IntelliQuest Research Foresees a Coming Explosion in E-Commerce; No Clear
Brand Winners Emerge
AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 19, 1998--A study released
today by IntelliQuest Information Group (NASDQ:IQST) of consumers'
e-commerce activity, attitudes and plans indicates the potential for a
tripling of e-commerce activity in the coming 12 months.
The study shows a "horse race" among many existing and emerging
brands across consumer and technology product categories, with no
clear leaders yet emerging.
The study is the initial wave of IntelliQuest's new Ebranding(tm)
syndicated marketing research service. Ebranding will provide senior
executives, marketing managers and investors with benchmarking and
trending information of competitive e-commerce brand positioning among
current and future online shoppers and buyers.
The Ebranding survey represents responses from more than 10,000
randomly-recruited Internet users, quantifying their online shopping
and buying habits, preferences and brand perceptions. Awareness levels
were measured for more than 400 different branded sites and products,
with side-by-side comparisons completed for 80 brands within nine
market categories.
Eighty-one percent of those surveyed intend to shop or buy online
in the coming 12 months. Sixty-three percent have shopped, and only 22
percent report buying online in the past 90 days. The results within
specific product categories are even more dramatic, with three to five
times more people intending to shop or buy than are currently
shopping.
IntelliQuest found in the study that "center of gravity" for
category brand leadership varies greatly based on the maturity and
complexity of the products and services. For instance, unaided
awareness of places to shop for computers is greatest for hardware
manufacturers such as Dell, IBM and Hewlett-Packard owing to the
systems-centric nature of the marketplace and complexity of
configuration options.
In book and music retailing, brand power is with the specialty
distribution outlets such as Amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com that
carry the branded authors, artists and titles that consumers trust. In
the high-ticket and complex markets of automobiles and travel, online
portals such as Yahoo! and America Online are the brands more
frequently mentioned as the place where Internet users shop.
*T
Category Leaders- Unaided Brand Awareness Among Shoppers
Category Leader (among tracked brands) Type
Books Amazon.com (56%) Distributor
Music CDNow (24%) Distributor
Computer Software Microsoft (30%) Publisher
Computer Hardware Dell (20%) Manufacturer
Clothing The Gap (12%) Manufacturer
Travel AOL, Yahoo!, Travelocity (8%) Portals/Distributor
Autos Yahoo! (6%) Portal
*T
IntelliQuest designed the Ebranding service to complement the
company's Worldwide Internet/Online Tracking Survey (WWITS)(tm), which
has been measuring demographics, usage, online brands and e-commerce on
an ongoing basis since early 1996.
Within a projected market of nearly 73 million Americans
accessing the Internet in Q3 1998, WWITS also showed more than 45
million were shopping and nearly 16 million were buying online within
the last 90 days.
Other IntelliQuest research, including the Computer Industry
Media Study (CIMS)(tm), confirms those observations which found the
Internet to be the fastest-growing information source among all
technology buyers and the most-frequently-mentioned information source
among computer professionals.
"Our Ebranding services will help our clients understand what
models are working in building successful brands online," said Brian
Sharples, president and CEO of IntelliQuest. "The data provide
insights into the factors motivating consumers to buy, and what it
takes to capture mind share and preference -- critical success factors
in the e-commerce brand wars."
Ebranding Service Particulars
Ebranding data from the initial wave in September/October 1998
are currently available on a subscription basis. Subsequent
semi-annual research waves begin in February 1999.
Ebranding measurements include current levels of online shopping,
buying, and intent by category, plus brand-specific measures of
awareness, preference, visitation, purchase, image and satisfaction.
Complete coverage is available for autos, books, clothing, computer
hardware brands, computer hardware multi-brand sites, software brands,
software multi-brand sites, music and travel. The report also includes
information on payment methods, online activities and demographics.
Headquartered in Austin, Texas, with offices in Atlanta, Silicon
Valley, New York and London, IntelliQuest provides information-based
marketing services to the technology industry. IntelliQuest uses its
proprietary databases and software to help technology companies track
product performance and customer satisfaction, measure
advertising effectiveness, assess brand strength and competitive
position, determine price sensitivity, and evaluate new products,
markets or other business opportunities.
The company also licenses custom proprietary software
applications for electronic product registration and offers associated
database marketing products and services, including data enhancement,
data cleansing, data mining and professional services focused on the
information needs of the technology, telecommunications, utility and
cable industries. IntelliQuest has more than 400 employees worldwide.
For more information, visit intelliquest.com. Tel:
512/329-0808; Fax: 512/314-1876.
CONTACT:
IntelliQuest Information Group Inc., Austin
Tom Fornoff, 512/314-2131
tfornoff@intelliquest.com |
