Price comparison drives Chemist Direct sales
By Retail Technology | Monday December 2 2013
Online pharmacy is among retailers acquiring new customers via price comparison websites using marketing analytics technology
Three quarters (75%) of Chemist Direct sales between January and July 2013 were generated with new customers directed to the online pharmacy via price comparison websites.
The figures, revealed by online price comparison and marketplace network Become Europe, were obtained by looking at the ‘assist-trigger’ effect, where a price comparison website has ‘assisted’ the customer in pulling the ‘trigger’ on purchasing a product, meaning the initial involvement of the price comparison website was a strong push towards the eventual sale.
“New customer acquisition is key to a fast growing company like Chemist Direct,” said Richard Garrod, product and marketing director at Chemist Direct. “Working with Become and its comparison shopping partners has been a great source for new high quality customers.”
Become Europe also found online designer furniture store Made.com saw new customers make up 61% of its price comparison-generated sales.
Tracking entire purchase journey
The industry standard has seen retailers track affiliate sales on a ‘last cookie wins’ basis, with the last party who referred a user to a store being recognised as having generated that sale.
However, by using web analytics technology, the network provider said it was possible to see a precise overview of the interplay between all marketing channels and campaigns, allowing retailers to see exactly which sites customers visit prior to making a purchase.
Michael Rausch, general manager at Become Europe, commented: “Price comparison providers are indirectly contributing to a significant ratio of new customers by exposing them to a retailer’s products; they then subsequently revisit that retailer at a later date, illustrating the ‘assist-trigger’ effect. “
Knowing precisely what contributes to each sale gives retailers the ability to make informed choices about where their marketing budgets go.”
