Press Releases

CompUSA Wins First Annual eTail 2003 Award for Advanced Use of Web Analytics

Web Site Analysis from Coremetrics Enables America's Largest Computer Superstore Retailer to Improve Product Compare Functionality & Boost Revenues by $2.2 Million

Coremetrics™, the leading provider of marketing analytics solutions, today announced that CompUSA won the first eTail 2003 award for advanced use of Web analytics at the 9th Annual eTail conference held August 11-14 in Boston, MA. The nation's largest retailer and reseller of personal computers was awarded the prestigious eTail 2003 award for their strategic use of web site analysis from Coremetrics to improve product compare functionality and increase annualized revenues by $2.2 million. The annual eTail conference is widely recognized as the premier venue for multi-channel retailers to learn hard facts, share excellent case studies and gather world-class business-critical information.

The First Annual eTail Awards allowed leaders in the industry to judge strategic initiatives in six distinct categories: CRM; Search Optimization; Email Marketing; Web Analytics; Fulfillment; and Visualization. All eTail 2003 award nominees were scored based upon vision and strategy; creativity of the initiative; and demonstration of strong ROI. Judges in the Web Analytics category were seeking an innovative example of advanced Web metrics utilization that dramatically improved customer conversion rates, and CompUSA was named the winner for their revolutionary approach to improving product compare functionality.

"The eTail conference attracts the largest retailers from the U.S., and we are honored to be recognized as a winner among such an elite crowd," said Al Hurlebaus, director of eCommerce at CompUSA. "Our relationship with Coremetrics has improved CompUSA's online business performance immensely because we have access to a powerful customer analysis platform which helps us identify and optimize for high value customers. Using Marketforce for Retail, we learned that Product Compare users represented a key customer group for us, kicking off an initiative to improve access to that function as well as its capabilities. Through these changes, Coremetrics helped us increase annualized revenues by $2.2 million and achieve recognition for strategic innovation at the eTail 2003 conference."

CompUSA was able to leverage Web site analysis from Coremetrics to quickly determine that 13% of all buyers on CompUSA.com utilized the product compare feature, which allows online shoppers to compare multiple products side-by-side in a single interface. Furthermore, Coremetrics data highlighted that these Product Compare users had a 33% higher average order size and contributed 17% of the total revenue generated on CompUSA.com. CompUSA recognized they could increase revenues by fine-tuning this valuable tool in order to increase customer usage and create a better purchasing experience.

Analysis performed with Coremetrics determined that the Product Compare functionality was not broadly accessible throughout the site, and therefore bypassed many customers. Based on this information, CompUSA augmented the Product Compare feature to ensure it was user-friendly and widely available by adding a printer-friendly page; providing the ability to enlarge product images; adding a 'find in store' option; allowing rebates to be viewed for products being compared; and ensuring the 'add to shopping cart' feature was available anywhere in the compare process. Within a matter of weeks, CompUSA observed an 11% increase in Product Compare traffic and a 16% increase in buyer conversion. In addition, departure rates from the Product Compare pages dropped by an amazing 56% as a result of the changes. Most importantly, Product Compare improvements resulted in a $2.2 million increase in annualized revenue.

"CompUSA's use of Marketforce for Retail is a prime example of the unique value that Coremetrics LIVE Profiles bring to the market," said Scott Kauffman, chairman of Coremetrics. "CompUSA was able to achieve a $2.2 million increase in annualized revenues by quickly identifying a key group of high-value customers and correlating specific behaviors to average order size. CompUSA found that they could increase revenues by encouraging specific behaviors among site visitors resulting in more new buyers, as well as increased purchases by existing customers. We are pleased that the eTail judges recognized CompUSA for their strategic use of Web site analysis, and we extend our congratulations to the entire team at CompUSA for winning this prestigious award."

Judges of the eTail 2003 Awards were Ken Seiff, CEO of Bluefly.com; Patrick O'Neill, general manager of Nike.com; Lorna Borenstein, vice president and general manager of eBay; Scott Bauhofer, senior vice president of Best Buy; Dave Towers, vice president of eCommerce at J. Crew; Michael Crotty, executive vice president of Neiman Marcus; Lawrence Becker, vice president of New Media at Crutchfield; and David Berkowitz, editor at eMarketer.

About CompUSA Inc.
CompUSA Inc., Where America Buys Technology , is the nation's leading retailer and reseller of personal computer-related products and services. Founded in 1984, it now operates approximately 225 stores in 90 major metropolitan markets. These Superstores serve retail, corporate, government and education customers and include technical service departments. CompUSA's inventory includes all major brands of computers and information products including Apple, Compaq Epson, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Lotus, Microsoft, Toshiba and more. CompUSA also carries more than 2,000 software titles. Many of the stores include classroom training facilities. For more information, visit the Company's Web site at www.compusa.com.

About Coremetrics
Coremetrics is the leading provider of online marketing analytics solutions, empowering companies to develop and act upon a comprehensive understanding of all visitor and customer interactions within their online channels. The company services over 150 unique brands online and was recently named the sole market leader in an industry report on Web analytics conducted by Forrester Research. Coremetrics Marketforce is the industry's only online marketing analytics platform that captures and stores all customer and visitor clickstream activity to build LIVE (Lifetime Individual Visitor Experience) Profiles that serve as the foundation for all successful e-business initiatives. Coremetrics Marketforce enables online marketers, IT officers, and e-commerce executives to attract and convert high value visitors, optimize shopping path design, and increase customer lifetime value. The company's clients include Ann Taylor, Bank of America, The Columbia House Company, CompUSA, Eddie Bauer, Motorola, Nortel Networks, Victoria's Secret, and Williams-Sonoma, Inc. Coremetrics is headquartered in Burlingame, California with offices in Austin, Texas and Portland, Oregon. The company is privately held with funding from Accel Partners and Highland Capital Partners. To learn more about Coremetrics, visit the company's Web site at http://www.coremetrics.com or call 877-721-CORE.

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