Most Faucet Brands Fail to Optimize Online Sales, Report Finds

BOSTON, March 26, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Edge by Ascential, a leading provider of accurate and actionable sales-driving data, insights and advisory solutions for global brands and retailers, finds that most brands in the Kitchen Faucets category have significant opportunities to improve their performance on the digital shelf, a crucial sales channel in today's ecommerce-driven world.

Edge by Ascential has analyzed the ecommerce presence of kitchen faucets across four major retailers, Home Depot, Lowe's, Menards and Amazon.com, during the months of November, December and January and found them lacking in two key areas: product titles and images. Product titles frequently failed to include the brand name, making them more difficult for shoppers to locate and reducing brand recognition. A high proportion of kitchen faucet listings also had only one product image, providing too little information for most potential buyers.

"Brands need to get the basics right," said Pete Andrews, Director of Insights at Edge by Ascential. "Usually when shoppers search for a product they include the brand name in their search, so if the brand isn't in the title, the product won't show up. Recognizable brand names also signal value, as does having multiple high-quality images. When there's only one image, customers associate that with cheap, low-quality products."

Kitchen faucet listings that lacked the brand name in the title appeared most frequently at Home Depot, but the issue was also common at Lowe's, Menards and Amazon. Conversely, Home Depot performed relatively well for product images, with 74% of kitchen faucets containing more than one image compared to only 29% at Menards. Both retailers had exceptions, however: at Home Depot, American Standard and Kohler both had a large proportion of products with only one image; while at Menards, Vigo has at least five images on each of its listings.

"The fault does not fall entirely on the brand," clarified Chris Elliott, Senior Insights Analyst at Edge by Ascential. "Kingston Brass, Delta and Moen all showed a large disparity in product images from retailer to retailer, so brands and retailers need to work together to make sure their listings are well represented online. Poor quality listings drive shoppers away."

Edge by Ascential also analyzed promotions in the Kitchen Faucets category, finding that Home Depot offered the highest total number of promotions during the period while Menards overtook it during the off-peak periods of early November and January. Lowe's had the fewest promotions but, like Home Depot, offered a much higher average discount percentage than Menards.

Moen was the most promoted brand across all retailers while also growing its market share on Amazon by 8% during the first week of December. Typically, average discount percentages are lower when a brand is on promotion, but Moen uniquely bucked this trend by offering deeper discounts during promotional periods, which correlated with the brand's strong performance.

"Promotions are important, but they can only amplify the product listing," said Pete Andrews. "If the title is incomplete or the images are inadequate, then the promotion will hit a wall and sales will suffer. Brands need to start by optimizing their products for the digital shelf, and then allow promotions to amplify those ecommerce-ready listings."

This research will be discussed in further detail during the "Renovate Your Ecommerce Presence Today" webcast on Wednesday, April 3^rd, 2019 presented by Edge by Ascential in partnership with ChannelSight. The webcast will examine the rise of the Home and DIY sector and explore the opportunities available to brands on the digital shelf. In addition to Kitchen Faucets, the webcast will address new research in Kitchen the Power Tools and Hand Tools categories.

Register for this complimentary webcast here: Renovate Your Ecommerce Presence Today

About Edge by Ascential™

Edge by Ascential™ delivers some of the industry's most accurate and actionable sales-driving data, insights and advisory solutions for global brands and retailers looking to win in today's ecommerce-driven world. Our solutions enable the world's top brands and retailers to implement strategies that help maximize revenue growth; optimize product listings; increase sales faster than the category and the competition; and drive margin growth with pricing and promotions. Our weekly, daily and real-time data-driven insights (including online Sales and Share measurement, Digital Shelf performance, Price & Promotions monitoring and Retail Insights intelligence), coupled with a wide range of customized advisory and education services, give our clients a comprehensive and competitive advantage across the entire landscape online and around the globe.

For more information about how your company can gain the advantage, visit www.ascentialedge.com.

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