Internet Retailer: Marketing dollars are shifting online, analyst says

Online retailers are moving spending from offline to online, especially search engine marketing and email marketing, according to Heather Dougherty, an analyst for Nielsen//NetRatings.

But it gets a little more complicated than just shifting dollars. E-tailers are finding that they need to optimize their sites not just for inclusion in search engines, but also so that the right offer information gets included.

And how much to spend on these efforts is a figure arrived at only by trail and error. "Demand is building faster than supply," Dougherty told Internet Retailer. "That's driving costs up."