CHART: Why Media Companies Are Slow To Adopt E-Commerce

Media companies know they need to add e-commerce to their business model to survive. They just don’t have enough money or in-house expertise to create an entirely new e-commerce division, according to research by Forrester that Group Commerce recently sponsored.

Below, we’re giving Business Insider’s readers an exclusive first look at the results.

Forrester interviewed 106 large media companies , like ABC and EDG, to ask how important e-commerce was to their businesses, and what obstacles they faced in adding it to their business model.

Our premise: advertising is not a slam-dunk business model, given high supply and low pricing. Even technology advances may just mean that advertisers spend less to effectively reach their audience, meaning less money for publishers.

So why isn’t everyone jumping into e-commerce, yesterday?

Here’s what we found: The vast majority of media companies we talked to know that they need to add a commerce function to survive.

Key findings include:

• A whopping 70% said having a separate daily deals site was important. A slightly higher percentage said the same of having an online store.
• Two forms of commerce actually rank above editorial curation.
• And one quarter said having merchandise offers embedded in their content was “very important.” (This is despite historic brouhaha over branded content, and the Chinese wall between ads and editorial.)

If commerce is so important, what gets in the way? Why aren’t storefronts, deals, and integrated offers now synonymous with digital media?

Group Commerce is an e-commerce technology provider for media companies, so we naturally wanted to find out.

Overwhelmingly, budget and business model concerns were why media companies hadn't taken the ecommerce plunge:

• About 30% of publishers say they are limited by their business model
• Similarly, 30%  say they don’t have the budget for adding e-commerce
• Just under 1 in 5 publishers think their audience wouldn’t be interested, meaning up to 80% of publishers perceive unmet demand.

Group Commerce is hosting Think Commerce, an executive conference on the intersection of content and commerce on Tuesday, December 4 in New York City. This one day conference explores how media companies can successfully added commerce to their mix.

Business Insider readers are invited to attend with a 40% discount—just use the code THINKBI2012.

Speakers include:

• Jon Miller - Form. CEO of Digital Media Group, News Corp.
• Bob Pittman - Chairman & CEO, Clear Channel
• David Rosenblatt - CEO, 1stDibs
• Shana Fisher - Managing Partner, Highline Venture Partners
• Eric Hippeau - Partner, Lerer Ventures
• Ezra Kucharz - President, Local Digital Media, CBS
• Ben Lerer - CEO, Thrillist
• Jim Moran - CEO, Yipit
• Nick Lehman - President of Digital, NBCUniversal
• Terry Kawaja - Founder & CEO, Luma Partners

You’ll also hear from reporters covering companies doing it well, as well as the top investors that back them.

Here’s who should attend:

• Media executives who want to understand the best practices – most cost-effective and highest ROI -- for adding e-commerce to their business
• Media and e-commerce investors who need to stay abreast of the latest developments in the content-commerce intersection
• Emerging startups who want to understand the content-commerce landscape and meet critical players

Come join us next Tuesday, December 4th, to learn more – and receive a free copy of the full Forrester Research Report.

Sucharita Mulpuru, Forrester’s Principal E-Commerce Analyst, will be on hand to present, discuss the findings, and answer any questions.

See you next week!