November 11, 2005 | Friday
Search yields $6.6 billion in online travel sales in eight weeks
By Jackie Danicki - Blogger in Marketing |News |Online Sales |Search Research
There are plenty of compelling numbers in this research from comScore, Yahoo, and Media Contacts.
In April [2005], 35 million U.S. consumers used a search engine to initiate travel planning, and those who bought travel online ultimately spent an estimated $6.6 billion in the category during the eight week analysis period.
...Fully 82 percent of [the 500] respondents reported that they were satisfied or very satisfied with their use of Web search for travel. Along with facilitating commerce, 56 percent of respondents said Web search helped them discover a new site, and 27 percent said search led them to a new brand. An impressive 83 percent of Internet travel planners in the study said they intend to use Web search for future travel planning a 17-percent increase over current usage levels.
Even more interesting may be the buying cycle of these customers when using search:
[A] significant portion of the impact of Web search on travel buying occurred in sessions following the initial search engine referral. In fact, only 20 percent of all travel transactions linked to search engine activity occurred directly following the initial search referral, while the remaining 80 percent took place in the days and weeks following the initial search session. This latency, or inactivity of consumers between search and purchase, was observed at comparable levels among all travel products.
This research backs up what Piper Jaffray analyst Safa Rashtchy said this week about how search creates brand awareness and drives word of mouth.
“Search is becoming a major sub-medium on the Web,” Rashtchy said. “Search is being used as a vehicle to influence consumer behavior.”
He suggested that, rather than just driving clicks, search can be used to create awareness among targeted market segments. “There is an important influence of search beyond what has been leveraged,” he said. “Search has a particular power as a targeted branding medium.”
Links to both items courtesy e-mail tip-offs from Adriana Cronin-Lukas
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