Channel Intelligence Releases Thanksgiving Weekend Results for Key Services

PRLog (Press Release) - Dec 09, 2009 -
Channel Intelligence (CI) (http://www.channelintelligence.com/), a leading e-commerce services provider, today reported sales performance and trends from retailer and manufacturer customers for Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Customer’s using CI’s storefront/webcart services saw sales increase an average of 37 percent from 2008 across the three shopping days, while the company’s where-to-buy service reported average online sales increases of 12 percent, and shopping channel management services achieved an average of 65 percent higher sales than in 2008. Sales increases remained strong despite a general trend toward decreased order value associated with changes in consumer purchasing habits.

The company’s shopping-channel-management services reported an increase of 2.6 percent in average order value across CI retailers advertising on shopping engines and similar sites. However, these services helped retailer customers log stellar sales-performance increases: the biggest day by sales volume was Thanksgiving Day up 61 percent over 2008, followed by Black Friday up 61 percent and Cyber Monday up 73 percent.

CI’s storefront/webcart services help retailers and manufacturers deliver content and streamline the online purchase process.  Black Friday brought the greatest sales volume for customers using these services -- up 36 percent over 2008, followed by Cyber Monday, up 51 percent, and Thanksgiving Day, up 35 percent. These sales increases weathered the decline in average order value, which is down an average of 7 percent due to decreases in average selling prices as consumers are buying more but spending less per item.

Sales through CI’s online where-to-buy service for manufacturers and retailers revealed a different story. Average order value increased 20 percent, while Cyber Monday brought in the greatest sales volume, up 4 percent over 2008, followed by Black Friday, up 51 percent, and Thanksgiving Day, up 23 percent. Since the where-to-buy services typically operate on manufacturer web sites, this data suggests that shoppers may be less price-sensitive when it comes to purchasing their preferred brands, especially in categories like electronics, computing, tools, and toys.

Channel Intelligence CEO Rob Wight said, “We’re pleased to see such excellent sales gains for customers using some of our core services, even amidst consumer shopping trends pointing toward decreases in average order value. We anticipate a successful holiday sales season for our customers and look forward to driving even more innovations to continue the positive performance across all our retail and manufacturer services in 2010.”

CI customers include leading brands such as Samsung, HP Home and Home Office, Black & Decker, Best Buy, OfficeMax, Yamaha, Neiman Marcus, McGraw-Hill Companies, Casio, Spiegel, Garmin, Sears, Philips, Cisco Consumer Products, Sony PlayStation, Target, Golfsmith, ShoeMall, The Children’s Place, Advance Auto Parts, Newell Rubbermaid, West Marine, ShopNBC, Kimberly-Clark, and hundreds more.

*Data reported in this press release compares the year-over-year daily same-store sales results for Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday and Cyber Monday, for select CI services.

About Channel Intelligence (CI)

CI helps retailers, manufacturers and other advertisers make their products and services easier for consumers to find and buy online and in local retail stores. Integrating its powerful product database with online marketing services such as display advertising, manufacturer based where-to-buy, paid search, shopping engines, social networking, storefront, order management and robust performance analytics, CI offers the most complete set of performance-based commerce services in the industry. The company, through its proprietary Ad Network, also drives $2B annually in referred sales from leading manufacturers to retailers in Computing, Home Improvement, Appliances, Consumer Electronics, Toys and a variety of other consumer packed goods. Clients include Best Buy, HP Home and Home Office, Kimberly-Clark, Neiman Marcus, Philips, Target, Garmin, OfficeMax, Samsung, Charming Shoppes, Black & Decker and hundreds more. CI is a partner company of Internet Capital Group (Nasdaq: ICGE) and Aweida Capital Management. Learn more at www.channelintelligence.com.

Contact:
John Terry
Channel Intelligence, Inc.
1.321.559.2324
john.terry@channelintelligence.com