Inaugural Search and Social Commerce Index from Kenshoo and DataPop Finds Only 1.7% of Retail Products Posted on Social Commerce Properties

SAN FRANCISCO, July 21, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

Kenshoo, the global leader in predictive media optimization technology, and DataPop, the leading semantic advertising company focused on helping retailers better merchandise their products, today unveiled their inaugural Search and Social Commerce Index. Based on analysis of more than 40 retailers and their accompanying 3 million published products, the inaugural release of this quarterly index identifies significant opportunities for retailers to better capitalize on consumers' growing propensity for social product discovery and align their search and social commerce initiatives for greater cross-channel success.

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"Product listing ads and search continue to drive more than half of all site traffic for retailers, but social commerce sites, including Pinterest, Polyvore, Houzz and Wanelo, are driving big gains in traffic and sales for retailers," said Jason Lehmbeck, CEO of DataPop. "Forty-two percent of marketers already leverage social commerce, and we expect that number to keep rising."

Key findings available in a complimentary report on the index include:

• Retailers are missing opportunities to better brand and merchandise via social commerce, with only 1.7% of products posted on social commerce properties
• Even among products in their most popular product categories, retailers post only 7.2% of their products via social commerce
• 70% of retailers fail to align the copy in their social posts with what consumers care about most when discovering new brands and products

"Kenshoo understands how to marry consumer intent data across the digital advertising spectrum, and its collaboration with DataPop highlights key retail insights," said Gerry Bavaro, Chief Strategy Officer of Resolution Media. "Skilled marketers will undoubtedly leverage data from their product listing ad campaigns after they see these findings, and the report will help many understand how to better leverage search and social commerce across channels."

Comparing data from social commerce networks with data from Google Shopping campaigns creates two-way opportunities to improve marketing investments. The data can be used to optimize product ads by examining them through the lens of consumer intent; Product Listings Ads data can similarly be used to reveal gaps in social merchandising by showing which high performing products haven't been shared via Pinterest, Polyvore, Houzz and Wanelo.

"Social data really helps drive our messaging and is the best real-time platform for A/B testing marketing response, which also feeds into our demand forecasting for production," said Corey Epstein, CEO of DSTLD. "Combined with detailed targeting, social media accounts for more than 50% of new customer acquisition."

"As more consumers come to Polyvore to discover and shop for fashion, we've seen the most growth in traffic and sales go to retailers who have the highest quality product meta data, fully leverage their product catalog and understand product engagement on our site," said Arnie Gullov-Singh, Chief Revenue Officer for Polyvore. "We are excited to see DataPop and Kenshoo launch valuable tools and insights for the social commerce space."

Visit http://www.kenshoo.com/kenshoo-datapop-ssci/ to download a copy of the inaugural edition of the Search and Social Commerce Index.

About DataPop 

DataPop is the leading provider of technology solutions enabling optimal product merchandising across all channels and devices. Its patented Semantic Advertising technology allows retailers & brands to enhance legacy product catalogs with revolutionary multi-dimensional Product Knowledge Graphs^TM. DataPop's technology leverages signals from both search and social, enabling cross-channel optimization and insights on what matters most to consumers searching for and discovering products. As a result, DataPop clients get dramatically better performing campaigns and valuable insights into how consumers engage with retail products. For more information, visit http://www.datapop.com or follow DataPop on Twitter @DataPop.

About Kenshoo 

Kenshoo is a global software company that engineers cloud-based digital marketing solutions and predictive media optimization technology. Brands, agencies and developers use Kenshoo Search, Kenshoo Social, Kenshoo Local, Kenshoo SmartPath, and Kenshoo Halogen to direct more than $200 billion in annualized client sales revenue through the platform. Kenshoo is the only Facebook strategic Preferred Marketing Developer with native API solutions for ads across Facebook, FBX, Twitter, Google, Yahoo, Yahoo Japan, Bing, Baidu and CityGrid. Kenshoo powers campaigns in more than 190 countries for nearly half of the Fortune 50 and all 10 top global ad agency networks. Kenshoo clients include CareerBuilder, Expedia, Facebook, KAYAK, Havas Media, iREP, John Lewis, Resolution Media, Sears, Starcom MediaVest Group, Tesco, Travelocity, Walgreens, and Zappos. Kenshoo has 23 international locations and is backed by Sequoia Capital, Arts Alliance, Tenaya Capital, and Bain Capital Ventures. Please visit http://www.Kenshoo.com for more information.

Kenshoo brand and product names are trademarks of Kenshoo Ltd. Other company and brand names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

SOURCE Kenshoo