To conclude series of articles on Web Equity survey implemented by Japan Brand Strategy following the previous articles Vol.65 – Web Equity Valuation in Japan – Model and Ranking and Vol.66 – KFS of Web Contribution to Sales Generation and Value, the author would like to introduce what kind of corporate websites are ranked high in “Information Value”, one of the two constituents of Web Equity, together with possible KFS (key factors for success) for high “Information Value” in this article.
1. What is “Information Value”? How is it calculated?
“Information Value” is how much the website contributed to corporate branding. This requires customer acquisition (driving web users to the website), retention (making visitors re-visit frequently) and engagement (interacting with online customers to develop long-term relationship).
In calculating Information Value, “Access Value” and “Behaviour Value” were calculated and then added together.
(1) Access Value
Access Value is how much the online customer’s access to view the web site information contributed to brand enhancement of the company and its products/services.
This was calculated by multiplying PV (Page View) = number of pages of web sites viewed by value coefficient (unit value of a page set).
(2) Behaviour Value
Behaviour Value is how much online customer’s behaviour other than viewing pages such as applying for a campaign and requesting for pamphlets contributed to brand enhancement of the company and its products/services.
Number of behaviours such as membership registration and reading e-newsletters were selected.
Then for each behaviour, number of people who took such behaviour was calculated which was multiplied by value coefficient (unit value of a behaviour).
2. Which company websites are ranked high up in Information Value ranking?
They are mostly companies of frequent purchase such as beverage, transportation/leisure and financial services such as the following.
Unit: Million Yen
Information Value / Web Equity / Company/Brand / Information Value / Access Value / Behaviour Value
1 / 7 / Suntory / 29,090 / 19,783 / 9,306
2 / 10 / UniQlo / 25,106 / 21,134 / 3,973
3 / 17 / Kirin (Beverage) / 21,174 / 11,138 / 10,036
4 / 18 / Asahi (Beverage) / 20,027 / 10,409 / 9,618
5 / 4 / NTT DoCoMo / 19,612 / 14,541 / 5,071
6 / 30 / JP Bank / 19,500 / 16,543 / 2,958
7 / 1 / All Nippon Airways / 18,185 / 13,948 / 4,236
8 / 19 / JP Network / 18,119 / 16,860 / 1,259
9 / 2 / Panasonic / 17,567 / 6,905 / 10,662
10 / 14 Tokyo Disney Resort / 16,814 / 15,040 / 1,774
Information Value can be regarded as a leading indicator of sales because increase in awareness and interest of consumers is likely to lead to increase in sales; therefore, Information Value trend can be said as an index that investors are recommended to be aware of.
3. What are some possible KFS for high Information Value?
1) Strategic use of multiple online media
Strategically leveraging multiple online media increases touch points of web users therefore it increases possibility of driving web users to the website.
In the case of Suntory, which was ranked #1 for 3 consecutive years, one reason for high Information Value is many e-newsletter subscribers and people applying to campaigns, driving web users to the website.
The company also has been successful in developing relationship with online consumers through multiple online media including blogs, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
2) Continuous update of content meeting customer needs
Web visitors visit website for content (information) and they would re-visit if they are satisfied with the quality and quantity of the content and even recommend to others, meaning increasing loyalty to the website. Thus, this approach consequently leads to creating fans of the website, the company and products/services.
By no means, this approach means increase in access to the website. Also, regular and frequent information update is appropriate for SEO along with optimum key words and phrases.
It is for this reason that many food companies have developed recipe content, which is accessed daily by web users. Entertainment contents such as gaming and beneficial information such as campaign related contents are also content accessed very frequently.
Communication site creating online community is another content that is visited frequently by web users. A good example is UniQlo’s UNIQLOOKS. Web users around the globe can post and share photos of people or themselves in UniQlo fashion (wearing UniQlo clothes). Web users will be able to know popular fashion at a glance and purchase any items they like online.
3) Proactive roll out of mobile website/content
Proactive roll out of mobile website/content creating environment in which web users can access online contents from multiple mobile terminals such as smart phones and tablets when mobiles are drastically becoming popular is also a good approach to drive as many web users to the website.
There have been many companies rolling out websites for mobile phones but lately their challenge has shifted to rolling out contents for smart phones.
For example, in the case of mobile website of SoftBank, types of mobile terminals of the web users accessing the mobile website is automatically determined. Then the optimum display is selected for that particular web user and displayed. The mobile website is not optimized in terms of the display size but also designed to enhance usability such as menu easily operated by touch panels of standard smart phones.
A good approach to encourage web users to benefit from mobile website is providing them with mobile application of frequently used services. Many airplane companies provide application for smart phones free of charge. This enables web users making reservation anytime, anywhere with ease, leading to frequent use of their services.
4. What is the case of Information Value #1 website?
1) Overview of Suntory website initiative
Suntory is ranked #1 for Information Value for 3 consecutive years. The company has been developing variety of contents for the website. And lately the company has been focusing on leveraging social media to increase touch point with online customers.
Their upcoming challenge is rolling out mobile website, adapting each page to smart phones.
2) Examples of online initiatives
(1) Branding contents
Branding contents include TV commercial of products and collection of movies/web casts of the company called Suntory Channel.
There is also Suntory Café Plus in which information to help web users enjoy their life such as about party, gift and cuisine are uploaded together with introduction of related products.
(2) Mixi
Mixi is the leading SNS in Japan. In November 2010, the company opened a Mixi app specific to Suntory including gaming introducing their products and online community to encourage interaction among web users.
(3) Facebook
The company also opened their official Facebook Page this June. A few posts are made every day aligning with official company blog and website.
The team members managing the Facebook Page had prepared to the opening of the Page since summer 2010 by using Facebook privately and studying official Facebook Pages of other companies. One of the outputs of such preparation is knowhow of posting in friendly style and manner.
5. The author’s final thoughts
The above possible KFS are mostly the same as those of Sales Value mentioned in the previous article. After all, these together with globalization, are the focuses and challenges of the Japanese companies in enhancing their online branding and Web Equity, engagement with (online) customers, leading to sales/revenue generation.
References:-
The web site of the weekly business magazine
http://dw.diamond.ne.jp/
Japan Brand Strategy - The web site of the brand strategy consultancy
http://japanbrand.jp/
Resources:-
Japanese company websites of high Information Value are mostly of companies with products purchased frequently on a daily bases. Some possible KFS for high Information Value include strategic use of multiple online media, continuous update of content meeting customer needs and proactive roll out of mobile website/content. These KFS are mostly the same as those of Sales Value, and lead to customer loyalty and engagement and branding.
Sunday, 18 September 2011
Saturday, 17 September 2011
Vol.66 – KFS of Web Contribution to Sales Generation and Value
The previous article Vol.65 – Web Equity Valuation in Japan – Model and Ranking outlined the Web Equity valuation model and the results of the ranking by Japan Brand Strategy based on a special article published in a recent Japanese business weekly magazine.
Based on the same article, the author would like to introduce what kind of corporate websites are raked high in “Sales Value”, one of the two constituents of Web Equity, together with possible 4 KFS (key factors for success) for high “Sales Value” in this article.
1. What is “Sales Value”? How is it calculated?
“Sales Value” is how much the website contributed to sales generation among variety of media and communication channels that consumers access and refer in purchasing products and services.
This is calculated through the following 4 steps.
(1) Calculate what percentage of customers who purchased products and/or services used web site in their decision making.
(2) Calculate the degree (what percentage) the purchaser used the web site in their decision making.
(3) Multiply (1) and (2) to calculate effect of web site = average amount of information the purchaser used the web site in their decision making.
(4) Multiply (3) and marginal profit to calculate Sales Value.
2. Which company websites are ranked high up in Sales Value ranking?
They are mostly large companies of strong brands as the following.
Sales Value Ranking / Web Equity Ranking/ Company/Brand / Sales Value (million yen)
1 / 1 All Nippon Airways / 89,692
2 / 2 / Panasonic / 70,769
3 / 3 / Toyota / 62,360
4 / 5 / Honda / 46,739
5 / 6 / Nissan / 44,670
6 / 4 / NTT / DoCoMo / 40,679
7 / 12 / Japan Railway Tokai / 40,086
8 / 13 / Nomura Securities / 38,816
9 / 6 / Japan Travel Bureau / 38,166
10 / 11 / Sony / 37,410
3. What are some possible KFS for high Sales Value?
1) Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC)
Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) in which strategically integrating all possible marketing communication tools and media, offline and offline, contributes to high Sales Value because it increases touch points with the customers.
In general, IMC is advanced in western countries, the U.S. in particular such as Fedex．On the other hand, Japan is far behind because departments in companies that are responsible for traditional offline media and the Internet are usually separated.
Many companies ranked high up in Sales Value rankings are innovators in IMC in Japan.
2) Web contents with which consumers can enjoy virtual experience online
Web contents with which consumers can enjoy virtual experience online of products and services contribute to high Sales Value. This is because it is a good approach to make consumers feel and understand the benefit of the products and services.
All Nippon Airways web content in which online consumers share their experiences of travelling is a good example. This web content allows cabin attendants and travelers share guides, know-how and experiences of their trips/travels, which helps provoke demand of travelling.
The next good example of virtual experience web content is Panasonic’s LED content. This allows consumers to find places in their homes where they can replace current lights with LED and make simulation of energy saving. The result of the simulation can be posted on Twitter and Facebook to share with online friends.
Another good example is Nissan’s content called User Voice in which experiences of Nissan car owners is shared. Voices and information can be displayed by types of cars. Voices and information can also be carefully selected by setting requirements such as gender, age, number of car users and usage with a search function.
3) Proactive use of social media
Proactive use of social media also contributes to high Sales Value ranking because it promotes web users share information.
Companies such as All Nippon Airways (ANA) have been leveraging SNS. Companies such as ANA and Nissan already have started leveraging Facebook.
UniQlo is the company that is often mentioned as innovator in leveraging Facebook in Japan. It is ranked 20 in Sales Value ranking which is unexpected to the author who thought it would be higher up in the ranking; however, considering the business size with top 10 companies, it can be said that UniQlo’s website is highly contributing to generating sales.
4. What is the case of Sales Value #1 website?
1) Overview of All Nippon Airways (ANA) website
All Nippon Airways (ANA) is ranked #1 for Sales Value and Web Equity. Its Web Equity is 107,877 million yen with Sales Value of 89,692 million yen and Information Value of 18,185 million yen.
The company has successfully developed its website as an important sales channel. Its website now generates sales of approximately 400 billion yen per year with its 70% of its air flight business generated online.
2) Online initiatives
The next challenge for ANA is strengthening online communication leveraging the Internet. The following are some of the ongoing initiatives to achieve such objective.
(1) Facebook Page
The company opened its official Facebook Page this January. Information and photos of cabin attendants, trips and events unique to ANA are posted one after another. People who clicked “Like it!” totaled over 170,000 as of middle of August.
Immediate after the March 11 Japan disaster, considering victims, information related to the Japan disaster was posted such as information of relief services to Tohoku, re-opening of Sendai Airport and raising money for victims leveraging frequent flyer programme.
(2) SNS content
SNS called Social Sky Park opened in June targeting members of ANA Frequent Flyer Club. When members post on Twitter and Facebook regarding varieties of proposed topics, the post is also shared on the SNS. The content is of user generation which is encouraged to be easily shared online.
(3) Globalization
ANA started globalization of their web initiative to provoke demand of overseas market. The company first rolled its website in multiple languages and currencies to allow worldwide customer making reservation and payments online.
However, ANA’s awareness and brand is still rather low overseas. Therefore, the company’s next challenge is raising its awareness and brand overseas leveraging such media as Facebook.
References:-
The web site of the weekly business magazine
http://dw.diamond.ne.jp/
Japan Brand Strategy - The web site of the brand strategy consultancy
http://japanbrand.jp/
Resources:-
Japanese company websites of high Sales Value are mostly of large companies with strong brand. Some possible KFS for high Sales Value include Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC), web contents with which consumers can enjoy virtual experience online, and proactive use of social media such as Facebook Page, Twitter and SNS. Globalization is also a challenge for many companies.
Based on the same article, the author would like to introduce what kind of corporate websites are raked high in “Sales Value”, one of the two constituents of Web Equity, together with possible 4 KFS (key factors for success) for high “Sales Value” in this article.
1. What is “Sales Value”? How is it calculated?
“Sales Value” is how much the website contributed to sales generation among variety of media and communication channels that consumers access and refer in purchasing products and services.
This is calculated through the following 4 steps.
(1) Calculate what percentage of customers who purchased products and/or services used web site in their decision making.
(2) Calculate the degree (what percentage) the purchaser used the web site in their decision making.
(3) Multiply (1) and (2) to calculate effect of web site = average amount of information the purchaser used the web site in their decision making.
(4) Multiply (3) and marginal profit to calculate Sales Value.
2. Which company websites are ranked high up in Sales Value ranking?
They are mostly large companies of strong brands as the following.
Sales Value Ranking / Web Equity Ranking/ Company/Brand / Sales Value (million yen)
1 / 1 All Nippon Airways / 89,692
2 / 2 / Panasonic / 70,769
3 / 3 / Toyota / 62,360
4 / 5 / Honda / 46,739
5 / 6 / Nissan / 44,670
6 / 4 / NTT / DoCoMo / 40,679
7 / 12 / Japan Railway Tokai / 40,086
8 / 13 / Nomura Securities / 38,816
9 / 6 / Japan Travel Bureau / 38,166
10 / 11 / Sony / 37,410
3. What are some possible KFS for high Sales Value?
1) Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC)
Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) in which strategically integrating all possible marketing communication tools and media, offline and offline, contributes to high Sales Value because it increases touch points with the customers.
In general, IMC is advanced in western countries, the U.S. in particular such as Fedex．On the other hand, Japan is far behind because departments in companies that are responsible for traditional offline media and the Internet are usually separated.
Many companies ranked high up in Sales Value rankings are innovators in IMC in Japan.
2) Web contents with which consumers can enjoy virtual experience online
Web contents with which consumers can enjoy virtual experience online of products and services contribute to high Sales Value. This is because it is a good approach to make consumers feel and understand the benefit of the products and services.
All Nippon Airways web content in which online consumers share their experiences of travelling is a good example. This web content allows cabin attendants and travelers share guides, know-how and experiences of their trips/travels, which helps provoke demand of travelling.
The next good example of virtual experience web content is Panasonic’s LED content. This allows consumers to find places in their homes where they can replace current lights with LED and make simulation of energy saving. The result of the simulation can be posted on Twitter and Facebook to share with online friends.
Another good example is Nissan’s content called User Voice in which experiences of Nissan car owners is shared. Voices and information can be displayed by types of cars. Voices and information can also be carefully selected by setting requirements such as gender, age, number of car users and usage with a search function.
3) Proactive use of social media
Proactive use of social media also contributes to high Sales Value ranking because it promotes web users share information.
Companies such as All Nippon Airways (ANA) have been leveraging SNS. Companies such as ANA and Nissan already have started leveraging Facebook.
UniQlo is the company that is often mentioned as innovator in leveraging Facebook in Japan. It is ranked 20 in Sales Value ranking which is unexpected to the author who thought it would be higher up in the ranking; however, considering the business size with top 10 companies, it can be said that UniQlo’s website is highly contributing to generating sales.
4. What is the case of Sales Value #1 website?
1) Overview of All Nippon Airways (ANA) website
All Nippon Airways (ANA) is ranked #1 for Sales Value and Web Equity. Its Web Equity is 107,877 million yen with Sales Value of 89,692 million yen and Information Value of 18,185 million yen.
The company has successfully developed its website as an important sales channel. Its website now generates sales of approximately 400 billion yen per year with its 70% of its air flight business generated online.
2) Online initiatives
The next challenge for ANA is strengthening online communication leveraging the Internet. The following are some of the ongoing initiatives to achieve such objective.
(1) Facebook Page
The company opened its official Facebook Page this January. Information and photos of cabin attendants, trips and events unique to ANA are posted one after another. People who clicked “Like it!” totaled over 170,000 as of middle of August.
Immediate after the March 11 Japan disaster, considering victims, information related to the Japan disaster was posted such as information of relief services to Tohoku, re-opening of Sendai Airport and raising money for victims leveraging frequent flyer programme.
(2) SNS content
SNS called Social Sky Park opened in June targeting members of ANA Frequent Flyer Club. When members post on Twitter and Facebook regarding varieties of proposed topics, the post is also shared on the SNS. The content is of user generation which is encouraged to be easily shared online.
(3) Globalization
ANA started globalization of their web initiative to provoke demand of overseas market. The company first rolled its website in multiple languages and currencies to allow worldwide customer making reservation and payments online.
However, ANA’s awareness and brand is still rather low overseas. Therefore, the company’s next challenge is raising its awareness and brand overseas leveraging such media as Facebook.
References:-
The web site of the weekly business magazine
http://dw.diamond.ne.jp/
Japan Brand Strategy - The web site of the brand strategy consultancy
http://japanbrand.jp/
Resources:-
Japanese company websites of high Sales Value are mostly of large companies with strong brand. Some possible KFS for high Sales Value include Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC), web contents with which consumers can enjoy virtual experience online, and proactive use of social media such as Facebook Page, Twitter and SNS. Globalization is also a challenge for many companies.
Sunday, 4 September 2011
Vol.65 – Web Equity Valuation in Japan – Model and Ranking
Web Equity Ranking of companies in Japan was introduced in a special article published in a recent Japanese business weekly magazine.
The author would like to outline the Web Equity valuation model and the results of the ranking based on the article.
1. What is the background of the Web Equity Valuation efforts in Japan?
It is the fact that the value of Internet as a communication channel and advertising together with its degree of influence are increasing in Japan just like in western countries.
For example, according to the survey result on advertising expenditure in Japan implemented by Dentsu, the leading advertising agency in Japan, advertising expenditure of the 4 traditional media (TV, newspaper, radio and magazine) for 2010 was decrease by 1.9% from 2009 when it was increase by 9.6% for the online advertising.
This means greater needs of means to know ROI of the Internet and website from companies leveraging the Internet and websites in their business, marketing and communication.
Therefore, a leading branding consultancy in Japan called Japan Brand Strategy developed a model of Web Equity Valuation for BtoC companies and started to publish the ranking after valuating 200+ web sites of around 2004.
2. What is the overview of the valuation?
1) Scope
Valuation of how much a corporate web site of BtoC companies contributed to the business in a year (April 2010 – March 2011) was calculated. Web sites of BtoB companies were excluded from the valuation.
2) Which corporate web sites
BtoC businesses were classified to 12 industries; electronics/machinery, IT/telecommunications, automobile/automotive, housing, entertainment/hobby related, foods and beverages, transport and leisure, retailers, finance and securities, energy and materials, toiletries and OTC drugs, and pharmaceutical.
And total of 236 leading corporate web sites were selected from each industry.
3) Data used
Data such as the following of each company was used in valuation.
- Financial data ending March 2011: if end of fiscal year is different, latest financial data was used.
- Result of online survey: implemented in July 2011, with 18,600 response
3. How valuation of Web Equity of each corporate web site performed?
“Sales Value” and “Information Value” of each corporate web site were calculated then the two were added together, as the Web Equity of the corporate web site.
Web Equity = Sales Value + Information Value
1) Sales Value
Sales Value is valuation of how much the web site contributed to selling of the company’s products and services.
This was calculated through the following 4 steps.
(1) Calculate what percentage of customers who purchased products and/or services used web site in their decision making.
(2) Calculate the degree (what percentage) the purchaser used the web site in their decision making.
(3) Multiply (1) and (2) to calculate effect of web site = average amount of information the purchaser used the web site in their decision making.
(4) Multiply (3) and marginal profit to calculate Sales Value.
2) Information Value
Information Value is how much the corporate web site contributed to brand enhancement of the company and its products/services.
“Access Value” and “Behaviour Value” were calculated and then added together to calculate Information Value,
(1) Access Value
Access Value is how much the online customer’s access to view the web site information contributed to brand enhancement of the company and its products/services.
This was calculated by multiplying PV (Page View) = number of pages of web sites viewed by value coefficient (unit value of a page set).
(2) Behaviour Value
Behaviour Value is how much online customer’s behaviour other than viewing pages such as applying for a campaign and requesting for pamphlets contributed to brand enhancement of the company and its products/services.
Number of behaviours such as membership registration and reading e-newsletters were selected.
Then for each behaviour, number of people who took such behaviour was calculated which was multiplied by value coefficient (unit value of a behaviour).
4. What was the result?
The top 10 companies were the following.
2011 / 2010 / Company/Brand / Web Equity (million yen)
1 / 4 / All Nippon Airways / 107,877
2 / 1 / Panasonic / 88,337
3 / 5 / Toyota / 72,337
4 / 3 / NTT DoCoMo / 60,291
5 / 2 / Honda / 56,960
6 / 24 / Nissan / 52,513
7 / 10 / Suntory / 51,787
8 / 6 / Japan Travel Bureau / 48,008
9 / 9 / Japan Airlines / 47,913
10 / 12 / UniQlo / 45,728
To the author, the companies/brands that were ranked in top 50 all in at least one of the following:-
(1) Strong corporate brand: e.g. Panasonic, Toyota, Sony, Honda, Nissan, Nomura Securities
(2) Strong product brand: e.g. NTT DoCoMo, Suntory, Kirin, Asahi, Coca Cola Japan, UniQlo
(3) Active in EC (Electronic Commerce): e.g. All Nippon Airways, Japan Travel Bureau, Japan Airlines, Japan Railways
(4) Leveraging SNS in their communication: e.g. Honda, UniQlo, All Nippon Airways, Suntory
(5) Leveraging Mobile: e.g. NTT DoCoMo, SoftBank Mobile, Tokyo Disney Resort
5. The author’s final thoughts
The Web Equity valuation model of Japan Brand Strategy may not be sufficiently refined from corporate finance perspective. It is nothing like corporate valuation model (of NPV = Net Present Value and DCF = Discounted Cash Flow) or of brand valuation of InterBrand.
Also, only BtoC company web sites are valuated. Many BtoB companies also leverage their web sites in their business and they cannot be disregarded.
Having said that, the result of the valuation and the ranking does provide us with some insights that help us coming up with clues what are required to enhance value of the web sites.
In one of her upcoming article the author would like to introduce some of the initiatives of the top ranking web sites that is assumed to made them to be of top ranking.
References:-
The web site of the weekly business magazine
http://dw.diamond.ne.jp/
Japan Brand Strategy - The web site of the brand strategy consultancy
http://japanbrand.jp/
Resources:-
A Japanese Brand Strategy Consultancy developed a Web Equity valuation model from which it calculated value of corporate web sites of major BtoC companies. Although the valuation is not necessarily refined as corporate and brand valuation model, it does provide us with some insights and help us understand what is required to enhance web equity.
The author would like to outline the Web Equity valuation model and the results of the ranking based on the article.
1. What is the background of the Web Equity Valuation efforts in Japan?
It is the fact that the value of Internet as a communication channel and advertising together with its degree of influence are increasing in Japan just like in western countries.
For example, according to the survey result on advertising expenditure in Japan implemented by Dentsu, the leading advertising agency in Japan, advertising expenditure of the 4 traditional media (TV, newspaper, radio and magazine) for 2010 was decrease by 1.9% from 2009 when it was increase by 9.6% for the online advertising.
This means greater needs of means to know ROI of the Internet and website from companies leveraging the Internet and websites in their business, marketing and communication.
Therefore, a leading branding consultancy in Japan called Japan Brand Strategy developed a model of Web Equity Valuation for BtoC companies and started to publish the ranking after valuating 200+ web sites of around 2004.
2. What is the overview of the valuation?
1) Scope
Valuation of how much a corporate web site of BtoC companies contributed to the business in a year (April 2010 – March 2011) was calculated. Web sites of BtoB companies were excluded from the valuation.
2) Which corporate web sites
BtoC businesses were classified to 12 industries; electronics/machinery, IT/telecommunications, automobile/automotive, housing, entertainment/hobby related, foods and beverages, transport and leisure, retailers, finance and securities, energy and materials, toiletries and OTC drugs, and pharmaceutical.
And total of 236 leading corporate web sites were selected from each industry.
3) Data used
Data such as the following of each company was used in valuation.
- Financial data ending March 2011: if end of fiscal year is different, latest financial data was used.
- Result of online survey: implemented in July 2011, with 18,600 response
3. How valuation of Web Equity of each corporate web site performed?
“Sales Value” and “Information Value” of each corporate web site were calculated then the two were added together, as the Web Equity of the corporate web site.
Web Equity = Sales Value + Information Value
1) Sales Value
Sales Value is valuation of how much the web site contributed to selling of the company’s products and services.
This was calculated through the following 4 steps.
(1) Calculate what percentage of customers who purchased products and/or services used web site in their decision making.
(2) Calculate the degree (what percentage) the purchaser used the web site in their decision making.
(3) Multiply (1) and (2) to calculate effect of web site = average amount of information the purchaser used the web site in their decision making.
(4) Multiply (3) and marginal profit to calculate Sales Value.
2) Information Value
Information Value is how much the corporate web site contributed to brand enhancement of the company and its products/services.
“Access Value” and “Behaviour Value” were calculated and then added together to calculate Information Value,
(1) Access Value
Access Value is how much the online customer’s access to view the web site information contributed to brand enhancement of the company and its products/services.
This was calculated by multiplying PV (Page View) = number of pages of web sites viewed by value coefficient (unit value of a page set).
(2) Behaviour Value
Behaviour Value is how much online customer’s behaviour other than viewing pages such as applying for a campaign and requesting for pamphlets contributed to brand enhancement of the company and its products/services.
Number of behaviours such as membership registration and reading e-newsletters were selected.
Then for each behaviour, number of people who took such behaviour was calculated which was multiplied by value coefficient (unit value of a behaviour).
4. What was the result?
The top 10 companies were the following.
2011 / 2010 / Company/Brand / Web Equity (million yen)
1 / 4 / All Nippon Airways / 107,877
2 / 1 / Panasonic / 88,337
3 / 5 / Toyota / 72,337
4 / 3 / NTT DoCoMo / 60,291
5 / 2 / Honda / 56,960
6 / 24 / Nissan / 52,513
7 / 10 / Suntory / 51,787
8 / 6 / Japan Travel Bureau / 48,008
9 / 9 / Japan Airlines / 47,913
10 / 12 / UniQlo / 45,728
To the author, the companies/brands that were ranked in top 50 all in at least one of the following:-
(1) Strong corporate brand: e.g. Panasonic, Toyota, Sony, Honda, Nissan, Nomura Securities
(2) Strong product brand: e.g. NTT DoCoMo, Suntory, Kirin, Asahi, Coca Cola Japan, UniQlo
(3) Active in EC (Electronic Commerce): e.g. All Nippon Airways, Japan Travel Bureau, Japan Airlines, Japan Railways
(4) Leveraging SNS in their communication: e.g. Honda, UniQlo, All Nippon Airways, Suntory
(5) Leveraging Mobile: e.g. NTT DoCoMo, SoftBank Mobile, Tokyo Disney Resort
5. The author’s final thoughts
The Web Equity valuation model of Japan Brand Strategy may not be sufficiently refined from corporate finance perspective. It is nothing like corporate valuation model (of NPV = Net Present Value and DCF = Discounted Cash Flow) or of brand valuation of InterBrand.
Also, only BtoC company web sites are valuated. Many BtoB companies also leverage their web sites in their business and they cannot be disregarded.
Having said that, the result of the valuation and the ranking does provide us with some insights that help us coming up with clues what are required to enhance value of the web sites.
In one of her upcoming article the author would like to introduce some of the initiatives of the top ranking web sites that is assumed to made them to be of top ranking.
References:-
The web site of the weekly business magazine
http://dw.diamond.ne.jp/
Japan Brand Strategy - The web site of the brand strategy consultancy
http://japanbrand.jp/
Resources:-
A Japanese Brand Strategy Consultancy developed a Web Equity valuation model from which it calculated value of corporate web sites of major BtoC companies. Although the valuation is not necessarily refined as corporate and brand valuation model, it does provide us with some insights and help us understand what is required to enhance web equity.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
