This past Cyber Monday saw online retailers bring in a record breaking $1 billion in sales (comScore). But according to a new Google Commerce poll, while deals and promotions certainly lure in customers, what really keeps them coming back is a superior online retail shopping experience that makes product search fast and easy.
A few key findings from Google’s poll:
- 77% of those surveyed used search within an e-commerce store to find products.
- Responders were most impressed by ecommerce retailers who had great deals (22%) and a fast and easy shopping experience (14%).
- Shoppers cited a difficulty finding items (11%) more frequently than shipping problems (10%) or a lack of good deals (8%).
Though not specific to big ticket purchases, the Google poll underlies a fundamental principle of the way we approach ecommerce development at Blueport Commerce: a retailer’s online store should, above all else, provide a customer with the product information they are looking for quickly and easily. This is especially imperative for big-ticket categories, where the research process is longer and a customer likely spends more time on your site searching for different product options and comparing product specs, then they would for, say, a book or DVD. At Blueport, we focus on creating a site exerience that gets people to the products they want to look at immediately, without having to wade through layers of navigation.
If a customer shopping your bricks and mortar store became frustrated looking for a particular item, your sales staff would surely be able to promptly help him/her and answer any questions. Many retailers now offer live chat with retail staff to bring this in-store experience online, but customers are still often navigating alone, and thus need the product discovery process to be simple and fluid.
Whether you are launching a new site or revisiting your existing ecommerce storefront, always remember to take a step back and think about the customer research/shopping process. How easy is it to find a particular item? Can your customer sort their search based on different requirements? Are you categorizing products they way you think about them, or reponsding to how your customer thinks? Does your product catalog help the customer visualize how that item would fit in their home? Is it easy for your customer to instantly reach sales staff if they have a question?
Cover these basics and not only will your customers shop your e-commerce store on Cyber Monday, but they will keep coming back year round as well.
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
A few key findings from Google’s poll:
- 77% of those surveyed used search within an e-commerce store to find products.
- Responders were most impressed by ecommerce retailers who had great deals (22%) and a fast and easy shopping experience (14%).
- Shoppers cited a difficulty finding items (11%) more frequently than shipping problems (10%) or a lack of good deals (8%).
Though not specific to big ticket purchases, the Google poll underlies a fundamental principle of the way we approach ecommerce development at Blueport Commerce: a retailer’s online store should, above all else, provide a customer with the product information they are looking for quickly and easily. This is especially imperative for big-ticket categories, where the research process is longer and a customer likely spends more time on your site searching for different product options and comparing product specs, then they would for, say, a book or DVD. At Blueport, we focus on creating a site exerience that gets people to the products they want to look at immediately, without having to wade through layers of navigation.
If a customer shopping your bricks and mortar store became frustrated looking for a particular item, your sales staff would surely be able to promptly help him/her and answer any questions. Many retailers now offer live chat with retail staff to bring this in-store experience online, but customers are still often navigating alone, and thus need the product discovery process to be simple and fluid.
Whether you are launching a new site or revisiting your existing ecommerce storefront, always remember to take a step back and think about the customer research/shopping process. How easy is it to find a particular item? Can your customer sort their search based on different requirements? Are you categorizing products they way you think about them, or reponsding to how your customer thinks? Does your product catalog help the customer visualize how that item would fit in their home? Is it easy for your customer to instantly reach sales staff if they have a question?
Cover these basics and not only will your customers shop your e-commerce store on Cyber Monday, but they will keep coming back year round as well.
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
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