A very good friend of mine is number two, or three, in the world in his industry. I do not wish to identify his industry, because in doing so I would identify his company to those who are in this business. His revenues approach $150 million, he is based here in the USA, manufactures in China and distributes world-wide through various retail outlets. One of his brands is becoming the best known and most respected in his industry. His advertising budget is significant, as is his utilization of IT, which is reflected in a most comprehensive Website. He is an online marketer, but not an online seller because of his commitment to customer satisfaction. Many in his industry, including the number one company, do sell online, but because the product is made to order, there are often problems that lead to customer dissatisfaction. My friend sells only through bricks and mortar outlets in order to maintain his commitment to excellence and customer satisfaction.

In July of this year, I decided, without his knowledge, to do some analysis on the internet activity in his industry. I found, among other things, that there are 6 million unique searches each year for his (not his specific brand) product, and the nearest he gets on the major search engines to this traffic is page 7. When I showed him the results, which required some explaining, he was more than amazed. This friend is a very smart business person, and this story is not told to embarrass him.

The problem is a familiar one. His domain name is geared to his very well known brand. The bricks and mortar retailers, his customers, know him and his brand well, but the end users do not! Six Million unique searches each year and the closest he comes is page 7 on one of the major search engines! A further analysis of the way his industry utilizes the internet clearly indicates that with the right Website design, a good search engine optimizer (seo) could have him at number one with the major search engines within three to four months.

True, he does not sell on line, but once he attracts the traffic, the visitor, the end user, although not really his customer, will love his Website and his product. He will simply direct them to the nearest bricks and mortar location and for having visited his site he will reward them with a ‘vip’ coupon or number. His customer, the bricks and mortar retailer, will love him. Without spending an extra cent on advertising (a significant part of cost-of-sales in this industry) tens of thousands of additional customers will walk through their doors.

With a very modest conversion rate I estimate an additional $100 million in revenue awaiting my friend.

Another very interesting aspect of this experience, which repeats itself across the USA and around the world, is that we identified heavy traffic for an associated product which he does not manufacture, nor does he wish to, however, he does market what we might call ‘accessories’ which the buyers of this associated product use in greater numbers than do those who purchase his major well known brand. Again, he needs to attract the traffic.

Ecommerce and online marketers can add, in some cases, significant revenues when they choose to understand who the end users of their products are. You do not have to deal with the end user directly to make the investment in market research worthwhile, as this story illustrates.

Please do not make the error of thinking that this is simply an illustration of ‘brand’ versus ‘generic’? It is much more than that. It is about creative analysis, something which we could all do a little more of, no matter how successful we are currently.

• Why People Buy (Your product solves a problem) - By Leo Talbot
• Why people buy - The lifestyle factor - By Leo Talbot
• Analyzing your competition - By Leo Talbot

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 23rd, 2005 at 7:30 am and is filed under Ecommerce. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.