How Important Are Search Engines to Online Retailers?
October 17th, 2007 by Scott Silverman, Executive Director, Shop.org Posted in Search Engine Marketing
You may have seen that STORES Magazine recently published its list of Favorite 50 Online Retailers. Some interesting methodology was used to compile the list. They asked two open-ended, write-in questions to nearly 8,000 consumers: 1. What website do you shop at most often for apparel items (clothing, shoes, accessories, etc.) and 2. What website do you shop at most often for non-apparel items (electronics, home decor, etc.)? In my opinion, the most interesting finding was that four of the 50 retailers weren’t retailers. They were search engines, with Google as high as #9 on the list. Yahoo was #16, AOL was #38 and MSN was #39.
Good observations, Scott. Search has definitely become and important factor to consider, and it will continue to grow, for driving BOTH online and offline sales. Last year, a comScore study (commissioned by Google) found that 63%) of search-related purchases are made offline, and 37 percent of those completed their purchase online.
There are three challenges here for retailers looking to optimize their search strategies:
1) Getting the eyeballs and clickthroughs;
2) Identifying which search results are driving traffic that converts online;
3) Measuring that “last mile” for the 63% of consumers that use search to find products, but transact offline.
We need to remember that it’s a multichannel world, even when it comes to search engine marketing.
Dan - thank you for the reminder about the very significant off-line impact that search engines have on retailers.
I’d like to draw attention to the impact that comparison engines have on online retailers, and how that impact has resulted in a click becoming nothing more than a commodity. The never-ending churn that retailers must deal with — that of paying time and time again for the majority of clickthroughs from the main engines and the comparison engines as well — makes, in the retailers’ eye, general search and comparison engines a necessary evil. By stressing products and prices over brand communication and messaging, engines are hurting retailers’ efforts to build loyalty among web shoppers. The result of this? My guess is that this top 50 list will not budge one bit over the next few years, unless retailers find a way to truly communicate with their potential customers.