Leverage long-term relationships with analysts at firms such as Aberdeen, AMR Research, Butler Group, Current Analysis, Delphi Group, Doculabs, Forrester, Gartner, IDC, Ovum Research, Patricia Seybold Group, Tower Group, Ventana Research, Upside Research, Yankee Group and ZapThink
Arrange in-person or online briefings for companies who are not paying clients of these analyst firms
Aggressively track analysts, the technologies they are tracking, and topics they are quoted on in the press.
Preparing you for briefings and analyst tours.

Here is an example:

INFO~TECH

Online Retailers Benefit from Manufacturers' Content

November 28, 2006

Note Title

Online Retailers Benefit From Manufacturers’ Content

Author

Mark Tauschek

Short Description

In the hyper-competitive online retail market, differentiation has become increasingly challenging. In an effort to differentiate their products, manufacturers are providing online retailers with rich content to assist consumers with product research and the buying decision. Online retailers will benefit from actively lobbying manufacturers to provide rich web content through WebCollage.

Note Body

What is WebCollage?

WebCollage is an Application Service Provider (ASP) that provides online content linkage between manufacturers and retailers. In the WebCollage model all costs are undertaken by product manufacturers, making the service essentially free for retailers.

Manufacturers spend millions of dollars creating online product information and rich content for consumers, and millions more keeping the content current. The problem for manufacturers is that most consumers do product research on retail websites and make buying decisions based on that content. The typical online retailer does not have rich, up-to-date manufacturer content on its Website, which causes consumers to make buying decisions based on incomplete information.

Enter WebCollage’s syndication service. The offering allows manufacturers to provide updated product information, rich multimedia content, and educational content to online retailers, and in-turn to the end consumer. The company maintains that consumers do product research and make buying decisions based on visits to retail Websites twice as often as manufacturer Websites. By leveraging manufacturer investments in enhanced online content, WebCollage claims retailers can increase “add-to-carts” by 6% to 9%, and grow actual sales by 5% to 7%. In addition, WebCollage asserts that retailers using its service through manufacturer relationships can benefit from:

Incremental increase in offline sales of 400% of incremental online sales increase.
Marketing message consistency with manufacturers.
Website “stickiness” as a result of increased quantity and quality of content.
The ability to attract and retain customers early in the buying cycle.
Product and online differentiation reduces reliance on price competition.

How it Works

The WebCollage hosted syndication solution links manufacturer content to retail and channel partner Websites. The service is sold to manufacturers, who pay either a flat annual fee for integration with unlimited channel partners, or a variable per-click price. WebCollage hosts all of the product information and rich content on its server infrastructure. The company claims that all is required from the retailer is a single line of HTML code on its website.

Once the WebCollage code is added to a retailer Website, the WebCollage software scans the Website of the retailer and compares the product line to that of the manufacturer. WebCollage then adds manufacturer information and content to the product pages of the retailer. The content is updated regularly, integrates with retailer E-commerce application and shopping carts, and can be delivered inline or via “smart buttons”. WebCollage has an online product tour for retailers on its Website. A real world example of WebCollage in action for Sony Vaio notebooks can be found on the Best Buy Website.

Recommendations

Online retailers are in a position to reap the benefits that the WebCollage service offers at little or no cost. Retailers interested in taking advantage of the service should:

Assess the WebCollage solution. Determine if the service is a good fit before proceeding with discussions with WebCollage or manufacturers. Some questions to ask internally include:

• Are significant resources dedicated to maintaining and updating product information on the retailer Website?

• Is the product information on the retailer Website complete and comprehensive?

• Are there a lot of “browsers” on the Website that never add products to their shopping cart?

• Can a potential buyer do all the research directly on the retailer Website necessary to make a buying decision?

Determine which manufacturers use WebCollage. The company touts an impressive list of manufacturers and retailers that use the service. The Clients & Affiliates page of the WebCollage Website contains a partial list of partners, but there are also many that are not publicly available. Retailers should poll key manufacturers to determine if they participate.
Assess the impact on IT. While WebCollage maintains that retailers need only add a single line of HTML to their website, an impact assessment should be performed to determine exactly what is required of the IT department.

Bottom Line

The WebCollage service is compelling, particularly for retailers as the cost is borne by product manufacturers. Online retailers should take the time to investigate this unique online marketing service.

Categorizations

Industry > Wholesale & Retail > Technology

Keywords

WebCollage, online marketing, online retail, content syndication

Want to Know More?

WebCollage Website