e-commerce ready for the explosion?
IntelliQuest Research Foresees a Coming Explosion in E-Commerce; No Clear Brand Winners Emerge
November 20, 1998
AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE) via NewsEdge Corporation -- 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.
Category Leaders- Unaided Brand Awareness Among Shoppers
Category Leader (among tracked brands) Type
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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
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
[Copyright 1998, Business Wire]
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