Retailer websites … love them or hate them, they still matter. Although retailer websites are one of the most mature digital shopper-marketing tools, brand marketers would do well not to ignore them as an “outdated” technology. According to Compete.com, Walmart.com attracted 49 million visitors during May, 2011, while Target.com pulled in 39 million. Best Buy had 23 million visitors, Kroger saw 3 million and Publix 1.4 million.

Meanwhile, brands are busy building their own presence on the web — mainly to serve the shopper’s need for product and usage information or to engage them in the brand experience. However, these sites don’t generate anywhere near the traffic that store websites do.

Pampers.com scored just 0.9 million visitors and Tide.com garnered a half a million. Even Coke’s mega-promotion website, mycokerewards.com, generated only 2.6 million unique visitors, a small fraction of the kind of traffic the big retailer sites attract.

Retailer websites also outpace other digital tools. Our own study of digital shopper-marketing tools found that 28 percent of shoppers use retailer websites, compared to just 12 percent who visit a retailer’s social-media page, 10 percent who use coupons loaded onto a loyalty card, five percent who subscribe to text messages from retailers and three percent who use mobile apps while shopping in a store.

Why is this happening? Clearly, online shoppers value deals more than information. According to our research, 72 percent of consumers use retailer websites to save money. This finding was reinforced by the In-Store Marketing Institute’s report on digital shopper-marketing that found the top three reasons for visiting retailer websites centered on looking for the deal.

If only life were that simple. Unfortunately, when we looked at incremental impact as measured by “spending more than they planned” and “buying brands never purchased before,” store websites had the lowest scores of all digital shopping tools.

In terms of impact on spending, retailer websites, at 36 percent, paled in comparison to mobile apps (56%) and text messages (45%). Where brand trial is concerned, retailer websites, at 20 percent, also lagged behind mobile apps (64%), loyalty cards (54%), text messages (52%) and social media (48%).

So, why would any brand marketer want to invest in the retailer website channel? Just to give away price and valuable points of margin to as many shoppers as possible with no lift in return? Is there something below the surface that would allow brands to capitalize on the huge reach of the retailer channel and its powerful transactional relationship with shoppers?

The answer does indeed lie in the details. The impact of retail website usage varies significantly by frequency of use and demographics.

Remember the Pareto Principle? The 80/20 rule? It applies but it’s actually more like 70/30. We started by looking at those consumers who identified themselves as heavy users of store websites. While they represent only 31 percent of the total, they dominated usage across all store types and categories in our study.

Heavy users are deeply engaged and they respond by buying more. When we examined attitudinal measures that influence purchase, we found heavier users were much more positive. Of particular interest is the strength of the non-monetary benefits like convenience, speed and fun (see chart one).

But even more interesting, heavier users scored much higher in two key areas: making more unplanned purchases and buying brands never bought before (see chart two).

What does this mean? It means that when you are communicating with your consumers through a retailer website, focus on your best consumers and reinforce your branding message. They will see it, it’s important to them and they will buy more.

Success also varies by demographics and by category. While our survey looked at many demographic groups, we examined three groups in particular: Moms, Men 18-24 and Baby Boomers. In aggregate, we didn’t see major differences in store attitudes or website usage levels, which ranged from 23 percent to 30 percent. However, differences did start to appear when we examined shopping impact.

Our findings suggest that, when targeting Moms on retail websites, manufacturers will achieve a higher response by introducing them to a new store or a new brand. However, while Moms and Boomers are more likely to be influenced by discounts, they are not as likely to be motivated to stray from their pre-planned purchases. While Men, 18-24, are very responsive to marketing on retailer websites, marketing electronics products will have the highest impact.

Finally, the Baby Boomers may be the hidden gem. Boomers have lagged other demographic groups in adoption of many digital tools, such as social and mobile. However, with attitudes and influences as strong as Moms, their impact could be huge once they become more comfortable with retailer websites as a shopping tool.

Overall, this study revealed three facts that are key to maximizing the power of retailer websites. First, your consumers go to retailer sites primarily looking for the deal. Accept that and make sure that you give them an offer.

Second, don’t make the deal the whole message. The data show that consumers who are most engaged with retailer websites are very likely to be your best consumers. While they may want the deal, your brand message is equally important.

Finally, if Moms are your target, as they are with most packaged-goods brands, use retailer websites to introduce them to a new brand. Almost 40 percent of Moms said they buy brands they never purchased before based on their visit to retailer websites.