news
release
German
car manufacturers hot on the heels of Ford as the most searched for automotive
brands online in the UK
Ford
clings on to top spot with over 11% of online searches
London, 09 May 2011 –Experian Hitwise
has launched its first UK Automotive Brand Index which reveals the 20 most
popular Automotive manufacturers online. Ford takes the lead as the most
searched for Automotive brand accounting for just over 11% of all branded
searches between January 2011 and March 2011 - more than any other manufacturer
online.
The Index compiles
search data driving traffic to Experian
Hitwise’s Automotive category and aggregates market share of brand searches for
the top manufacturers and models, as searched for by the UK Internet
population. Ford is consistently the
most searched for brand in the Index, and has remained so for over a year.
However, German brands Volkswagen (9.87% of branded searches), Audi (9.16%) and
BMW (8.27%) are hot on the heels of Ford, increasing their market share of
branded searches by at least 1% over the last 12 months.
*New Car Registration
data courtesy of the SMMT at www.smmt.co.uk.
Between January 2011
and March 2011 the top ten brands remained static however, there was significant
movement further down the table with Renault, Citroen, Kia, Fiat and Mazda all
climbing the rankings during the quarter. Citroen, in particular, was the
fastest moving brand of the quarter, jumping from 16th to 13th
place. The company increased its market share of branded searches by nearly 1% in
the quarter, improving from 2.14% in December 2010 to 3.04% of all branded
searches in March 2011. In terms of actual car models the Nissan Qashqai
increased the number of searches by 66% year-on-year making it the most
searched for car during this period.
Robin Goad, Director
of Research at Experian Hitwise,
commented: “The lack of movement within the top 10 brands in our Automotive
Manufacturers Brand Index hides what is a fiercely competitive and dynamic race
to win market share of online searches.
Only a year ago, Ford and Volkswagen were head and shoulders above the
competition and now there are four brands hotly contesting the top spot,
separated by just 3% market share of searches. With the gap closing between
manufacturers, none of the automotive brands can afford to rest on their
laurels. Our research shows there is a
clear connection between great marketing campaigns and improved online search
performance. The kind of online insight
our Brand Index provides can be used by automotive manufacturers to evaluate
and fine tune their online marketing activities.”
German
brands Volkswagen, Audi and BMW leveraging online to drive sales
By combining Experian Hitwise search data with the new car
registration data courtesy of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders
(SMMT) it is possible to compare how successful Automotive brands are online
and offline. Ford’s current status as the industry leader online is reflected
in the SMMT data, with 80,028 new Ford vehicles registered between January 2011
and March 2011. Vauxhall was the second most successful brand in terms of new
car registrations during the quarter, despite being the fifth most popular
manufacturer in terms of branded searches online.
Both Ford and
Vauxhall perform better offline than online, with a higher market share of new
car registrations than online branded searches. Exactly half of the top 20
brands in the Index followed this pattern, including: Citroen, Kia, Mazda,
Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Peugeot, Renault and Toyota.
Of the 10 brands which performed better offline than online, only Ford,
Vauxhall and Peugeot had a significant discrepancy in market share across the two indicators.
At the other end of
the scale, the brands which performed better online than offline, with a higher
market share of branded searches than new car registrations included: Audi,
BMW, Fiat, Honda, Land Rover, Mini, Mitsubishi, Skoda, Volkswagen and Volvo. Of
those manufacturers, Audi, BMW and Volkswagen performed noticeably better in
terms of online searches. The German brands demonstrate how effective
investment in digital activity can reap rewards; dominating online search
performance combined with strong car registration numbers.
*New Car Registration
data courtesy of the SMMT at www.smmt.co.uk.
Land Rover was the
brand which showed the greatest disparity from online search behaviour to
offline purchasing behaviour. In the search rankings, Land Rover was the sixth
biggest manufacturing brand, accounting for 4.59% of all branded Automotive
searches. However, Land Rover only managed 13,264 new car registrations,
ranking it in 14th place in terms of sales.
Robin Goad added:
“Comparing our data with the new car registration data from the SMMT reveals
some interesting insights into which brands are really excelling online.
Volkswagen, Audi and BMW stand out as the brands which have a very strong
online brand presence which is converting into sales, whereas Ford and Vauxhall
are leveraging their strong offline reputation to increase sales. Luxury brands
such as Land Rover which have higher pricing thresholds may be attracting
aspirational internet searches from people wanting to find out more about the
cars, hence the disparity in online versus offline performance.”
ENDS
Contact:
Alexandra
Banks
Digital
PR Manager, Experian Marketing
Services
+44 (0)
7966102823
alexandra.banks@uk.experian.com
press.uk@hitwise.com
About Experian Hitwise
Experian Hitwise
is the leading online competitive intelligence service. Experian
Hitwise gives marketers a competitive advantage by providing daily insights on
how 25 million Internet users around the world interact with more than 1
million Web sites. This external view helps companies grow and protect their
businesses by identifying threats and opportunities as they develop. Experian Hitwise has more than 1,500 clients across numerous sectors, including financial
services, media, travel and retail.
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(FTS:EXPN), www.experianplc.com,
operates in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Hong
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For up-to-date analysis of online trends, please visit the Experian Hitwise research blog at www.ilovedata.com
and the Experian Hitwise Data Centre
at www.hitwise.com/datacentre
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