[StarVegabond]

Website hits / visits = Foot falls in a shop

Both mean that there is curiosity in general, but it does not indicate the interest in specific sense. Foot falls often mislead the store manager becasue most of the time same people might come in and go out repeatedly, same might be true for website hits.

Website hits need a more tech aware and resourceful potential customer than the footfalls in a shop.

Both does not mean that it will get converted into the revenues.
e.g. most of the young people visiting forum mall in bangalore may not buy from there, they may just go there to hangout with their friends, feel cool.

The only real indicator of the popularity of a particular brand is the Sales Numbers (customers) and more specific sense repeat customers (loyalty)

Interbrand provides the valuation of the brands across the world and is considered / accepted as global defalut ranking for brand valuation and popularity.

[akhilesh51]

Originally Posted by ACM

Maybe customers go to TATA websites for info and research before buying - rather than going to showroom. While maybe they go the maruti showrooms for info and research before buying rather than go to the maruti website. Maruti being no3 despite 3 times the total TATA sales implies a dramatically different way in which customers decide to buy a maruti or tata.

TATA may not be as big at passenger cars but taking into account commercial vehicles, TATA is the country's largest automobile manufacturer. I do agree that most Truck owners would not have visited TATA website before making a purchase but so is the case with countless Alto / 800 customers who bought a car based on depth of their pockets rather than features on car.

TATA internet traffic is mainly due to Nano effect which was publicized massively through this medium.

[ACM]

Since 100% of the visits to the sites will not result in sales, and the conversion rates could be as low as 25%. If one looks at it differently, Internet sites are not really having the desired impact on sales, and TATA (irrespecitve of website quality) is attaracting more online customers, while mauriti attracting more footfall customers, and the footfall method seems to work more, so better and more visible showrooms is the way to go forward for most mass product vendors.

[gomzi]

Originally Posted by ACM

mauriti attracting more footfall customers, and the footfall method seems to work more, so better and more visible showrooms is the way to go forward for most mass product vendors.

Originally Posted by ACM

While maybe they go the maruti showrooms for info and research before buying rather than go to the maruti website. Maruti being no3 despite 3 times the total TATA sales implies a dramatically different way in which customers decide to buy a maruti or tata.

It is still the case for many people that small/first car = maruti. So why to check the website, go straight to the showroom

Maybe it's the legacy of Maruti being here since the 80's or their AS*.

[GTO]

Interesting comments (as always). Just for the record, Team-BHP is ranked higher than any car manufacturer website

Originally Posted by CoolFire

But other than Honda, I think the top results are biased towards recent launches.

True. However, note that Honda's website popularity could have shot up due to their recent "win a Honda" campaign too.

Originally Posted by r@CYR@y

I mean if you have a closer look at that list you will find 10 websites of maruti in it, So the larger the number of websites the lower the rank will fall (individual model site compared to company main site),
I think you are getting what I am trying to say..

Sure do! That's why the disclaimer. This is one of those threads whose numbers should not be taken in the absolute sense. If you want accuracy, there's always the sales analysis threads!

Originally Posted by vinaydas

with 'n' Number of people checking the website from time to time whether they have been allotted a nano.

LOL! But I could argue back saying there were only <3 lakh Nano bookings. A substantial number of which could be from non-computer / internet types.

Originally Posted by Gilead

Ford might have ranked pretty low even if they did have an India website. It's one of the worst car websites I have ever been to. I know 'cos I just bought a Ford and spent some time on the site. Lots of dead links, washed out car photos, no quick way to find out of the features of each variant and NO PRICE INFO!. I personally find that Maruti and Hyundai have decent websites.

I agree. Ford's website is rubbish. Even the pricing given is a mere "starting from Rs.xxxxxx" unlike other brands that throw out accurate numbers. Maybe its to do with their unlimited special schemes, no one really knows the price of Ford cars!!

A Related Discussion

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

Website hits / visits = Foot falls in a shop

Nice post, StarVegabond.

Originally Posted by ACM

If one looks at it differently, Internet sites are not really having the desired impact on sales

Could also be because most brands aren't doing it right. I mean, all head honchos are from a pre-internet generation. All of them want to go web 2.0, social networking et al, but honestly (experienced first hand), they don't have a clue of how the internet works! Look at how Skoda botched up an opportunity with Team-BHP. Instead of a threat, they could have come up and said "okay, we erred, here's what we will do to make up to this customer". Anyways, that's another topic altogether.

[richie4u]

I love the SX4 website truly its a complete website giving you all the information including a virtual demo on the car... now thats nice!

[tsk1979]

Is Alexa a valid meter? For example, only those users who use IE with Alexa Tool Bar installed are counted.
Thats hardly a valid sample!
I doubt any of TBHPians use Alexa Toolbar

[Karthik_S]

Originally Posted by GTO

Not too surprising. I can't think of a single reason why any foreigners would be interested in an India-specific Cruze website.

... but be more interested in the overall Chevy site for India?

Chevycruze.in Chevrolet.co.in
India Rank 2415 3389
Global Rank 107097 71276

The muse was around why the global rank for these sites does not follow the Indian rank.

[GTO]

The top 5 in July 2010 (according to Comscore):

1. Honda
2. Maruti
3. Tata
4. VW
5. Hyundai

I can understand Maruti, Tata & Hyundai in the rankings, but Honda (hardly a mass market player) and VW (they only just launched the Polo & Vento)!! Unbelievable, the casual web surfers interest in these two brands is crazy.

Get this, the websites of these 5 manufacturers are visited more than that of the car magazines. Combined.