GM SCORES HIGHEST ONLINE RETURN FOR EMPLOYEE
DISCOUNT PROGRAM VERSUS FORD AND CHRYSLER
GM's first-mover advantage with employee pricing strategy reflects in massive traffic surge and high concentration of Internet search terms
NEW YORK, Sept. 7, 2005— The biggest news in the automobile industry this summer has been GM's employee discount program, followed by similar programs from Ford and Chrysler. Reports indicate the promotion stirred excitement on dealer showrooms and cleared inventory, but new consumer online behavioral data show that the excitement was not evenly dispersed among the three big American auto manufacturers.
According to Hitwise, the world's leading online competitive intelligence service, the launch of GM's employee discount program in June 2005, helped increase the total market share of U.S. Internet visits to www.gm.com by 477 percent the week ending June 11, 2005 versus two weeks prior. Traffic to the site has since leveled off, but visits are still nearly double what they were before the launch.
The Ford and Chrysler employee discount programs that launched in July fueled less dramatic traffic increases to their respective sites. The market share of visits to www.fordvehicles.com and www.ford.com increased 37 percent and 55 percent, respectively, the week ending July 9, 2005 versus two weeks prior. The market share of visits to key Chrysler sites, www.chrysler.com, www.dodge.com and www.jeep.com, increased 15 percent, four percent and 31 percent over the same period.
"Because of the high-consideration nature of car shopping, auto Web sites play a tremendous role in the research phase," said Bill Tancer, general manager of worldwide research at Hitwise. "The summer's employee discount frenzy appears to have accentuated that online activity as new and existing car buyers evaluated deals and searched for local dealers."
The market share of Internet visits to the total Hitwise Automotive - Manufacturers category was up nine percent in June 2005 versus year-ago, up 13 percent in July 2005, and up nine percent in August versus year-ago. Similarly, visits to the Hitwise Automotive - Dealerships category were down two percent in June 2005 versus year-ago, but up 19 percent in July 2005 and 21 percent in August 2005 versus year-ago.
Top Search Terms Suggest GM's First-Mover Advantage
For the four weeks ending July 2, 2005 - the first month of GM's program - among the top terms (and overall rank) driving visits to www.gm.com were: 'gm employee discount' (3); 'gmc employee discount' (14); 'gm discount' (21); 'gm employee discounts' (22); 'general motors employee discount' (25); 'gm employee discount for everyone' (27); and 'gm employee discount price' (28).
"Whether fueled by industry awe, publicity or advertising, the concentration of high-ranking search terms related to GM's employee-discount program indicates the promotion linked very highly with the corporate brand," said Tancer. "Compared to Chrysler and Ford's search terms during their promotion launches, it appears that GM's first-mover status resulted in significantly more branding advantage."
For the four weeks ending July 30, 2005 - the launch month of Ford's program - top promotion-related terms (and rank) driving traffic to www.ford.com were: 'ford family plan' (10) and 'ford employee discount' (29). No search terms related specifically to the program were among the top 30 for www.fordvehicles.com.
As for Chrysler - which also launched its program in July - only one term driving traffic to www.chrysler.com for the four weeks ending July 30, 2005 was directly related to the program and in the top 30 ranking: 'chrysler employee discount' (14). None of the top 30 search terms for Chrysler's www.dodge.com were related to the program, while only one term for Chrysler's www.jeep.com was related: 'jeep employee pricing' (16).
Contact: For media inquiries or to schedule an analyst interview, please contact Lizzie Babarczy: press@hitwise.com (212) 380 2910.
About Hitwise:
Hitwise is the world's leading online competitive intelligence service. Each day, Hitwise monitors how more than 25 million Internet users interact with over 500,000 websites across 160 industry categories.
By monitoring more people, more websites, more often, Hitwise provides marketers with timely and actionable marketing insights on how their online presence compares to competitive websites. Companies use this information to maximize the return on their online investment, in efforts such as search marketing, affiliate programs, online advertising, visitor segmentation, content development and lead generation.
Hitwise collects Internet usage information via a combination of ISP data partnerships and opt-in mega panels, and complies with local and international privacy legislation as audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Founded in 1997, Hitwise is a privately held company, headquartered in New York City and operates in the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore.
More information about Hitwise is available at www.hitwise.com
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