eCommerce Analytics

We’ve wrapped up our first look at web analytics market share among online retailers and if you’ve been thinking about ditching your current package for the free Google Analytics, it appears you’re not alone. Google Analytics is now in use by 44% of online retailers with Omniture close behind at 34%. Coremetrics rounds out the big three with 17% market share.

As expected, Google Analytics dominates with smaller e-commerce players while Omniture owns the 5 million uniques/month and above segment. Coremetrics makes a respectable showing in the 500,000+ monthly uniques segment.

33% of mid-sized retailers use two or more analytics packages — nearly double the rate of larger retailers.

Of those, nearly all are using Google Analytics with either Omniture or Coremetrics. Is this a sign that retailers are kicking the tires on Google Analytics or is it just an inexpensive way to validate the figures from the more powerful packages?

Update: The full e-commerce web analytics market share report is now available for download in PDF format.

Fun fact from a study we’re cooking up: almost 2 in 5 retailers who are using Omniture or Coremetrics for their web analytics are also using Google Analytics.

Are they using Google Analytics to verify the numbers from their industrial strength packages or are they contemplating a switch? It certainly makes sense to use a second package if you want some assurance that the numbers you’re seeing are legit, especially if that package is free. But it’s not a stretch to imagine that these retailers might be giving Google Analytics a test drive.

Bonus fun fact: over 1% of online retailers are using both Omniture and Coremetrics. That’s some serious analytics firepower. And while you may have heard of these retailers, they aren’t the household names you might think.

Stay tuned for more web analytics analytics.

I was looking through a Coremetrics white paper today entitled Optimizing Your Marketing Mix in a Down Economy and was struck by the sheer amount of website interaction data the Coremetrics platform tracks:

• Every web page viewed by visitors

• Specific paths that visitors take through key site processes

• Web page point of entry, navigation path, and departure path taken by visitors

• Every banner ad, email campaign, affiliate link, search engine keyword (paid and organic), blog, news article, and any other source that brings visitors to the web site

• Every product, room, flight, or merchandise item that visitors click on, view, or interact with, and reserve, book, buy, or abandon

• Every newsletter signup, customer registration, and opt-in identification action taken by visitors indicating that they wish to be contacted

• Every important attribute of the visitor’s browser, including screen resolution, plug-ins, time zone, language, IP address, and domain name

Read Our Next Challenge: Turning a Firehose of Data into a Trickle? »

Omniture’s sales and marketing department are simply world class.  Not only are they beating the pants off of CoreMetrics, but they’ve sold a vision of complete information awareness that online retailers are eagerly buying into.  Almost every single one of our customers has bought Omniture or is about to.  And every single one of them has asked the same question.  Now what?

Read Congratulations! You’ve installed Omniture! Now What? »