Small Companies Outpace Big Box Retailers in Search Engine Marketing

Big box stores represented just 5.3 percent of Web sites displayed during holiday 2006 product searches on the three largest search engines, according to a recent report released by search marketing and optimization firm Internet-Engine. By comparison, independent e-commerce stores made up 32.3 percent of results, while manufacturer sites and comparison shopping sites pulled down about 21 percent each. Big box retailers did marginally better in some categories, while independent merchants fared significantly better in some cases. Select product search results follow below:

Watches:
2.5 percent of results - big box retailers;
40.8 percent - independent merchants;
11.7 percent - manufacturers; and
34.2 percent - comparison or referral sites

Strollers:
4.3 percent - big box retailers;
50.2 percent - independent merchants;
4.8 percent - manufacturers; and
35.4 percent - comparison or referral sites

Treadmills:
3 percent - big box retailers;
18.3 percent - independent merchants;
24.4 percent - manufacturers; and
32.9 percent - comparison or referral sites

Digital cameras:

8.7 percent - big box retailers;
12.7 percent - independent merchants;
8.7 percent - manufacturers; and
52.7 percent - comparison or referral sites

Source: Internet-Engine’s “Search Share Analysis,” http://www.internet-engine.net/searchshareanalysis.htm