Discouraged by disappointing results with banner advertising, since April, TJX Cos. Inc., the Framingham, MA-based parent of off-price retailers T.J. Maxx and Marshalls, has been experimenting with paid keyword results through Overture and LookSmart (and soon, Google).
Interestingly, the TJX sites do not engage in e-commerce (other than selling gift certificates). The goal of their search engine marketing is to drive traffic to the Web sites’ store locators and e-mail sign ups to convert direct mail recipients to e-mail. TJX also wants to introduce the stores to teenagers–it’s future customers (the stores’ demographic is woman aged 25 to 55).
"I’m finding search engines are the most cost-effective and best way to get our message out to a younger demographic than we target right now," says Joanne Wood-Ellison, manager of Internet marketing.
TJX uses only a handful of broad terms – such as "department stores," "women’s clothing," "teen clothing" and variations of the Marshalls brand name -- because it doesn’t want to compete with e-commerce companies bidding up more targeted words. Wood-Ellison says she won’t pay more than $1 for a keyword.
Since it doesn’t engage in e-commerce, tracking is a special challenge for TJX. It can track with the TJX Visa credit card, cookies and e-mail. Says Wood-Ellison: "Our ability to track to the point of sale is not huge but it is an indicator."
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