Insight Enterprises Inc. has just finished testing a series of national and regional television spots directing prospective purchasers to its Web site (www. insight.com). This is another step in the company’s shift in marketing strategy from print to online.
The direct marketer of computer hardware and software already has begun to reduce its catalog circulation drastically, and last year put an end to consumer list rentals, according to spokeswoman Susan Heywood. In 1996 the Tempe, AZ-based company hit its circulation peak with a mailing of 12.2 million books. The number was cut to 11 million in 1997. This year, the total will be “somewhere between 5 million and 10 million,” Heywood says.
Catalogs are not being offered on the site, and currently there are no plans for any print promotions, even to customers from the company database. Consumers can sign up for e-mail promotions, however. Heywood emphasizes that none of these e-mail addresses will be available for rental.
The focus has been put on the small and medium-size business market. Insight’s share of sales to that sector, achieved mostly through outbound telemarketing, has jumped from 67% to about 90% this year.
Insight has changed its fiscal year to the calendar year. But the last comparable figures, for the 12 months ended June 30, showed that 5% of Insight’s $801.8 million in sales came via the Web. The value of the shift to online, Heywood says, was “the 375% increase in ‘unassisted sales’-direct Internet transactions-during the last quarter of that 12-month period, compared with the same quarter the year before.”
In a statement to financial analysts last year, Insight president Timothy A. Crown said he hoped Internet transactions would account for 20% of the company’s sales by the end of 1999.
The June 1998 financial report also revealed a significant savings-a reduction in administrative costs as a percentage of sales to 9.1%, compared with 11.5% the previous year.
Insight’s initial move into television to promote its Web site was made last December with its sponsorship of a football game, the Insight.com Bowl (formerly the Copper Bowl). Sales doubled during that period, Heywood reports. The second Insight.com Bowl will take place Dec. 26 at the University of Arizona stadium in Tucson.
Commercials run during the contest will direct viewers to Insight’s Web site.
While not yet planned, other spots leading to the game are probable. Whether they will be based on the test just completed depends on results.
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