As part of a continuing research program on brand advertising for the lighting industry, lightingshowroom.com tests the impact of isolated banner ads on sales performance. Recent testing for Hinkley Lighting shows a 31% increase for sales of Hinkley lighting products for the period April over March 2008. This particular test provided a link from a Google rank 1 page to a display of Hinkley Lighting collections.
Significantly, overall total sales were nearly flat for the same period so the increased sales volume for Hinkley was a market share change with the extra sales coming from other competing product lines. In general there is about a 2 week tail on featured vendor brand advertising programs. In other words people who saw the ad during April will, as a result of the ad, be making purchases for up to 19 days later.
This test looked at brand name banner advertising and did not address the issue of more granular studies of product types such as chandeliers, pendants, vanities, or outdoor lights. We anticipate that a more focused campaign would yield even higher returns though that study awaits sponsorship.
