Business

Since 1876 when a small hosiery business began to provide sturdy, comfortable socks for lumberjacks, Jockey International's goal has been to "satisfy the human need for comfort." Today, the company, based in Kenosha, Wisconsin, employs more than 5000 people around the world and is a household name in the United States for underwear, socks and other clothing for men, women and kids.

Jockey's quest to provide comfort extends to its website, Jockey.com. The site not only sells the full line of traditional Jockey products and sizes, it also offers hard-to-find products and extended sizes that aren't always available in retail stores. Jockey's goal with its site is to provide comfortable clothing to as many people as possible, as easily as possible.

Approach

With customer convenience in mind, Jockey wanted to shorten the purchase path when compared to its standard checkout. The company also sought to lower processing costs, increase site traffic, lower the cost per click (CPC), and institute a system that would serve as an acquisition engine for the site.

Google Checkout approached Jockey in June of 2006 and suggested a partnership. Once Jockey learned about Google Checkout's potential to drive sales and lower costs, the company decided to implement it on Jockey.com as a checkout option for shoppers. Jockey ran a Google AdWords™ advertising campaign, as well as email and home page promotions, to support the Checkout launch on Jockey.com. "The Google implementation team worked very well with our team for a smooth and very quick launch," says Director of eCommerce, Tim McCue.

Results

	"The numbers we're seeing speak volumes about AdWords and Checkout combined, not to mention the convenience of Checkout and its power to attract new customers."

Google Checkout is performing well on the Jockey site, often exceeding expectations. Jockey implemented Checkout in conjunction with an AdWords search optimization program. The results of combining both tactics were significant, with a 64 percent increase in clickthrough rate (CTR) and a 31 percent decrease in CPC from the previous six months before Checkout was added. "Checkout was a primary driver of AdWords results for that period," says Tim.

In addition, Checkout's conversion rate and ability to attract new customers were exceptional. Four out of five Checkout customers were new to Jockey, and opted to use the Checkout system rather than the original Jockey shopping cart tool. Customer activity soared during Checkout promotion campaigns, especially during the holiday season, leading to a boost in sales.

Checkout has also reduced costs for Jockey. Tim saw a drop in processing fees in 2006 and attributed much of that drop to the free transaction processing offered by Google Checkout.

Jockey continues to measure Google Checkout performance and fine-tune the relationship between Checkout and AdWords. The company has recently added Google Analytics to closely track results. Concludes Tim, "The numbers we're seeing speak volumes about AdWords and Checkout combined, not to mention the convenience of Checkout and its power to attract new customers."