'Net Features : online shopping

Is In-Store the Future of Online Shopping?

Michael Garrity — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 20:51:00 GMT

Most of us have probably heard at one time or another that e-commerce is going to be the death of traditional brick-and-mortar retail, putting small businesses out of commission and leaving us with nothing more than the occasional convenience store here and there.

Surprisingly, like most extreme predictions made in the heat of a rapidly growing trend, it proved to be mostly inaccurate. And while e-commerce has undeniably had an impact on the retail industry, much of it has been in accord with brick-and-mortar shopping, not opposed to it.

A recently released infographic from e-commerce solution provider Shopatron shows that the majority of customers actually love in-store pickup tied to their e-commerce experience, calling it “the new retail requirement” and touting the benefits for retailers.

According to Shopatron, 80 percent of customers use the Internet to research their purchases, while 75 percent still prefer to buy their products at a store. And, in terms of measurable add-on sales justifications for the implementation of an in-store pickup option, the infographic shows that over 30 percent of Shopatron merchants that offer it saw additional in-store sales during the pickup, Ace Hardware had a 33 percent lift, and REI noted a 35 percent of in-store pickup orders result in additional in-store sales.

By offering this option, businesses are able to drastically broaden the range of products that they are able to sell online, as logistically some items were nearly impossible to offer with delivery. In-store pickup allows customers to receive their items while being assisted by experts that “can handle complicated licensing requirements, assemble, install, train and answer questions about the purchase.”

Of course, it doesn’t hurt that a pickup option also increases online conversions, in addition to improving add-on sales figures and allowing businesses to sell more on their websites. It’s also useful for consumers, as it does away with shipping fees, makes in-store returns easier and fulfills their orders faster.

Businesses have two ways that they can provide in-store pickups. One is to fulfill an order from store inventory, which greatly expedites the pickup process, but limits what can be sold to only those items available in the store. The other is a ship-to-store method, in which items are shipped from a vendor or distribution center directly to a merchant’s brick-and-mortar location.

So the question is, are you offering an in-store pickup on your e-commerce site yet?

To view the full infographic, click here.

Ecommerce Continues Its Growth

Allison Howen — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 16:00:00 GMT

Ecommerce continues to grow, reaching $37.5 billion during this year’s second quarter according to a comSore report.

Compared to the same period from a year ago, online retail spending has had a 14 percent increase, which is a result of a 16 percent increase in the number of online buyers. The report also shows that 70 percent of Internet users made at least one online purchase during the second quarter.

"The second quarter of 2011 saw a continuation of this year's solid double-digit growth trends in online spending, well ahead of the rate of growth in consumers' overall spending," says comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. "As a result, it's clear that consumers are continuing to shift to the online channel, with almost $1 in every $10 of discretionary spending now occurring online. E-commerce's benefits of convenience and lower prices continue to be the drivers of the shift.“

This quarter’s ecommerce growth represented the seventh quarter of positive growth when compared year-over-year.

Ecommerce has continually been improving, with new innovative ways to make online shopping even more appealing such as better mobile apps, the implication of augmented reality into websites and new options that boost online sales through social media.

Cyber Monday Prep: 10 Tips for Greater Sales

Mike Phillips — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 16:15:00 GMT

Put down the turkey sandwich and place the pumpkin pie back in the refrigerator. It's time to make sure your website is ready for the biggest online retail day of the year - Cyber Monday.

According to comScore, the 2010 holiday shopping season is going to be a good one. They found that for the first 21 days of the November - December 2010 shopping season, more than $9 billion has been spent online, a 13 percent increase over last year. That's great news. But it will mean nothing if you're not prepared for the windfall.

Testing will go a long way toward finding areas of your website that might need fixing, or snags in the transaction process. Below are 10 areas to test or double-check, to make sure you get your piece of the virtual holiday shopping pie.

Ad campaigns. Take a spin through all of your ad campaigns on every channel. Make sure they are all up-to-date with your latest promotions, that they reflect the latest in your holiday keyword research and that they are targeted to the right people.
Landing pages. In the frenzy of Cyber Monday, consumers will not have time to click everywhere on your site. You need to be ready to show them what they want. Make sure all landing pages are linked to the proper channel - an advertisement, search result, Facebook post, email, etc. If one of your ads promises free shipping, repeat that offer on the landing page immediately. If an email is promoting a watch, make sure the link is not pointed to a product page for a bracelet. Of course, make sure the "add to cart" and "checkout" buttons are prominent.
Shipping information. Consumers love free shipping, as well as free return shipping. However, it is not a necessity. Just make sure that your shipping information is readily available and easy to understand. Shipping charges should be included in the price before final checkout. If you do offer free or discounted shipping, make sure the offer is highly visible.
Return policies. Return policies are important, especially now while there is still time to receive an item then return it. Returns are of particular interest to a consumer when they pay for shipping - free return shipping is a major benefit so be sure to promote it. Make sure your return policy is available (linked with your shipping policies is ideal) and detailed.
Contact information. Are you available by phone? That's a big advantage for an online retailer, so let people know. Live chat has gained in popularity so if you have this feature, make sure it is promoted on every page of your site. If you can keep a consumer on-site when they have a question, you're way ahead of the game. Otherwise, offer at least an email address and be sure to inform the consumer when they can expect a response - of course, the sooner the better.
Discount codes. People shop online because they expect discounts. If you have them they must be highly visible. Also, make sure all discount codes are active and properly attributed to each product, your analytics and any affiliate promotions. Be very sure you can deliver on the promise of the discount - rates and inventory included - before releasing them to any social environment where they might go viral.
Affiliates are up-to-date. Make sure that all of your affiliates are aware of current promotions and that they have all the latest and necessary creatives, codes, links, etc. This is an excellent time to offer your best affiliates a little extra incentive in the form of temporary increased payouts.
Social media campaigns are ready. This could shape up to be the biggest social shopping season to date. Make sure social campaigns are active and that your social accounts are being monitored. Consumers will be using social channels to communicate with retailers this year, as well as with each other. Monitor your brand, industry and competitors.
Your shopping cart. What good is all this prep work if the consumer can't make a purchase? Don't make the cardinal sin of using a busted shopping cart. Make a few purchases using varied methods of payment.
Email. Make sure your email systems are running properly and that the messaging is optimized. For example, a consumer should receive an email immediately after purchase; thanking them for their business, offering contact information for any questions, presenting a cross-sell or up-sell opportunity, or the option of signing up for an email newsletter, preferred customer club, etc.

BONUS: This is an excellent time to make sure your host is ready for any spikes in traffic. Reach out and get a little peace of mind with assurances that load testing has been completed recently.

Once you have made a few sweeps of your website ask friends, family, employees and coworkers to search for your products or website and go through the steps to make a purchase. Send a promotional email to a few of these people and watch as they act on your call-to-action. If you can find people who are not familiar with your website, that's ideal. The closer you can get to a new customer, the better.

Online Spending Up, Patience Down

Mike Phillips — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 14:45:00 GMT

Consumers are spending more time online shopping than ever before, and spending more money, too. That, according to a survey from Tealeaf Technology (an analytics provider) and conducted by Harris Interactive, of 2,104 U.S. consumers.

The survey found that consumers shop online an average of 3.4 times per month (up from 3.1 times per month in 2009) and that 16 percent of consumers shop online four or five times per month, up from 14 percent last year. What might be most impressive is that just 29 percent of consumers shop online once per month - last year 37 percent shopped online just once a month. Maybe this is three different ways to say the same thing, but the message is clear: online shopping continues to grow as consumers become more comfortable with the practice.

There's more good news: shoppers spend an average of $123.20 per transaction. That's up from $101.60 in 2009 - a 21 percent increase, even during a continued economic lull. Whether that means people are spending more money or just shifting their spend online, it doesn't really matter. As long as they are spending online.

One other important note from the study shows that, while spending more time and money online, consumers are becoming less willing to endure delays while shopping. Just 18 percent of consumers will try to complete a transaction again after a failed first attempt, down from 23 percent who said the same last year.

Online Holiday Shoppers Already Revving Their Engines

Linc Wonham — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 14:00:00 GMT

E-commerce merchants who wait until November to launch their holiday promotions may miss out on as much as 65 percent of online consumers who have either begun their shopping already or plan to begin between now and October. Many retailers were caught off guard by last year’s early start to the season, and a survey conducted in May 2010 by Google and OTX indicates the same pattern will continue this year.

Twenty-one percent of U.S. Internet shoppers had already started making 2010 holiday purchases online by May, and another 14 percent reported that they would begin shopping by August. Twelve percent said they would start shopping online in September, followed by 18 percent who were going to begin in October. That makes a total of 65 percent as compared to the 35 percent of shoppers who reported that they would begin their online shopping in November or December.

The numbers continue the trend started last holiday season, which left many e-commerce merchants left out in the cold when November rolled around. According to comScore, online spending has exhibited quarterly growth of 10 and 9 percent respectively in the first half of 2010, indicating that this will be a stronger holiday season for retailers overall – but those who wait too long may miss out on some of the rewards.

June Swoon Has Some Merchants Heading Back to School Early

Linc Wonham — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 16:30:00 GMT

June turned out to be a sobering month for anyone hoping for more signs of an economic recovery, and online retailers are definitely among the underwhelmed. Probably the only bright spot to the International Council of Shopping Centers’ index of retail sales was that the numbers were still considerably better than a year ago.

But the upward trend in consumer spending we’d been seeing the past few months all but halted as retail sales gained a meager 3 percent, despite the inclusion of the Memorial Day weekend in the month’s overall data. The index reported a decline of more than 5 percent in June 2009, but merchants who were expecting June 2010 to kick off a strong summer shopping season are now left wondering if this year’s earlier consumer spending will wind up costing them down the road.

For whatever reason, most likely an unemployment rate that is still uncomfortably high, consumers have lost the confidence they exhibited into about mid-April. The retail numbers for July and August will have an enormous bearing on the economy’s overall health as merchants are still holding out hopes for an aggressive back-to-school season. Normally slated to kick off at the end of this month, many retailers will try to offset the slow June with an early jump on the back-to-school offerings.

iPerceptions E-Commerce Report: Why Buyers Aren't Buying

MaureenA — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:50:00 GMT

iPerceptions released its E-Commerce Industry Report Q2 2009 this week and the results provide some insight into the reason for the large gap between researching and buying among online shoppers. According to the results, 38 percent of shoppers were on-site to research about products or services, whereas only 17 percent were at the buying stage.

The iPerceptions report breaks down the reasons why visitors didn’t purchase. For e-commerce merchants, this can help you understand how to better meet the needs of your potential customers. The no. 1 reason for lack of purchase was the consumer couldn’t find what they were looking (34 percent of online visitors). Price and navigation/usability barriers were tied for second in reasons visitors leave without buying (13 percent).

iPerceptions points out that a 1 percent increase in task completion could translate into 1.6 percent increase in annual sales. This amount may seem miniscule but put into perspective, a $50 million business could be missing out on $800,000.

So what can you do about it? For one, make sure you’re ranking correctly for your products and not appearing in search results pages for products you don’t sell. And two, take a closer look at navigation and usability of your site. There are many programs and services available to provide you insight into how easy or complicated your navigation is. Take proactive measures so you’re not leaving money on the table.

Do you have other tips for turning potential customers into buyers? Comment below.

Stay up to date on the latest Internet trends:
Request a professional subscription to Website Magazine,
the most popular print publication on Web success.

Online Shoppers Want Help Making Decisions

MaureenA — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 09:00:00 GMT

Harris Interactive and IMShopping released a new survey that shows American consumers want the same personalized customer experience they receive in brick-and-mortar business when they shop online. And the lack of assistance can prevent them from making a purchase.

Not surprisingly, most of the survey respondents do shop online (74 percent). And of that amount, 77 percent would be interested in assistance from a real person before making an online purchasing decision. But the most insightful result from the survey was how not getting assistance can prevent online shoppers from making a purchase -- 52 percent.

As an e-commerce merchant, the results of this study should encourage you to revamp efforts to connect with your consumers. Do you have online chat available for those who have questions? Are you proactive and reach out to those who mention your company on various online platforms? Do you facilitate easy ways for potential customers to contact you if they have questions? All of these things can increase your customers’ experiences which can possibly turn them into reoccurring customers.

"No level of automation can replace the human touch. The results indicate that shoppers still want real people to help them purchase products, even in a digital setting. Many retailers have started taking steps in this direction and we believe it will be the single biggest push for the retail industry over the next several years," the CEO and founder of IMShopping, Prashant Nedungadi said in the news release.

How do you increase your customers’ experiences? Comment below.

Stay up to date on the latest Internet trends:
Request a professional subscription to Website Magazine,
the most popular print publication on Web success.

When Shoppers Start Shopping

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 14:30:00 GMT

OneupWeb released a study entitled The 2008 U.S. Online Shopping Report: What the 2008 Holiday Shopping Season Can Teach Us. Data was compiled from a variety of e-commerce companies and aimed to determine when consumers started their holiday shopping, evaluating what period of the season was the most important to reach them.

Insights revealed in the report include:

Holiday traffic and conversions start before Halloween. Yes, before Halloween.
The week of Halloween experienced the highest volume of sales. Interestingly, this was also the week before elections.
The week following Christmas is just as important as those before, experiencing an increase in conversions and sales.

"The findings reveal some important consumer buying trends in a down economy, such as an increase in online browsing," says OneUpWeb CEO Lisa Wehr. "This means it is vital for companies to stay top of mind with consumers in 2009. Online marketing and integration is a good way to get there."