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E-tailers Missing Opportunities

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More than a third of online shoppers are going offshore to make their purchases according to Web traffic research outfit Hitwise. Though the market is growing at over 20 per cent these missed opportunities are costing Australian e-tailers.

The latest news from Hitwise is that there has been a substantial increase in visits to shopping and classifieds websites by Australian Internet users, with year on year growth of over 20% between May 2004 and May 2005.

While this indicates sustained consumer confidence in making personal transactions over the Internet, Hitwise points to the 34.91 per cent of traffic heading off to global websites as an opportunity loss on an attractive demographic. Online shopping draws a youthful market with 28.73 per cent of users between the ages of 25 and 34.
Hitwise describes eBay Australia as the local heavy-weight in shopping and classifieds, with an overwhelming market share of 36.26 per cent in May 2005. In contrast, Amazon.com ranked third accounting for just 2.05 per cent of traffic.
Search Engine Marketing, particularly via Google is a vital component of any etailing strategy says Hitwise with sites in the category getting an average of 22.52 per cent of their traffic from search engines and directories.
In planning for search engine optimisation, e-tailers need to focus on brand names.

For example, in the Shopping and Classifieds category, Apparel and Accessories, 7 out of the top 10 search terms were brands. ‘Supre’, ‘Sportsgirl and ‘Rebel Sport’ were the top three search terms.

Online To Boom Despite Economic Woes

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Online news services are set to benefit from the current economic downturn say research group Frost & Sullivan.They also claim that Australia’s total general advertising market revenues to increase 24% year-on-year in 2008, growing from $387 million to $481.4 million.

 

According to an ADNews story  “The online general advertising market continues to enjoy solid growth and is not only well placed to weather the current slowdown in overall media budgets but is set to benefit from its increasing cost effectiveness in tight economic conditions,” said Darryl Nelson, Frost & Sullivan senior research manager of digital media.

“Advertisers continue to see the increased lead generation and sales coming from the online channel, but are also now looking online to get more bang for their brand marketing buck. The current tightening of marketing budgets overall strengthens their commitment to their digital strategies.”

Growth slowed dramatically in the first half of 2008, growing by less than 1% from the second half of 2007, according to Frost and Sullivan’s Australia Online General Advertising Market 2008-2012 report. However, solid growth has returned and is expected to continue strongly throughout 2009.

The study confirms site display advertising continues to decline as a share of total revenue, dropping from 69% in financial year 2007 to 64% in financial year 2008. Instead, growth is dominated by “next-generation” brand marketing, including video and integrated content, and performance marketing, such as email direct marketing and cost-per-click or cost-per-action campaigns.

 

Although a number of new industries are engaging in online advertising, spending continues to be dominated by traditional advertisers including the banking, finance and insurance industry, the automotive sector and communications industries. Together, these segments accounted for just over half of all online advertising revenues in the 2008 financial year.


“The online general advertising market continues to enjoy solid growth and is not only well placed to weather the current slowdown in overall media budgets but is set to benefit from its increasing cost effectiveness in tight economic conditions,” said Darryl Nelson, Frost & Sullivan senior research manager of digital media.

Although a number of new industries are engaging in online advertising, spending continues to be dominated by traditional advertisers including the banking, finance and insurance industry, the automotive sector and communications industries. Together, these segments accounted for just over half of all online advertising revenues in the 2008 financial year.

For more on this story go to ADNews.

Canon Extends Extended Warranty

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Canon has moved to make its extended warranty option available from retailers.

“Previously a genuine Canon warranty extension was only available directly from Canon,” said Product Manager, Chris Kearney, Consumer Imaging Products Group, Canon Australia

However, now the extended warranty service is available direct at point of purchase in photographic, IT and mass merchant consumer electronics stores. The program is based upon a “Return to Canon for Repair” policy, allowing customers to return their product for repair to any dealer.

Prices start from $99.00 for products worth up to $499 and scales up to products with a maximum value of $2,999.00.

“This new offer means our customers now have the choice to add an additional 24 months’ genuine warranty at their point of purchase of a Canon product, to ensure peace of mind for longer,” said Kearney.

“The great news for our reseller partners is they can now offer a genuine Canon extended warranty and have a greater share in the success of Canon. This will assist our partners in providing a more complete customer solution and will also add profitability to their businesses.”

Canon’s genuine extended warranty applies across four price bands:
 
*       For products priced between $1-$499                         – $99 RRP.
*       For products priced between $500-$999                     – $149 RRP.
*       For products priced between $1,000 – $1,999 RRP      -$199 RRP.
*       For products priced between $2,000 – $2,999 RRP      -$249 RRP.
*       Extended warranties for products priced at more than $3,000 will continue to be managed directly from Canon.