More retailers putting print catalogs online

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Adobe Systems Inc. today published results of its annual Adobe Scene7 survey detailing how Web commerce businesses are building out their online customer experiences in 2009. This year's results show companies focusing their online investments in the delivery of new rich media and merchandising features, as well as social networking, mobile and personalization applications.

This is the third annual Scene7 survey and it was run in conjunction with industry trade associations and publications in the online marketing community around the world.

"Web marketing continues to be an area of investment and innovation because in challenging economic times it can deliver high-impact marketing programs that can be easily and immediately measured," said Doug Mack, vice president of consumer and hosted solutions at Adobe. "Over 90 percent of our survey's respondents are planning to invest in new rich media and social networking technologies to ensure their brands and products stand out on the Web."

Overall, the top features that are planned for deployment in 2009 are: blogs (32 percent); user ratings, rankings, comments (31 percent); 360-degree spin (29 percent); catalogs & circulars (28 percent); podcasts or live video feed (28 percent); product comparisons (27 percent); and videos (27 percent).

Respondents indicated that increased clicks, usage and conversion rates remain the top metrics used for measuring effectiveness of deployed features. This, together with revenues and order size metrics, is used for measuring effectiveness of online marketing efforts.