SEO or PPC...or Both?

According to a new study by Engine Ready, based on traffic to 26 e-retail sites in a 12-month period that ended June 30, visitors who arrive at a retailer's site from paid search ads are 50% more likely to buy than those who come from clicking on a natural search link. The conversion rate from paid search is 2.03% versus 1.26% from organic search, according to the study as reported by Internet Retailer.

 

From Wikipedia:

Pay per click (PPC) is an Internet advertising model, used on websites, in which advertisers pay their host only when their ad is clicked. With search engines (SEO),  advertisers typically bid on keyword phrases relevant to their target market.

 

The current study is a follow up of a completed two year study in 2008 to identify the magnitude of any visitor behavioral trends based on traffic source in a way that could help marketers adjust their strategies to maximize value. Although there can be an almost endless number of individual traffic sources, notes the study, this study, identified and measured 4 primary traffic source categories that encapsulate all source origins:

• Organic listings
• Paid listings
• Direct access and bookmarks
• Other referrer  

Most likely to buy are consumers who navigate directly to a retailer's site by typing in a URL or clicking on a bookmark, as their conversion rate registered at 7.38%. Consumers who came to an e-commerce site from another site or an e-mail converted at 6.58%, the study shows. The overall conversion rate was 3.6%.  The study found that:

• Paid search visitors bought the most, with an average order value of $117.06 versus $109.27 for those coming from other sites, $106.64 for visitors from organic search and $95.29 from direct referrals, such as from a bookmark or direct entry of a URL
• Average order value for all retailers in the study was $104.21, down 31.7% from a previous Engine Ready study that analyzed data from a two-year period that ended December 2007. Retailers said average order values from all channels have declined in the past 12 to 18 months
• The average time on a site per visit increased 5.8% from the previous study to 4 minutes, 33 seconds. Consumers who navigated directly to a site spent 5 minutes, 8 seconds. The study found consumers who spent more time on a site were more likely to buy, but that their average order value was not higher than that of other buyers
• Site visitors on average viewed 5.2 pages per visit, up 15.6% from the previous study. Those who came directly or from other sites or e-mail viewed the most pages, 6.2 on average
• Average number of seconds on a page dropped 9% from the earlier study to 53 seconds, which could be a sign marketers are doing a better job of presenting information on their pages in a more easily readable format, the study says. Paid search visitors spent the most time on a page, 66 seconds on average.
• 43.9% of all visitors left after viewing just one page, down slightly from 44.5% in the earlier study. Organic search produced the highest bounce rate, 48.5%, and direct access the lowest, 39.2%
• Direct access produced the largest share of site visits (40%), followed by other referring sites and e-mail (27.9%), paid search (19.8%) and organic search (12.3%)

This study is based on an analysis of 20.8 million visits and 108 million page views to 26 e-commerce sites from July 1, 2008, through June 30, 2009. 21 of the 27 companies in the latest study also provided data for the earlier Engine Ready study.

 

For additional information from InternetRetailer on this report, please visit here, and to access the PDF fileof the 2008 study, please go to Engine Ready here.

What is Multichannel 2.0? ...Learn More Here

This is from our friends at Elastic Path...it is a great read.

Traditional, Multichannel 1.0 includes retail, mail order, call center and online store. Emerging technologies like mobile phones, Internet protocol TV and set-boxes, store kiosks and digital signage and consumer electronics like iPod touch, gaming consoles and portable book readers like Amazon kindle — the next generation of shopping channels is what we at Elastic Path refer to as Multichannel 2.0 — anything that has the potential potential to access your information assets and facilitate transactions through them.

Mobile

Mobile Commerce Beginnings

• First appeared in 1997 in Finland with 2 mobile phone enabled Coca Cola machines that accepted payment by SMS (text messages)
• The same year, Finland’s Merita Bank also began accepting SMS transactions
• In 1998, the first downloadable ringtones appeared in, again in Finland
• In 2000 we saw mobile parking payments in Norway, mobile train tickets in Austria and mobile airline tickets in Japan

Mobile Commerce Today.... (continued) this is a great read!!!

Click here to continue reading...

- Chip Arndt

US Online Sales Up 1st Q 2009 Over 2008...But....

The following report is a "mixed bag" for e-commerce merchants.  The great news is that e-commerce is here to stay and is growing in a "tough" economy.  The so-so news is that Web-only, e-commerce merchants did not see the same rise in sales as multichannel retailers (i.e. those retails that had a brick and mortar and online presence), although 31% of Web-only, e-commerce merchants did see a rise in revenues in this very difficult economy.

I am still positive on the overall growth of e-commerce for both mulitchannel and Web-only retailers into 2009 and 2010 because I see ongoing innovations of smart phone devices as helping increase online sales of all types and more and more people like to shop online.

Happy reading.

- Chip Arndt

US Online Sales Up

In dark days, e-commerce shines.

"Most US economic indicators were down in Q1 2009, but online sales were an exception.

According to a survey by Forrester Research and Shop.org, US online retail sales rose an average of 11% in the first three months of 2009. Of the 80 companies studied, 58% saw online sales increases compared with the same quarter last year.

Looking further into the findings, 44% of the e-tailers reported increases of over 10%, 14% showed increases up to 10% and 13% reported flat sales.

In the survey, about 70% of both consumer brand manufacturers and multichannel retailers reported online sales increases. However...." <<<CLICK HERE>>> to continue reading; it is a good read.

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

Insider Edition:  The Experts' Guide to Channel Marketing

Last week, eTaildTail had a great interview with consumer shopping engine UnderBid.com as part of our 2009 ongoing series called: Insider Edition: The Experts' Guide to Channel Marketing, the weeks before that we had great conversations with Gifts.com, Pront.com and Smarter.com.

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 Queen of Cheap and its Founder, Marifer Vergara.  All interviews are conducted by Chip Arndt, an author of eTaildTail. 

If you would like to contact Queen of Cheap and Marifer Vergara you may email me at tips @ merchantadvantage.com and eTaildTail would be glad to accommodate you, or see below.

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

Queen of Cheap's Secrets to CSE Marketing Success for Online Merchants

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

Founded in 2006 by Three Legged Toad to showcase its client's products data feed and drive free traffic to clients' Webstore fronts as value added to their data feed management contract.

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

We drive traffic from our many product review blogs and coupon sites driving qualified customers to our product pages.

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

Merchants should take advantage of our "special offer" with some marketing message and emailing us every special offer, coupon or deal so we can syndicate among our network of blogs.

4. Who is using QueenofCheap.com and why?

Demographics are very broad and consumers love wokring with us because of our coupons and free shipping promotion.  Merchants enjoy a flat rate listing business model.

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?

Consumers are really doing their homework before making a purchase. They search for lowest price available, free shipping offers, coupons.  We are working with merchants in providing a flat rate model where they can keep their ROI and monthly spend in check.

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

Easy! Just sign up as a merchant on the website by clicking here or you can sign up easily via MerchantAdvantage.

Chip: Thank you so much Marifer for your time and insights on how online merchants can benefit by working with Queen of Cheap.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

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

Insider Edition:  The Experts' Guide to Channel Marketing

Last week, eTaildTail had a great interview with consumer shopping engine Gifts.com as part of our 2009 ongoing series called: Insider Edition: The Experts' Guide to Channel Marketing, the weeks before that we had great conversations with Pront.com and Smarter.com.

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 UnderBid.com and its Founder, Frank Pierini.  All interviews are conducted by Chip Arndt, an author of eTaildTail. 

If you would like to contact UnderBid.com and Frank Pierini you may email me at tips @ merchantadvantage.com and eTaildTail would be glad to accommodate you, or see below.

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

UnderBid's Secrets to CSE Marketing Success for Online Merchants

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

Underbid, Inc., based in New York, was founded by Frank Pierini and launched in 2005 a marketplace matching buyers and established sellers. The company's mission is to become the best marketplace for established and reputable vendors to market and sell their products to savvy, online customers.
 
2. What sets UnderBid.com apart from the other shopping engines?

What sets Underbid.com apart for sellers is that we provide an easy to integrate free marketing tool; there are no upfront or hidden costs. We only charge a small commission only when an item is paid for. For Buyers, we offer discounted prices on the same items sold on sellers own website and other marketing channels…”The Same for Less” on simple to use website.
 
3. What are the secrets to success for merchants advertising on UnderBid.com?

There is only one secret - in order to sell you have to market efficiently. When economy was booming, companies used to spend money on expensive marketing with low returns without thinking, because that's what everyone was doing. In our current economy people become savvier and understand the value of pay-per-sale model is optimal from costs perspective - we don't make money unless we made money for you.

4. Who is using UnderBid.com and why?

We don't limit types of sellers, any type of business that understands the significance of using cost-effective marketing channel during economic downturn can use us to increase sales today. Established companies such as EntirelyPets.com, Unbeatablesale.com, Closeout.com, Bedbathstore.com, Instrumentpro.com and Readygolf.com have been with Underbid since launch. 
 
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?

The biggest challenge for retailers is a steep drop in sales. There is not much to be done to make people buy if they are not spending, cutting costs and reaching to more potential buyers via marketing channels that are performance based is the key.

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

It is simple. Use this link to sign up and start getting sales for only a small commission. SIGN UP WITH UNDERBID.

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

Report: Online Retail Could Reach $156B in 2009...Even in Down Economy

Ecommerce and mobile commerce ("mcommerce") are here to stay and certainly are the wave of the future for shopping in the USA, Europe, South America, and AustralAsia. 

Even in a down economy ecommerce is up over 2007 by 18% and for 2009 is predicted to be 11% in the USA, not bad!

Don't believe me? Then check out this report from Forrester Research, one of the most respected and trusted research companies in the world:

by Rachel Metz

Online retail sales will likely keep climbing in 2009, even in recession

"According to projections from Forrester Research (nasdaq: FORR - news - people ), U.S. online retail sales are expected to rise 11 percent to $156 billion this year, excluding revenue from travel. However, that will mark a slowdown in the overall growth rate, which was 13 percent in 2008, when online retail sales totaled $141 billion, Forrester says..."

<<<CLICK HERE>>> for full article and all data.

It is time to take advantage of these trends and eTaildTail and MerchantAdvantage are here to help you. Give us a shout and we will help grow your online retail sales.

- Chip Arndt 

The Future of Ecommerce Platforms

eTaildTail friends at Get Elastic and Elastic Path have a wonderful free Webinar tomorrow on one of my favorite topics - "the ecommerce platform of the future". 

Seeing what experts think on the future of the best ecommerce shopping cart technology and platform is intriguing to me because I have found that is is nearly impossible for one platform to be able to "do it all" well for an online merchant. 

So I am excited to hear about what Brian K. Walker, senior analyst for ecommerce technology, Forrester Research and Get Elastic are thinking and envisioning for the future.

The Webinar is on Wednesday February 18, 2009 from 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM PST -- that is 12:00 noon  - 1:00 PM EST.  It is free and you can sign up here.

Here is what they are going to cover:

"Ecommerce platforms have evolved tremendously in the last 13 years to meet the changing needs of the consumer, online and multi-channel merchants, marketers, and operations professionals. But what are the key market forces and trends that will shape the changes yet to come? What can we expect from the leading ecommerce platform solutions to meet these needs? How should this factor into the decisions that ecommerce executives and CIOs are making today?

In this one hour webinar, Brian Walker, senior analyst for ecommerce technology at Forrester Research will present some ways in which ecommerce platforms will likely evolve in the future and what that means for enterprises.

Webinar takeaways: 
    • Key forces shaping ecommerce platforms today 
    • Key trends impacting ecommerce platforms in the future 
    • The shape ecommerce platforms may take 
    • What this means for the business decisions enterprises need to make today

Presenter: Brian K. Walker, senior analyst for ecommerce technology, Forrester Research."

If you want to learn about what your ecommerce platform is missing then join the Webinar on Wednesday February 18, 2009 from 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM PST -- that is noon EST. 

It is free and you can sign up here.

- Chip Arndt