BrandView rates effectiveness of online sales efforts across common retailers
The online shopping experience can be hampered by numerous factors: products not returning in search results; unclear product names; missing images and information; and a lack of product reviews can all lead to lost sales.
Increasing and improving a brand’s online presence can enhance the online shopper’s experience, reduce lost sales, and, most importantly, ensure shoppers buy one brand rather than another.
The BrandView Score (BVS) provides an industry benchmark to compare online performance versus competitors across multiple retailers.
In this report, BrandView examined the websites of Best Buy, Build.com, The Home Depot and Lowe’s.
The BVS is an overall star rating, out of five, calculated using key performance indicators (KPIs) which critically affect a brand’s online presence.
Those KPIs are Discoverability, Representation and Engagement:
Discoverability
• Can shoppers find the products on the digital shelf?
• Do the products return on the first page of results when searched for by category, or by keyword, such as “French door refrigerator” or “refrigerator”?
• Are the products in stock and available for shoppers to purchase?
Representation
• Is the brand name present and correct in product descriptions?
• Is key product information including descriptions, images and videos accurately listed on retailer websites?
Engagement
• Are shoppers engaging with the brand online?
• How do the product reviews and ratings represent the brand?
In this BrandView Score report, LG Electronics scored the highest in the category of French door refrigerators, followed closely by Samsung, among the top nine most-listed brands, LG also had the highest Representation score with 3.6 stars, ahead of nearest rival Electrolux which attained three stars.
LG had an average of nine images per product on Build.com, whereas rival brand Electrolux had an average of 22. However, it also had a number of product listings on Build.com that had five or fewer product images. For example, the LG LFX25973ST had just three product images and no product videos.
LG scored 2.7 stars for Discoverability, the third highest of the brands analyzed.
Samsung had the highest Discoverability score with 4.7 stars.
LG was the third most-listed brand on Best Buy and Home Depot for the search terms “French door refrigerator” and “refrigerator,” behind Samsung and Whirlpool.
LG was the most-listed brand on the first page of the Home Depot French door refrigerator category shelf – eight products returned.
Both LG and Samsung should review the Discoverability of their product listings on Build.com. No LG or Samsung products returned on the first page of results for the search terms “French door refrigerator” and “refrigerator,” or within the first 24 products listed on the French door refrigerator category shelf on the retailer’s site.
KitchenAid attained the lowest score for Representation with 0.4 stars, only scored 0.3 stars for Discoverability, and no KitchenAid French door refrigerators returned on the first page of results for the search terms “French door refrigerator” and “refrigerator” on Best Buy, Home Depot and Lowe’s. Just one product returned for both search terms on Build.com.
The brand’s Discoverability was slightly better on the French door refrigerator category shelf. Two products returned on the first page on the Home Depot website and one on the Best Buy website; however, none returned on Build.com or Lowe’s.
KitchenAid had the third lowest Engagement score, with 4.1 stars alongside Samsung and Frigidaire. KitchenAid’s lowest average review percentage was on the Best Buy website at 80.9 percent.
TWICE data partner BrandView is a leading global provider of price, promotion, product composition and online product positioning analytics.
BrandView enables retailers and suppliers to measure and manage their price position, communicate this to shoppers, and increase their digital presence.
They can be reached at [email protected].
