February 27, 2012
German automaker BMW, closely followed by Audi and Chanel, are the most-searched luxury brands by U.S. consumers, according to findings from the Digital Luxury Group.
The top five most-searched brands are BMW, Audi, Coach, Chanel and Louis Vuitton. Interestingly, most of the most “Googled” and “Binged” brands are automakers, likely because big-ticket purchases require a lot of research before buying.
“One of the key takeaways is that many of the top brands in the ranking are high-consideration products,” said Tamar Koifman, director of marketing for the Digital Luxury Group, Geneva, Switzerland.
“A car, for example, is a big purchase and usually requires a lot of research before a decision is made,” she said. “Tourism, and thereby hotels, are also commonly researched.
“The luxury automotive business is the biggest luxury segment worldwide, something people tend to forget when blinded by the more dynamic fashion industry.”
The U.S. Top 50 Most-Searched Luxury Brands in 2011 report was tracked by U.S. consumers using Google and Bing search engines on luxury products and services related to 500 luxury brands from six segments: watches, jewelry, fashion, beauty, automotive and hospitality.
Courtesy of DLG
Speeding ahead
Luxury marketers rounding out the top 10 are Hilton Hotels, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, Acura and Cadillac.
After that, the majority of the marketers continue to be car brands, with some hotel and fashion brands mixed in.
“Another finding is the indisputable supremacy of German luxury car brands BMW and Audi, which take the two first spots of the ranking,” Ms. Koifman said. “This reflects the strong interest by Americans not only for cars, but for German cars in particular.”
Indeed, even Mercedes at the No. 7 spot and Porsche at the No. 11 spot back up this statement.
This is not to say that fashion, watch and jewelry and hospitality brands did not get their rankings.
Another big finding was trend-based purchases such as fashion and accessories are more susceptible to impulse purchases, per Ms. Koifman. Therefore, consumers likely are not going to be spending a lot of time researching ahead of time.
On the other hand, hospitality players were still ranked pretty highly because, similar to automakers, they are expensive purchases that probably need researching beforehand.
Info on SEO
Luxury marketers are obviously being searched for, and quite often.
Therefore, it is important that brands place certain emphasis on optimizing their sites so that they will show up on organic searches, but also that they are buying paid search so that their names come up first when consumers search them on Google, Bing or other search engines.
This will help consumers find the right brand easily as well as protect marketers from competitors.
For example, when consumers enter “BMW” into Google, the Mercedes site comes up as the second result.
BMW's SEO results
If brands are being constantly searched via these channels, then it is important that they have control of what their customers do – or do not – see.
“Being easily findable on search engines, whether by having a search engine optimized Web site, or by taking advantage of paid search advertisements is absolutely critical,” Ms. Koifman said. “Given the higher price point that most luxury brands command, and therefore an assumed increase in research done prior to purchase, this is even more relevant for the luxury industry than any other.
“By not considering a search engine positioning, brands risk not being found by those consumers who are specifically searching for their brand, kinds of products sold or official retailers,” she said. “This becomes even more critical with the fast convergence between search, social, local and mobile technologies.”
Final Take
Rachel Lamb, associate reporter on Luxury Daily, New York
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