Hilton, Starbucks and Apple Make Top Ten

BiddingForGood Names Top Performing Brands and Categories in Online Charity Auction Environment

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--BiddingForGood, the leading cause-related e-commerce platform connecting affluent consumers and marketers to online fundraising auction events announced the top performing brands and categories in its platform.

“In today’s time compressed world where attention spans are rapidly shrinking and brands struggle to break through, we think this high level of engagement amounts to a virtual trial”

Some of the top brands on BiddingForGood include Starbucks, Bloomingdales and Ritz-Carlton. These brands, which are featured in a trusted online environment, have helped support thousands of causes and helped the company reach $80 million in merchandise sales supporting non-profits and schools across the U.S.

Charity auctions are a unique cause marketing channel because they reach the nations most affluent consumers through their trusted causes just as they are making purchasing decisions in specific categories, such as travel. These affluent consumers are educated females who, in bad economic times, retain the buying power for luxury items. Now that these auctions are increasingly moving online the marketing value is much more measureable.

Travel and Dining have proven to be the largest transaction volume categories overall in online charity auctions. Entertainment, sports, gourmet food, handbags & jewelry, heath/spa and fitness, home, antiques/art, and unique experiences round out the top 10.

Top Ten Performing Brands Across the Online Auction Platform by Total Units Sold Are;

1. Hilton family	6. Apple
2. Marriott family	7. Mary Kay
3. Starbucks	8. Four Seasons Hotels
4. Starwood Family	9. Ritz-Carlton
5. Nintendo	10. Cheesecake Factory

(Note; company initiated donations are confidential)

Top Ten Brands that receive the highest amount of consumer interest (measured by bid volume):

1. Omaha Steaks - 16.5 bids/item	6. Ruth’s Chris - 8.2
2. Tom-Tom - 10.9	7. Papa Johns - 7.9
3. Dell - 10.6	8. Intercontinental Hotels - 7.9
4. Louis Vuitton - 9.6	9. Legal Sea Foods - 7.9
5. Macy’s - 9.2	10. Capital Grille - 7.8

As socially responsible consumers are becoming more prevalent, marketers are seeking more ways to engage consumers in a cause based environment. Numerous studies from Cone and others are showing that consumers are positively influenced when a brand supports a cause. Now that charity auctions are moving online, its extraordinary level of consumer engagement is measureable with the average consumer has over 20 page views per online session and the average time on an item page is over 30 seconds. “In today’s time compressed world where attention spans are rapidly shrinking and brands struggle to break through, we think this high level of engagement amounts to a virtual trial”, says Carson.

Another way of assessing consumer interest is sell-thru rate. The top 10 brands in sell-through rate were;

1. Cabot Cheese – 100%	6. Gap/Old Navy/Banana Republic 98.2%
2. Sephora – 100%	7. Massage Envy – 97.5%
3. Chili’s – 98.7%	8. PF Chang’s – 97.4%
4. Dell – 98.3%	9. Kenneth Cole – 97.4%
5. Build-a-Bear – 98.3%	10. Borders – 97.2%

BiddingForGood works with brands to take advantage of this unique marketing channel. “As more and more marketers see the measureable value that can be extracted from participating in online charity auctions, we expect to see more and more brand names getting involved”, says nationally recognized hotelier, Robin Brown who is on the company’s board.

In 2010, BiddingForGood was selected as one of the OnMedia 100 winners. Inclusion in the OnMedia 100 signifies major developments in the creation of marketing tools, services, venues, and advertising, and branding campaigns. Recipients of this award are considered to be the disruptors of traditional marketing and branding methods with past recipients including Gilt, Facebook, and Technorati.

About BiddingForGood

BiddingForGood is the leading cause-related e-commerce platform connecting consumers and marketers to non-profit fundraising auction events. BiddingForGood is approaching $100 million generated for non-profit organizations by allowing them to expand their bidder universe and access a new source of items. Clients can secure more items by delivering a stronger and more measureable marketing value to item donors to ultimately raise more money from more participants as well as BiddingForGood’s donated item program. The company works with dozens of brand marketers through a unique product advertising program to enable them to efficiently reach affluent donors just as they are spending in a trusted environment. This cause marketplace can be experienced at www.BiddingForGood.com.