I used Quantcast.com to generate the “rough estimate” of their traffic since 2007 and I noticed a big change from 2007 up to 2010. To summarize it, all of these major shopping engine sites decreased their traffic from 2007 to 2010 except for Amazon.com which maintained and even improved it’s traffic since 2007.
My analysis is that, search results from Google doesn’t bring the consumers on these websites anymore compare to the organic traffic they get before. Also, another possible situation is that, when people search for certain products which they don’t find in Google, they tend to go directly to Amazon.com which I think gained consumer trust over the years.
So my question is:
What techniques or actions do you think is the best thing to do to at least regain some traffic which these shopping websites used to have in 2007?
Is there really a change in shopping habits online?
Quantcast is anything but perfect and often pretty far off but I think the trend has some merrit to it.
The reality is that customers are shifting… TheFind has become a top CSE in a few years growing almost entirely under the radar because it stands apart. Smarter.com did this as well by being more open, easier to get into and less about just pushing people to click.
But aside from the site features in CSEs you have to account for the fact that consumers are more comfortable with sites, site do more comparing and alternative tools like social networks, blogs and user reviews make it much easier to compare on your own. In the past CSEs bought their traffic in buckets, now the successful ones are looking at ways to earn it through mentions and discussions.
As a business owner you need to meet the customer where they are shifting too whether it’s right on the engine, a vide review or blog review, with your manufacturers or elsewhere.
yes, unless you are on the inside, chances are that any data you have in inaccurate. Also, the question is very broad. Traffic can come from many options: SEO, PPC, PPV, Social Media, Offline Marketing, Viral Marketing, Link Baiting, Media, PR, Media buys etc… ecommerce spending is increasing every day. there may have been a slump in the GEC but more people are starting to shop online today then yesterday. So I dont feel those numbers are accurate
Quantcast’s look-alikes feature seems to be very promising though. Has someone used it with any success? Does the accuracy depend on your traffic volume? How much traffic you need to get good results?
There’s also more competition in the comparison shopping engine space. Merchants can upload their feeds to Google Product Search, thefind.com, and now Bing Shopping for free. So these sites have more selection overall, and consequently they’re taking market share away from the others.
The ones that are losing market share need to expand their product selections or offer something else to consumers, like coupons perhaps.