Page 223 - DMGT554_RETAIL_BUYING

Retail Buying

Notes confused visitors often being sent to the wrong site. Keywording was minimal, and
represented the corporate holding company, NOT the client; specific product keywording
was nonexistent. Confusing navigation, conflicting messages, and misappropriated leads
all added to the client’s woes.

An Audit revealed that virtually all of the other divisions’ web sites lacked visitor-friendly
navigation, focusing on products and model numbers without regard for what the site
visitor’s “pain” might be.
In response, we redesigned the client’s web site, creating a visitor-friendly, pain-based
home page that focused on directing the site visitor to the right optical product based on
what their use was. A separate navigation bar enabled visitors to click on buttons
highlighting what kind of samples they needed to view.

Existing Application pages contained no helpful how-to application information, just
minimal product data. The entire section was revised to improve “stickiness” by adding
all of the major industry applications and including helpful tips and techniques for getting
the best images, with links to the appropriate product pages for further information.

In addition, all content was rewritten for search engine optimization and the entire site
was re-keyworded to include the most popular industry- and product-specific search terms
and every page was retitled and given new descriptions to further improve searchability.

As content and navigation changes were implemented, web traffic statistics reflected the
overall improvement in traffic:

 The client is showing up in more keyword searches within the first 3 pages compared
to previously not showing at all. This trend continued to improve as keyworded
content was added.
 In the year prior to redesign, the site didn’t go above 10,000 visits per month. When
new and revised content began to be added, site traffic began to rise and remained
above 10,000 visits per month during the five-month project.
 Unique users increased from 4,759 to 6,465 – an over 30% rise
 The monthly average visit to the site had increased from 11,786 to 14,004 during one
quarter. The daily visits had gone from 380 to 451 in the same period.
 The number of people who visited the site more than once had gone from 1,324 to
1,697 – an over 20% increase.

Source: http://www.websitewriters.info/wsw_cs2.html

Self Assessment

State whether the following statements are true or false:
1. Information is of utmost importance in the operation of every market.
2. Market intermediaries function is not to coordinate the bidirectional transfer of information
between sellers and buyers.
3. The noise level of an air-conditioner or a microwave “child lock” feature can be
characterized as vertical product attributes.
4. The information that home appliance manufacturers disseminate about these attributes
would be characterized as “horizontal”.
5. The vertical component of product information pertains to the product and service features
that are especially sensitive to consumer tastes and preferences.

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