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The eCommerce Search Evolution

  

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Most eCommerce search marketing activities involve either driving a consumer to the manufacturer’s site or to the retail site where the product is sold. But, what happens once a consumer gets to the retail site is often the most important. 

What Google and other search engines have taught us is that position matters. Think about the last search you performed on Google or Bing or Yahoo. Did you scroll beyond the first page? Probably not. The same is true on retail sites. Jupiter Research, now part of Forrester Research, reports that 70 percent of clicks on a retail site occur in the top ten positions. The thousands of dollars spent to get a potential customer to a particular site means nothing if you aren’t seen once they are there.  The lessons learned from search combined with proven in-store merchandising techniques are simple: the better the position, the better the results. 

Consumers are Evolving

Statistics prove consumers are changing the way they research and buy. In early 2010 Envirosell and RichRelevance reported that eighty percent of all product searches begin online, whether the product is to be purchased online or in-store. Forrester Research reports the Web influenced $937 billion in U.S. store sales in 2009 and is projected to reach $1.3 trillion by 2013, or about one-third of total retail sales. That said, it’s no surprise search has become a more important part of the marketing mix. Yet, the past five years have demonstrated some shifts that marketers may not have foreseen:

• Sixty four percent of consumers are using multiple sources for their research including reviews, physical stores, online stores and search engines
• Site-side search on retail sites has improved dramatically, offering consumers a rich search experience without ever leaving a retailer’s site
• Twenty four percent of consumers begin their search on retail sites, up from 21 percent a few years ago
• Consumers now rely on retail sites more than any other source – in fact 25% more than they rely on search engines

Counter to conventional wisdom, search is happening well beyond traditional search engines. In fact, search on retail sites is a preferred first stop – even to search engines – so manufacturers and their agencies need to be evaluating how to make an impact on retail sites.  The good news is: retail search behaves very much like search engine search and becomes a perfect extension. The message is not to reduce your search engine budget – it is to complement traditional search with retail search.

Searchandising – The Last Mile

As consumers are changing their shopping behavior, manufacturers are changing how they merchandise their products. One such way is through a technique called searchandising – the combination of on-site search and merchandising.  In the brick-and-mortar world, retailers pay for premium spots such as eye-level shelf space, end caps or kiosks to increase awareness and actively engage consumers as they conduct product research or commence the purchase process.   On the web, these premium positions are the top spots on the search results page, featured product zones, or any area where products are presented. Leveraging best practices from the merchandising world where manufacturers vie for position, coupled with tactics from paid search where position is proactively managed by the setting of a cost-per-click bid, product marketers can now work to boost visibility on retail sites.  The bid becomes a weighting variable in how search results are rendered, and for the first time, retailers are offering manufacturers an opportunity to enhance their positions. 

What is the difference if you approach the retailer and pay for advertising opportunities such as banners, sponsored sections, micro sites and brand showcases versus using CPC bidding? Well, for starters, consumers have indicated they want less, not more advertising on retail sites. And, second, in each of the other approaches, your message is adjacent to content, with searchandising, your improved positioning is the content.

Search results on retail sites that integrate cost-per-click bids have opened up as a branding and sales opportunity. CPC bidding offers you a pay for performance model, you only pay if a customer clicks on your particular product that has been better positioned via a CPC bid. Remember, 70 percent of consumers are inclined to click on top ten search results on an eCommerce site, so it’s more important than ever that you advantage your product’s positioning. And unlike other online advertising opportunities, there is no new creative required. If you’re not searchandising, you are missing a critical final step to getting in front of consumers and ahead of competitors.

This is an excerpt of a byline by John Federman, president and CEO of Searchandise Commerce. Read the entire byline by visiting: http://bit.ly/eCommerceByline