Archive for November 8th, 2010

Most Voters Think House GOP Likely To Disappoint By 2012

November 8, 2010

According to the Rasmussen Reports …

Hold the celebration.

Most voters expected Republicans to win control of the House of Representatives on Election Day, but nearly as many expect to be disappointed with how they perform by the time the 2012 elections roll around.

Voters certainly weren’t surprised by the outcome in the House on Election Day.

78% said it was at least somewhat likely that the GOP would win control of the House in the survey taken Monday and Tuesday night.

59% of Likely U.S. Voters think it is at least somewhat likely that most voters will be disappointed with Republicans in Congress before the next national elections.

Voters overwhelmingly believe the new Republican-controlled House is likely to vote to repeal the unpopular national health care law.

They’re less confident that taxes and government spending will go down with the GOP in charge of the House.

50% view the Pledge as a campaign gimmick rather than a serious policy document.

For most voters, however, the election was a referendum on President Obama’s agenda, and they think he should change course with Republicans now in control of the House.  But most don’t expect him to make that change.

Most Voters Think House GOP Likely To Disappoint By 2012, November 03, 2010 http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/november_2010/most_voters_think_house_gop_likely_to_disappoint_by_2012

Posted in Politics - General | Leave a Comment »

Gap’s integrated e-commerce sites lead to success

November 8, 2010

TakeAway: Many companies struggle to connect the e-commerce sites of their various brands, preferring a verticalization strategy instead.

Gap Inc. is an exception, having made it easy for customers to move between its various sites.

As a result, traffic for each site has increased, and so has sales.

* * * * *

Excerpted from Advertising Age, “What Media Companies Can Learn From The Gap,” by Zuobin He, September 28, 2010

For the past three years, Gap’s online commerce has been thriving despite a deep worldwide recession. … Gap’s overall net sales fell 10% in this period, but its online store sales grew 33% … How’d they do it? Well, a superb web site that leverages multiple brands …

In mid April of 2008, Gap’s e-commerce store changed its small font, simple linking header to an eye-catching, bold tab-shaped design. This change has enabled customers to navigate between brands with ease. … Prior to the change, only 25% of Gap.com’s downstream traffic went to company’s other brands. … That percentage increased to 55% by the end of Aug. 2008.

… Gap.com’s referral traffic from OldNavy.com, its sister brand was only 12% with little or no traffic from the other brands prior to its redesign. The same traffic from OldNavy.com jumped to 26%. … In the meantime, Google.com as a Gap.com referral traffic source was down from 10.1% to 8.6% while its downstream traffic to Google.com was also down from 6% to 3%. Gap.com’s reliance on Google decreased substantially. This means customers no longer use a “vehicle” to get to the Gap’s online store. In short, Gap’s smart design not only increased its sales, it also eased the burden on marketing staff’s acquisition and retention efforts because its number of visitors and the time those visitors spend have substantially increased since then. …

One major challenge … is finding ways to leverage their individual brand power and optimize the entire portfolio at the same time. Many executives and producers believe not every brand is created equal. Each has its own appeal to a specific customer base. For that reason, some have been employing a search engine friendly, SEO/SEM heavy “verticalization” strategy to extent its reach. There is nothing wrong with leveraging the power of search engines, but this strategy will only work if the Gap-like cross linking implementation is in place. Short of that, it can lead to brand isolation.

… from an analytic perspective, it is clear that every click is purpose-driven and consumers only reward those who understand their behavior, whether you are a commerce site, or a media-content site.

Edit by DMG

* * * * *

Full Article
http://adage.com/digitalnext/article?article_id=146146

* * * * *

Posted in Online Marketing | Leave a Comment »