Akamai's Advertising Decision Solutions Help Retailers Drive Transactions and Improve Return on Ad Spend

PALM SPRINGS, Calif., Feb. 23, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- eTail WEST -- Akamai Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: AKAM), the leading provider of cloud optimization services, today announced that two Internet Retailer Top 500(1) companies, Jos. A. Bank and Geeks.com, have enjoyed high returns on ad spend as well as significant incremental increases in online transactions since leveraging Akamai's Advertising Decision Solutions.  

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Ranked #193 on the 2010 Internet Retailer Top 500 list, Jos. A. Bank was looking for a display advertising and business partner that could help it drive transactions at scale and achieve a return on ad spend that would justify its marketing spend on display advertising.  Since implementing Akamai's predictive segments, part of Advertising Decision Solutions line, Jos. A. Bank has enjoyed a return of over $20 of sales for every $1 spent in several recent months. The retailer has also experienced a significant incremental improvement in the number of transactions on its site since beginning to work with Akamai.  

"Akamai has been terrific in driving a significant number of transactions and new-to-file customers at an absolutely fantastic ROI," said Lisa Pennell, Director of eCommerce, Jos. A. Bank Clothiers.  "Since leveraging Akamai's services, we enjoy a significant increase in online shopper traffic, an improved site performance and faster page load times.  Akamai's pixel-free implementation has also helped us avoid adding cumbersome tracking pixels across the Jos. A. Bank site and helped capture 100% of our site behavior to power our display campaigns.  With Akamai, we are able to drive a great customer experience with faster page load times and rich imagery, allowing our customers to take a good look at our apparel."

Another Internet Retailer Top 500 company, Geeks.com, has also benefited significantly from Akamai's predictive segments solution.  Ranked #203 on the Internet Retailer Top 500 list, Geeks.com is a leading direct-to-consumer eCommerce site offering computer components and peripherals.  Geeks.com sought a business partner that could meet and implement its aggressive ROI requirements in order to drive more transaction volume and increased spend.  Since implementing Akamai's advertising-related services, Geeks.com has seen many more first-time buyers on its site than it experienced in the past.  Best of all, Akamai has been able to manage the display ad budget to meet Geeks' seasonal requirements, always at an ROI exceeding $12 to $1.

"Akamai has done a great job meeting our requirements for transactions, cost and return on ad spend," said Glenn Kricheldorf, Channel Manager at Geeks.com.  "We've noticed an appreciable increase in incremental transactions and first-time buyers on our site.  They've really optimized our campaign, squeezing every profitable dollar out of it."

"Using predictive modeling based on shopping data, Akamai helps our retail customers reach in-market shoppers with real time display advertising," said Pedro Santos, Chief Strategist, eCommerce at Akamai Technologies.  "Jos. A. Bank and Geeks.com are great examples showcasing how retailers are leveraging Akamai's predictive segments solution to drive significant transactions for their sites.  By eliminating the need to implement tracking pixels, Akamai has created a solution that is designed to provide retailers an even faster way to drive incremental sales, enabling them to quickly launch campaigns with limited effort on the part of IT departments."

Akamai's Advertising Decision Solutions are designed to provide multi-channel retailers, product manufacturers, travel, and telecommunication companies with a way to drive incremental transactions online.  Predictive segments are based on sophisticated predictive analytics and modeling of data from the industry's only online consumer shopping data cooperative.  Retailers can access the power of the Akamai data cooperative by running online ad campaigns on Akamai's network in order to reach in-market online shoppers with display advertising in real-time and at scale.  The Akamai solutions are designed to provide retailers with a complete online performance marketing solution that focuses on driving transactions.

About Akamai

Akamai® provides market-leading, cloud-based services for optimizing Web and mobile content and applications, online HD video, and secure e-commerce. Combining highly-distributed, energy-efficient computing with intelligent software, Akamai's global platform is transforming the cloud into a more viable place to inform, entertain, advertise, transact and collaborate. To learn how the world's leading enterprises are optimizing their business in the cloud, please visit www.akamai.com and follow @Akamai on Twitter.

(1) Internet Retailer Top 500 List http://www.internetretailer.com/top500/

Akamai Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act

This release contains information about future expectations, plans and prospects of Akamai's management that constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors including, but not limited to, the effects of any attempts to intentionally disrupt our services or network by hackers or others, inability of advertising-related services to provide the intended customer benefits, failure of any Akamai advertising solution to operate as expected or advertised, a failure of Akamai's network infrastructure, and other factors that are discussed in Akamai's Annual Report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and other documents periodically filed with the SEC

SOURCE Akamai Technologies, Inc.