A significant 79% of online retailers in the UK are suffering from digital marketing headaches, new research commissioned by Coremetrics has found, and a massive 96% of marketers in the retail sector are not measuring ROI across all of their marketing tactics. Furthermore, 25% do not measure ROI across any online marketing tactics at all.

The biggest marketing headaches are deciding where to spend marketing budget, for nearly a third of respondents, and knowing how to determine ROI on elements of their marketing mix, for 29%. The other main problem areas include:

• Comparing campaigns across vendors and channels (32%)
• Information overload about digital marketing initiatives (23%)
• Understanding relationships between campaigns (14%)
• Understanding which campaigns are driving customer acquisition (9%)

Despite this lack of understanding of how to measure integrated marketing techniques, a third of respondents are expecting to add further online tactics to their marketing mix in 2009. In a bid to entice thrifty shoppers, making special offers was the top tactic expected to be implemented in the coming year. However, ‘special offers’ was the least measured tactic by those who already use it, with 90% not measuring ROI on their efforts.

“Tellingly, all the UK retail companies that have collapsed over the past month have all had a poor web presence, showing that digital is a key weapon in retailers’ arsenal,” says Coremetrics’ Richard Sheppard. “Having a strong and informed web presence, to capture customers that are abandoning the high street, is crucial for retail success in 2009.”

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