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.

Sales on the Rise for Retailers on the CI Ad Network

Looking back over the first few months of this year, the retail industry showed no signs of growth, according to ComScore's State of the U.S. Online Retail Economy in Q1 2009. Zero growth is quite a drop considering that online sales grew over 20% every year since 2003 before dipping to 8% in 2008.

While many retailers are having a tough time, we thought we'd look at how the CI Ad Network, our proprietary advertising network, is faring. If you're not familiar with the Ad Network, it's a where-to-buy solution that appears primarily on manufacturer web sites, linking product pages to retailers that have those products available.

Examining data from January through May this year, the following categories averaged positive month-over-month gains on the CI Ad Network:

• Appliances saw an 11% increase in traffic and a 25% increase in sales
• Health Aids and Medicine achieved a 23% increase in traffic and 34% increase in sales
• Baby and Safety Products increased traffic slightly by 1% and garnered 14% more in sales
• Lawn and Garden's seasonal traffic spike of 81% sustained a 92% increase in sales

For some time now we've been seeing that a large segment of customers prefer to buy via trusted channels like a manufacturer's web site. This preference explains why the CI Ad Network is seeing rising sales even while online sales as a whole remain flat. In a down economy, consumers are very selective in their product purchases, which benefits brand conscious manufacturers with a loyal customer base.

Coby's Clean Where to Buy Experience

I often evaluate manufacturer web sites to rate the effectiveness of their Where to Buy implementation. Coby Electronics has done an excellent job of creating a simple flow for users. Combining clear navigation with a well designed site, Coby makes it easy for people to buy.

I use eight best practice criteria to evaluate each web site. These include: number of clicks to get to a product page, showing MSRP, link design (button or text), link text (active or not active), button position (above or below the fold), button positioned close to the product image, button contrast (color, size, white space) and the number of buying options on the page.

Using these criteria the site is rated on a 1 to 10 scale, where 10 is excellent. Coby rates a 9.0. The only thing Coby is missing from their design is a MSRP or ERP to give the user some idea of the price point of the product.

Don't Confuse Consumers with your Channel Strategy

I don't like to pick on a manufacturer, but Imation is an example of a confusing Where to Buy page. If you go to the page you'll see a list of places where you can buy Imation products. The list includes:

• Retail Superstores
• Office Supply Dealers
• Computer Supply/Data Specialty Dealers
• E-Commerce, Mail Order and Direct Response

I'm a channel guy so I have an expectation of the types of retailers I would expect to see in each of these categories. Let's see how I do...

Retail Superstores - that would be Target and Wal-mart, right? Wrong. Listed under this category are OfficeMax, Office Depot and Staples. Hmmm, I'm confused.

The next category of retailers are Office Supply Dealers - that would be OfficeMax, Office Depot and Staples, right? Partially right. It's those three guys plus Corporate Express, Forms & Supply and W.B. Mason.

Computer Supply is next. I'm really guessing now. I get computer supplies at online guys like CDW, PC Connection and Provantage. Is that right? No. Actually it's a list of the United States that leads me to find my friendly neighborhood Value Added Reseller (VAR).

Now E-Commerce, Mail Order and Direct Response. Direct Response!?! If I'm Joe Consumer my question is 'What is that?' Mail Order? Do they do Mail Order any more? E-Commerce I understand. That's Amazon and Buy.com. Oooh, I got that one right. Buy.com is on the page. So is CDW, Insight, PC Connection, Quill, Staples, Tiger Direct and Zones. But I have questions. Why doesn't Quill have a Web page when all the others do? Why is Staples listed but OfficeMax and Office Depot are not?

This is a Where to Buy experience that was created by a channel person that thinks their users understand Imation's channel strategy like Imation understands it. It's confusing. It's difficult. It doesn't help anyone figure out Where to Buy. Check your Where to Buy section to make sure you aren't making it difficult for consumers to find and buy your product.

Where to Buy Best Practices

All too often I see manufacturer Web pages that make it difficult to buy. Here are seven best practices that manufacturers can implement to help increase sales:

1) Minimize the Number of Clicks to a Product - Too many clicks to a product page can frustrate consumers and greatly reduce the opportunity to sell. One or two clicks is optimal.

2) Show MSRP - To help the consumer understand the price point of the product they are considering, show MSRP on the product page.

3) Link Design - A button is always preferred over a text link. Buttons attract the eye of the consumer and more clearly indicate an action.

4) Active Button Text - Active phrasing like "Buy Now" or "Buy Online" or "Get Prices and Buy" deliver better results than inactive text like "Where to Buy" or "Online Dealers".

5) Position Buttons Near the Product Image - The button should be above the fold to optimize the opportunity for sales. Once above the fold the optimal placement for a button is near the product image. This gives the greatest visibility to the button and can also be important for search engines that are indexing pages. A "Buy" button near an image is a strong indicator to the search engines that the product can be purchased.

6) Give the Button High Contrast - A large, high-contrast button will drive the greatest amount of clicks. The color of the button should be unique on the page. The button should be at least 15 pixels in height. White space around the button also helps to draw the consumer's attention.

7) Remove Other Buying Options - Multiple buying options on a product page can distract the consumer and reduce the number of leads you will send to your channel partners. Even if you sell direct there should be a single "Buy" button on the product page that leads to a page where the consumer can then decide which channel they want to buy through.

What Retailers Know About eCom That Most Manufacturers Don't

If manufacturers are going to implement a Where to Buy solution they should look at successful retailer Web sites to figure out how to do it right. One of the biggest mistakes manufacturers make with Where to Buy is allowing the consumer to become distracted.

Look at Amazon for example. When you first show up at Amazon there are all kinds of ways to search and navigate the site.

But once you show your intention to buy, all of that search and navigation goes away. They only thing you can do easily is continue down the path to buy. No distractions.

The simple lesson here is not to put things in the way of the purchase. Once a browser says they want to become a buyer don't include navigation to other areas of your site. Don't distract them from the purchase.

Should Manufacturers Sell Direct?

Out of the 100+ manufacturers that use solutions from Channel Intelligence, about 35 of them sell direct. The percentage of leads that go to the direct store range wildly from 0.3% to 90% but the average is around 9%. So it doesn't look like consumers flock to the manufacturer nor do they typically ignore them. Instead manufacturer direct stores are just like any other store to the consumer. So...should manufacturers sell direct?  The decision to sell direct is based upon many criteria:

• The manufacturer's relationship with their retailers
• The cost effectiveness of selling direct
• The manufacturer's brand strength
• The pricing structure of the product
• The availability of the product
• 400 other factors I haven't mentioned or thought of...

I've heard two comments from retailers in regard to manufacturers selling direct. One said, 'If manufacturers sell direct then I don't understand what we are doing as their retailer. What value do they expect us to bring if they are going act like a retailer?' Another said, 'We can't stop a manufacturer from selling direct. It's their Web site and their traffic.'

I believe manufacturers should sell direct. That sounds anti-channel, but the Internet is about abundance. Consumers demand the ability to buy through all available channels. Different products are sold through different channels and sometimes it makes sense to sell them direct. 

Good Idea, Gus

One of the most common objections we get from manufacturers who are not ready to link to their retailer partners is the proverbial 'we are about to change our site.' Last week I met with Gus Brito of Tiger Direct and Gus had a good idea. 'Instead of trying to do product-specific links right away,' said Gus, 'manufacturers should do retailer-specific links.' Good idea Gus.

We call those Dealer Links and here is a good example. I know I talked about retailer-specific links a couple of weeks ago and I said I wasn't sure anyone shopped that way. But if a manufacturer is delaying an implementation then retailer-specific links are better than nothing. At least with these kinds of links the manufacturer gets reported sales and click through data.

Now, I'll always be a proponent of manufacturers getting product-specific links in place as soon as possible. A site re-design should not be a reason to delay product-specific links. In fact, it should be a reason to get them in place. If you get the links up before the re-design you can do some A/B testing and measure the effectiveness of your new design. Installing product-specific links is also a simple change. I know, everyone who wants you to update your site tells you it will be a simple change.  'Hey Bob, you should install all of those SAP modules this week. It's a simple change!' Eighteen months later...

However, a couple of lines of javascript placed in a template is pretty easy. So don't delay your implementation. But if you must, then consider linking from the single page where you have all of your retailers listed.

Three Reasons Consumers Visit a Manufacturer's Site

Just like Family Feud. Name three reasons consumers come to a manufacturer's Web site...

...Product Information! Ding. Correct. That is the number one reason consumers come to a manufacturer's site. 60-70% of the time they are looking to learn more about the product.

...Find a place to buy! Ding. Correct. That is the number two reason consumers come to a manufacturer's site. 25-30% of the time they already know what they want, they just want to know where they can get it.

...Support! Ding. We were looking for Support and Service, but we'll accept that answer. Around 5% of the time consumers have already bought a product from you and they are visiting your site post sale. Percentages vary of course according to product type and category.

In each instance you have an opportunity to convert that consumer to a sale. Tell them where the product is in stock (online and locally). Even if they are looking at product information you don't know when they will flip from being a browser to a buyer. Support and service consumers are great candidates for your accessory products. Don't let them leave empty handed.

From our last survey of browsers on manufacturer Web sites we found a staggering 40% of visitors to the manufacturer's Web site actually bought either online, locally or direct from the manufacturer within 7 days of their initial visit.

That 'Where to Buy' Section on Manufacturer Web Sites

I really wonder if that 'Where to Buy' section on a manufacturer's site adds value. It usually goes to a page with a list of retailers who carry the manufacturer's products. But not every retailer carries every manufacturer SKU. So the process goes like this:

1. Consumer goes to the manufacturer's site
2. Consumer drills down to a product
3. Consumer decides they want to buy the product
4. Consumer clicks on 'Where to Buy' and is shown a list of retailers
5. Consumer clicks on a retailer name and tries to find the product
6. Consumer clicks on a retailer name and tries to find the product
7. Consumer clicks on a retailer name...

Who shops like this? I wonder what kind of traffic manufacturers see to this section of their site when this is the only option offered. You can improve the linking in this section of the site but the best solution is to have 'Buy' buttons on each of your product pages.