified data exactly when they need to make decisions.

One notable achievement was the significant increase in Avrora's monthly active users (MAU) from 500,000 visits to 1.5 million visits within just 8 months following the implementation of OWOX BI.

Avrora's team underscored the OWOX BI platform's comprehensive capabilities:

reduces the time spent collecting data
makes it easier to generate reports
simplifies the creation of ad-hoc reports
provides deeper insights into advertising efficiency
saves a lot of time
cuts down on marketing costs

Konstantin, as a key stakeholder at Avrora, summed up the collaborative journey:

"Working with OWOX helped us build a holistic system that matched our ambition for extensive, reliable analytics. Their approach didn't just meet our expectations; it anticipated and adapted to our evolving requirements, ensuring that as our business grows, our analytics capabilities scale accordingly."

Avrora’s choice of OWOX BI over other solutions has completely redefined its analytical approach, embedding a culture of data-driven decision-making that continues to drive its market success.

The Impact: Enhanced Efficiency

The integration of OWOX BI has revolutionized Avrora's approach to operational efficiency, data analytics, and marketing strategies:

Time Savings: The adoption of OWOX BI has drastically reduced the time required for report generation. What previously took half a day now takes mere minutes, freeing up valuable resources for strategic tasks.
Enhanced Data Accuracy: With unified reporting systems, Avrora enjoys more reliable data, which enhances the agility and accuracy of decision-making processes.
Improved ROI: Detailed analyses of marketing channels and customer conversion paths have enabled Avrora to fine-tune its marketing efforts, achieving higher returns on investment.

Alyona, reflecting on the changes, noted:

"The shift to OWOX BI has empowered us to gather data and discover insights that inform our marketing strategies in real-time. The ability to quickly segment customer data and tailor our communications has been particularly beneficial."

Summarizing the Impact with Key Attributes

When we asked Avrora's team to describe their collaboration with OWOX in a few words, here is what they shared:

Expertise: The OWOX team’s deep understanding of Avrora's needs has enabled tailored analytics solutions integrated seamlessly with existing operations.
Speed: The efficiency brought by OWOX BI has significantly accelerated Avrora's reporting capabilities, enabling faster, more informed business processes and decisions.
Proactivity: The OWOX team's forward-thinking approach has kept Avrora ahead of potential challenges, continuously adapting to evolving reporting needs.
Comfort: The ease of interaction with the OWOX team and the ability to address and solve problems quickly has made us a valued partner.
Loyalty: The OWOX team's commitment to meeting Avrora's needs has fostered a strong, trusting relationship.

Project manager Vitalii at Avrora added:

"The comfort and expertise provided by OWOX have been exceptional. They've consistently understood our needs without a detailed explanation and have been proactive in offering solutions. This support has made every stage of the project not just bearable, but a pleasure."

Leader of the loyalty program, Alyona provided a vivid analogy and insights into the speed improvements:

"Working with OWOX is like finally having a rearview mirror in a car, allowing us to see clearly what lies behind and accelerate confidently. This speed is crucial in our industry, as any delay could mean losing market share."

These enhancements have not only improved operational efficiency but have also provided Avrora with strategic insights that drive more effective marketing and business strategies.

The Next Steps: Expanding the Use of OWOX BI

As Avrora looks to the future, the emphasis is on further leveraging OWOX BI capabilities to build new reports and therefore refine and expand its marketing and customer engagement strategies.

Future Plans Include:

Building more reports: Leveraging more sophisticated analytics strategies to dive even deeper into customer data.
Customer Segmentation: Utilizing existing data to segment customers more precisely, improving the effectiveness of campaigns.
Behavioral Analysis: Exploring new tactics to analyze customer behaviors and trends to better understand purchase triggers.
Marketing Campaign Optimization: Using insights gained from reports built with OWOX BI to constantly refine marketing strategies across all channels for higher ROI.

Konstantin from Avrora shared:

"Our next step is to enhance our customer profiling and tailor our marketing efforts even more closely to meet customer needs, using the detailed analytics that OWOX BI provides.

This approach isn't just about improving existing practices; it's about setting a new standard in how we interact with our market."

Avrora mentions that they are always on the lookout for new ideas and solutions that can enhance their reporting and customer insights. They are open and willing to adopt innovative approaches are key drivers in our ongoing partnership with OWOX.

Technical Insights and Forward-Looking Statements

Product Owner Artem at Avrora reflecting on the technical cooperation, noted:

"Implementing OWOX BI was a new and enlightening experience for our technical team. The process was seamless, and the results have been impressive. It’s clear that the synergy between our teams has been fundamental to the success of this project."

Head of the technical support department of the online store Maksym at Avrora added:

"Handling the data integration with Google BigQuery was straightforward, thanks to the comprehensive documentation and the robust support from OWOX. It’s reassuring to work with tools that simplify complex processes so effectively."

Our work with Avrora is a prime example of how open collaboration and a willingness to adapt can lead to remarkable outcomes.

We appreciate Avrora’s proactive approach and are excited to continue supporting them as they explore new analytical frontiers.

OWOX's Commitment to Avrora's Success

As Avrora continues to evolve its analytical capabilities, OWOX remains a very important partner, providing continuous support and analytics expertise.

This partnership not only reflects the technical capabilities of OWOX BI but also underscores the strategic value of a data-driven approach in modern retail operations.

Konstantin, e-commerce director at Avrora, sums up the journey with OWOX BI:

"Our partnership has been about much more than just implementing a new analytics system. It’s been about transforming our entire approach to business intelligence, which has made a significant difference in how we operate and engage with our customers."