Channel Intelligence Blog

How do the best manufacturer web sites drive sales? Hint: through other stores

We've been collaborating with Forrester to produce research in the eCommerce space for several years, and now the latest report is out: “How the Best Manufacturer Web Sites Drive Sales (Hint: Through Other Stores)”.

This latest report outlines the importance of manufacturer web sites in eCommerce transactions and how manufacturers can capitalize on that role. It's the result of Forrester’s independent analysis of a survey conducted by Channel Intelligence, which queried more than 13,000 consumers on 20 manufacturer sites in consumer electronics, computer hardware and software, personal care, and home improvement industries. 

Some interesting facts: 43% of manufacturer web site visitors intended to buy immediately or within 48 hours. They are more brand loyal than the average online shopper, and nearly half of the survey respondents who converted reported spending an average of $200 on secondary items along with their main purchases. 

It's no secret that most manufacturer web sites are struggling with how best to capitalize on this valuable traffic. Get your own copy of the report or ask us about the best practices and recommendations that have proven to  maximize a manufacturer's contribution to the sales process!

Read the press release on channelintelligence.com.

Retailers, experiencing a drop in your Google Product Search results? Not with CI!

Recent talk within the retail community would have you think that changes to Google Product Search had almost brought to a standstill the search engine’s contribution to online sales for many retailers last month. Some retailers have reported declines of up to 60% and more. 

Why is it then that our retailers are seeing sales and traffic increases? 

In fact, comparing the first half of this year to that of 2008, Google Product Search sales are up 57% for retailers working with CI. In June 2009 alone, CI clients saw a 10% increase in traffic over May and a 27% increase in sales from Google Product Search.

Understandably, as Google tests new ways to improve its natural and paid search programs, the traffic and sales from Google Product Search are often affected. This can make it tough for any advertiser that doesn’t have the resources to continuously test and evaluate techniques for optimizing product content. CI helps its retailer clients actually take advantage of these changes,however,, with marketing experts that are constantly monitoring and analyzing results for individual clients and across the entire industry using CI’s advanced analytics.

Take Instawares, for example. With CI’s help, Google Product Search has been responsible for 9.4% of Instawares’ site traffic over the past year. In yesterday’s press release, Bruce Brown, CEO of Instawares noted that “with CI’s help Google has been a high performing sales channel” for them. Comparing the first half of this year to the first half of last year, traffic from Google Product Search was up 42% and sales up 21% for instawares.com.

Channel Intelligence is an official Google Product Search partner.

Shopping Engine Self Management Portal Gives Diapers.com a Much-Needed “Change”

We’d like to welcome Diapers.com on board with our SellCast® Solutions. Here’s their story…

Diapers.com had been advertising on shopping engines since 2007 but was outgrowing its initial service provider. The marketing team at Diapers.com still wanted to manage all the major aspects of their shopping engine program, but they needed better optimization of data feeds, better reporting--and most importantly, better management tools that would let them easily manipulate data feeds on-the-fly.

After evaluating offerings from several providers, they choose CI. 

Now after using our BETA Self Management Portal (due for September release) for over a month, they’re seeing an average conversion rate of about 4% and a return of over $6 for every dollar spent. 

See what Diapers.com had to say in the press release...