MEDIA-I: China sites fail Tribal branding test

<p>BEIJING: Amid the proliferation of websites in China, a study has </p><p>found that the majority of corporate websites, including international </p><p>brands such as Nokia, Compaq, Sony and Dell are failing the branding </p><p>test. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The Tribal DDB study found most websites were guilty of inconsistent </p><p>branding, with images on the site being weaker than the corresponding </p><p>corporate image. Among the companies cited for failing to align online </p><p>sites with the corporate branding were Samsung, Epson, Ford, IBM and </p><p>Hewlett-Packard. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Jimmy Poon, regional director of Tribal DDB Greater China, said: "Site </p><p>imagery is an important element of the corporate image. More time and </p><p>effort should be spent on this matter. Raising the standard of site </p><p>imagery by a more effective digital strategy can improve the site's </p><p>user-friendliness and usability. This would then optimise brand </p><p>value." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>With more than 60 per cent of the 240,000 websites in China set up in </p><p>the past 18 months, the number of corporate sites in the country is </p><p>increasing at a dramatic rate. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Almost 78 per cent of sites in China are business sites, with only 5.4 </p><p>per cent devoted to ecommerce, but traffic to these sites was 10 times </p><p>higher than on business sites, according to China's news agency </p><p>Xinhua. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>It added that there were now about 1.5 million Chinese domain names, and </p><p>80 per cent of these ended in .com or .com.cn. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Most of the websites surveyed also failed the functionality test, with </p><p>confusing site maps and disorganised information topping the complaint </p><p>list. "And it could not be stressed enough that the lower the </p><p>functionality of the site, the lower the traffic," the report added. An </p><p>example of this was Sony's site, which was found to be weak in customer </p><p>service and product information. Another example was Dell. Although </p><p>famous for its direct sales operation, it scored low ratings for its </p><p>online service in China. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The study also found that in online branding, international brands were </p><p>"superior" to local brands, including well-known local labels such as </p><p>Founder, Konka, Chang Hong and TCL, which were found to be particularly </p><p>weak. </p><p><BR><BR> </p>