Insider Edition: The Experts' Guide to Channel Marketing - Pronto.com

Insider Edition: The Experts' Guide to Channel Marketing

Two weeks ago, eTaildTail had a great interview with consumer shopping engine Smarter.com as part of our 2009 ongoing series called: Insider Edition: The Experts' Guide to Channel Marketing.

eTaildTail knows that using consumer shopping engines ("CSE"s) can help online retailers increase sales at a price they can afford, although many ecommerce merchants still are hesitant to work with CSEs for a myriad of reasons.

The most notable three reasons are:

1. lack of familiarity with a particular marketing channel
2. lack of evidence that a marketing channel increases sales cost effectively, and
3. difficulty of working with a marketing channel

As part of eTaildTail's 2009 effort to educate online retailers as to the many, cost-effective marketing channels available to them to list their product catalog, eTaildTail will interview executives at various CSEs and marketing channels and ask them to help us undertstand their value to growing an online merchant's sales and revenues.

eTaildTail hopes that these online Q&A sessions give you, the online merchant, pertinent information as to a particular marketing channel and the potential benefits of working with them.  And, if you decide to work them then great, please let them know that eTaildTail sent you their way.

So let's get started with an interview with Pronto.com and its Client Services Manager, Fred Klein.  All interviews are conducted by Chip Arndt, an author of eTaildTail. 

If you would like to contact Pronto.com and Fred Klein of Pronto you may email me at tips @ merchantadvantage.com and eTaildTail would be glad to accommodate you.

Insider Edition:  The Experts' Guide to Channel Marketing - Pronto.com

Pronto's Secrets to CSE Marketing Success for Online Merchants

1. When was Pronto.com founded and by whom?

Pronto is a wholly owned subsidiary of IAC, Barry Diller’s portfolio of internet companies.  It was started internally as one of IAC’s “emerging businesses” by Dan Marriott and John Foley in 2005.

2. What sets Pronto.com apart from the other shopping engines?

We are proud to differentiate ourselves in a number of ways from our competitors:

1. We are the fastest growing CSE on the web (83% growth YOY).
2. We offer integrated Social Shopping features in order to create more informed buyers and boost customer loyalty.
3. We have a steadily growing number of registered users to whom we send a weekly newsletter featuring their favorite products on sale.
4. Pronto prides itself on world class customer service – our individual merchant’s concerns matter to us and we commit to being responsive to all of them.
5. We offer SKU level bidding rather than the less strategic category level bidding which is common to many competitors.

3. What are the secrets to success for merchants advertising on Pronto.com

1. Merchants should make sure to provide complete data feeds in the format we provide.
2. Within those feeds, they should make sure to follow proper product title structure (also provided), offer big, clean images, and include retail prices and special offer text.
3. Pronto is a CPC-based bid platform, so aggressive SKU-level bidding on the part of merchants will result in greater visibility on the sight which, in turn, will drive more and better traffic their way

4. Who is using Pronto.com and why?

Pronto is proud to say that we have over 19MM unique visitors (approximately 55% of which are female) and registered users numbering in the hundreds of thousands.  Perhaps most importantly though, our users are actively in the market to purchase products while they are visiting our site and are active shoppers and influencers in general.

5. What are some of the challenges you are seeing in the retail sector during the current economic downturn, and what are you doing to overcome them?

A retailer is always challenged to differentiate itself on price, product offering, reach and style, but this challenge becomes all the more intense during an economic downturn like the one we are witnessing today.  Like the retailers they frequent, consumers are faced with similar challenges and are also looking to spend efficiently. 

Our recent integration of “retail price” into our system allows us to highlight savings that our merchant partners offer to our 19 million unique visitors.  This information serves as a call to action in which Pronto brings together merchants that want to differentiate themselves and consumers who are, understandably, cost conscious.

Bonus Q: How do I get to work with Pronto.com as an ecommerce merchant?

It’s simple . . . any interested merchants should feel free to reach out to either Craig Motz (cmotz@pronto.com) or Lee Breslouer (lee@pronto.com), both members of our Merchant Sales team.  We require only a $50 minimum spend and you can cancel at any time. And let them know eTaildTail sent you our way!

Chip: Thank you so much Fred for your time and insights on how online merchants can benefit by working with Pronto.com

If you want to keep up with all entries as they relate to Insider Edition:  The Experts' Guide to Channel Marketing, please click on "Experts' Guide to Channel Marketing" under categories on the left hand side of the eTaildTail blog.

- Chip Arndt