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As Shopping Patterns Evolve, Manufacturers Respond by Providing Rich, Creative Model-Page Content
HUMMER.com earns the highest ranking among automotive manufacturer Web sites for usefulness in new-vehicle shopping for a second consecutive time, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2008 Manufacturer Web Site Evaluation Study(SM) (MWES)-Wave 1.
The semi-annual study measures the usefulness of manufacturer Web sites during the new-vehicle shopping process. New-vehicle shoppers evaluate Web sites in four key areas: appearance, speed, navigation, and information/content.
HUMMER ranks highest with an index score of 867 on a 1,000-point scale-a 2-point decline from the last wave of the study, which was released in July 2007.
"HUMMER continues to set the standard with a Web site that satisfies shoppers through fast performance and streamlined navigation," said Steve Witten, executive director of marketing/media research at J.D. Power and Associates. "A focus on a user-friendly site that delivers robust information to shoppers both quickly and easily has put HUMMER's site in the top spot three times in the past four waves of MWES."
Following HUMMER in the top three rankings are Lincoln and Kia, respectively. While HUMMER and Kia have consistently performed well in the rankings for the past several years, Lincoln ranks among the top three for the first time in 2008. The Lincoln Web site provides a particularly strong example of robust content that manufacturers are increasingly beginning to offer on their vehicle model pages.
"Traditional point-and-click Web site navigation is changing as a growing number of shoppers use search engines to link directly to automotive manufacturer model pages rather than the home pages," said Witten. "As a result, manufacturer vehicle model pages are beginning to contain more functionality than ever before. Lincoln's Web site, in particular, combines rich content on its model pages with fast, clear navigation."
The study finds that the average index score for Web sites of premium vehicle manufacturers has surpassed the average score for sites of non-premium manufacturers for the first time since Wave 1 of the 2006 study. Among those non-premium sites that show the largest decreases since the previous wave of the study, one of the reasons for these declines tends to be a failure to successfully integrate new model-page content features such as video and interactive demonstrations.
"Some bottom-performing sites had robust content to offer but failed to deliver it to shoppers in a user-friendly manner, or the sites overwhelmed shoppers by showing too much content on one page," said Witten. "In order to successfully deliver information to shoppers, manufacturer Web sites must combine a wealth of tools and information with quickness and a clean, intuitive navigation scheme. Creating a balance of these elements is what sets top performers apart from lower-scoring sites."
The 2008 Manufacturer Web Site Evaluation Study-Wave 1 is based on evaluations gathered between October and November 2007 from 11,466 new-vehicle shoppers who indicated they would be in the market for a new vehicle within the next 24 months.

  Manufacturer Web Site Ranking
  (Based on a 1,000-point scale)
  HUMMER              867
  Lincoln             865
  Kia                 863
  Honda               862
  Mazda               862
  Jeep                859
  Acura               858
  Lexus               856
  Saab                854
  Toyota              851
  Ford                850
  Mercury             849
  Subaru              849
  Suzuki              849
  Cadillac            848
  Dodge               848
  Infiniti            846
  Mitsubishi          846
  Buick               845
  Land Rover          845
  Porsche             845
  BMW                 843
  Industry Average    842
  MINI                840
  Hyundai             835
  Saturn              835
  Volvo               833
  Chrysler            830
  Jaguar              830
  Mercedes-Benz       830
  Chevrolet           828
  Nissan              828
  GMC                 824
  Pontiac             823
  Volkswagen          820
  Scion               803
  Audi                784

Web site:
http://www.jdpower.com/
http://www.mcgraw-hill.com/