October 8, 2009
By Terry Jukes, President, Ability Commerce (terryj@abilitycommerce.com)
Search engines allow us to shop even when we have no clue of what it is we want to buy.
Recently, I needed a replacement part for my small fishing boat. I knew it was a part of a fishing rod rack, a fitting or holder or flange than went through the cabin wall….but had no clue what to call it. It attached by two screws that were 3” apart and the diameter of the hole was 2”. I went shopping online….but just what was I shopping for?
Into the Google search box I entered “replacement boat parts” and got the predictable overwhelming result. Next it was “fishing rod holder” only to learn about the difference between fishing rod holders and all their component parts and fishing rod racks and all their component parts. Along the way I noted several key sites that were in the business of selling replacement boat parts…obviously, a huge product category that needed further refining.
Next, I typed in “fishing rod rack, flange, 2” diameter” hoping that the item specification search might lead me to the item. This returned hundreds of pages of results.
Next I tried going to several of the key sites I had noted and used their internal site searches. Sadly, many of these sites had dismal site search functionality. (Functionality most online merchants need to improve!). It took several sites before I came across a photo of the item I needed (I had to have a photo to be sure of a match…do all the items on your site have photos?) of the item I needed. Only problem was, it was the manufacturers’ site and they would not sell direct. After searching for “find a retailer” and not finding anything (make sure your manufacturers list you as a retailer.) I sent them an email and got no response after several days. (Let’s face it, manufacturers aren’t good at customer service.) Next it was a phone call and a voice mail message….then another reminder email. (I was desperate to buy their product!) Finally I got a reply….”Yes, we manufacture that item, but we only sell retail, we will find a retailer for you”. Another week past. After a reminder email from me, the manufacturer admitted that they could not find a retailer who stocked the item (a good reason for them to sell direct!) and relented on their no-retail policy. They took my credit card over the phone and sold me the product directly. I got it two days later via UPS. (For not being a retailer, they seemed to know how to take my order efficiently!)
The point of this story is simple. Firt, I am amazed at how poor most sites are at meeting my expectations, failing to answer even the most basic questions. (Heh, where can I buy your product??) Second, I, like most other addicted online shoppers, have long since evolved from brick and mortar shopping mentality to the “let’s Google it” world and Google (or our search engine of choice) has us very well trained. We use Google to solve problems, not just buy products. Our searches are intuitive and cumulative. The answer to the first search leads us to the next search, and so on. It is like peeling back the layers of the onion. It is “the onion search”. It is an important distinction for the online marketer. Imagine if I had seen a site called www.hardtofindplasticboatparts.com or www.fishingrodrackparts.com. Imagine how that product offering and site might have ranked in my search results as I described my problem or perceived need in the search box. Better still imagine if the merchant had a “Let us find it for you!” button on their site. Imagine too if the part marketer made sure that all the product specifications were included in the product description and keywords so that there would be a faster match between me “the searcher” and “the seller”. Imagine if more online marketers realized that shoppers have problems and often search for solutions, not knowing what actual item or product they really need. Ask yourself how well your site and your items sell during “the onion search”. I am sure you will see opportunity and when you do, send me some examples of how you made more money by peeling onions.
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General eCommerce, MulitChannel Retail, Online Marketing, SEO (Search Engine Optimization), eCommerce Usability, eMerchandising | Tagged: new ways of online buying, online merchandising, online shopping habits, selling solutions online | 
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Posted by terryjukes
May 20, 2009
A couple of studies by eDigitialResearch and etailing consulting firm IMRG, had some interesting information about UK shoppers. It shows some great opportunities for multi-channel retailers in the UK market. Here are just a few:
- Three quarters of the shoppers surveyed say they prefer returning goods to retail stores and 52% prefer hopping online with multichannel retailers.Great news for those already in the multichannel world – just by having a store or catalog, you start with an advantage. Head starts are always good!
- Satisfaction scores were down a bit in April compared to last fall, 78.3% and 79.6% respectively. With the importance placed on having a “conversation” with your shoppers – this could be a great opportunity. Talk with your customers and find out what they think you can improve about your shopping experience. Give them the opportunity to voice their desires – and then follow up with action.
- 50%of those surveyed said they would cancel a web purchase if their preferred payment method wasn’t an option. Competition is just a click away, and shoppers will simply leave if you don’t offer what they demand. Make sure your ecommerce website offers their preferred payment methods and other UK-specific ecommerce features that they have come to expect.
- 45% said they would spend more time looking for bargains online too. If your ecommerce platform is flexible enough, this one should be easy. Online promotions, coupons, “outlets,” and “bargain bins” attract the attention of shoppers looking for a deal. You can also try updating your meta-descriptions to include “sale” or “discount” pricing for better conversion from search engine results pages.
How are you planning to meet the needs of UK shoppers?
1 Comment | Catalog, General eCommerce, MulitChannel Retail | Tagged: ecommerce software, multichannel retailing, online shopping, UK ecommerce | Permalink
Posted by Anna Slyter
April 23, 2009
Your ecommerce plan probably includes a goal to increase online sales – and that is a metric you might use to judge how much budget to allocate to your ecommerce efforts. Online sales alone, however, only give you part of the picture.
Your ecommerce website has value beyond direct online sales. Customers often start researching products online before they make an offline purchase.
A recent article in Internet Retailer gave the following quote:
“Although direct online sales account for only 6% of total retail sales, 75% of consumers routinely research products on retail web sites before making offline purchases, and by 2013, 40% of total retail sales will be initiated on the web, Forrester predicts.”
It’s yet another reason why your ecommerce website has to provide all the information your customers want, in addition to a consistent brand experience across channels. Earlier this year we did a post with 5 ways to make your ecommerce site a better salesperson.
Information is important for your shoppers. You can (and should) have a great deal of information on your site, but it has to be organized for customers to easily view it. Here are a few points to consider about how to display information on your ecommerce website for maximum readability.
- Layout matters. People will leave ecommerce websites that are confusing or difficult to scan. Keep your layout clean to make sure your online shoppers can easily see the information most important to them.
- Options are important. Make sure it’s easy for shoppers to see the options for your products. Do you have different colors, finishes, sizes, or other options? If you have only a few options to show, consider a “list display” like the one from American Musical Supply. It’s clear they have some color choices on this guitar, and it’s easy for me to see all options and then choose the one I want.
- Make it easy. If you have a lot of options, and shoppers may choose multiple items from one product page, try a “grid display”. Options are clearly displayed, and shoppers can choose multiple options/products from one page. Macy’s gives the customer control over which items in a set they want to add to their carts – from a single page.
- Clutter won’t cut it. Pop-up information lets you provide a wealth of information on one page, but only display minimal information until the shopper hovers over or clicks a link. Just make sure you test features like this so you don’t overwhelm visitors by showing pop-ups every time they move their mouse (to avoid usability problems.) Hancock’s of Paducah uses pop-up to give their shoppers a quick way to see larger images without making their shoppers click to another product page.
- Brands have power. Display brands to encourage brand-loyal shoppers. You can also give them the choice to navigate by brand into the products they most want, making it a snap for them to get what they want. Overstock.com makes it easy for their shoppers to sort by brand.
- Online shoppers scan, not read. You can use icons to give a fast, visual source of information to shoppers. Just make sure the icons make sense to your ecommerce shoppers, or the impact is lost. American Musical Supply uses icons on their site to clarify free shipping and extended warranties.
Your ecommerce software should make it easy to display the most important information to your shoppers. If it doesn’t, you might want to check out another ecommerce solution that gives you additional creative freedom.
Leave a Comment » | MulitChannel Retail, Online Marketing, eCommerce Usability, eMerchandising | Permalink
Posted by Anna Slyter
March 31, 2009
Sometimes it seems like there is no problem a good ecommerce website can’t fix. Paper and postage costs too high? Use your email marketing to reach customers rather than mailing. Need new customers? Optimize for search engines and find a whole new audience that is looking for your products. Want to decrease customer service calls? Add or improve a “frequently asked questions” page on your ecommerce website that addresses your customers’ concerns.
What more could you want from a channel? The $21 billion that e-tailers lost out on last year, that’s what.
A study released on March 17, 2009 by Javelin Strategy and cosponsored by eBillme and First Data said a fear of online shopping caused $21 billion in lost sales during 2008. The survey also suggests that smaller online merchants will suffer the most, since 40% percent of online identity theft victims will only purchase from well known sites such as Amazon.com.
I don’t know about you, but I see 3 great opportunities for multi-channel retailers.
- You can improve your current ecommerce website to address the concerns of these security-minded shoppers. The Javelin Strategy survey reported that these five factors would convince customers to shop more frequently:
- Assurance that information is being processed securely (83%)
- Offering zero liability against identity theft (81%)
- Stronger security at the store website (80%)
- A guarantee that the purchase will match quality expectations (80%)
- A guarantee for the best price online (79%)
- Consider selling your products on Amazon to reach that 40% of identity theft victims who will purchase from them. Selling on Amazon lends trust to your company and can help you reach new customers. With the right Amazon integration software, you can easily integrate with your back end systems to maximize efficiency.
- Use your direct marketing expertise to reach out to security-conscious shoppers and highlight your other channels. Maybe they can order online and then come to the store to pick up and pay. Perhaps they can call in their order and pay by money order. That’s a great strength of catalogs and brick and mortar – you can meet shopper expectations in multiple ways.
Are you using your direct marketing experience to make you shoppers feel secure? Tell us about it.
Leave a Comment » | Catalog, General eCommerce, MulitChannel Retail | Tagged: amazon integration software, ecommerce, ecommerce software, multichannel retail, online sales | Permalink
Posted by Anna Slyter
February 17, 2009
It’s been said that there is no substitute for a good salesperson. I can agree with that on a lot of levels. But what about on your ecommerce website, when your salesperson isn’t there to answer questions or demonstrate products?
Here are 5 ways to make your website one of your best salespeople:
- Detailed product information
Do you give shoppers all the information they need to make a purchase? Make sure you give shoppers all the details and specifications they need, but be cautious about overwhelming them with information. National Camera has a lot of information on their products, but organizes it in a clear way with lots of white space on the page. It’s easy to skim the page top find the details I want. 
- Multiple Images and Views
Does your product come in different colors or look different from the front than it does from the back? How about the little details – can you get a close-up? A lack of an image in the right color or from a different view has stopped plenty of shoppers from buying what see can’t see, especially with clothing. J Crew makes sure their shoppers can see how their jacket looks from the front, back, side, and up close. I can mouse over each thumbnail and get the larger image if I want to see the different views. I can also click on the small swatch to see the jacket in a different color. 
Zoom features, like Nordstrom’s has, give shoppers more control of seeing close-ups for the details they want to see. Either way, multiple and detailed images can give your conversions a great boost.
- Product Videos
Do your shoppers need to see how people use their products or point out features and details that a single, still image can’t? If you answered yes, then product videos are a great asset.Just from this short video at Lowepro, I know that this bag has a tripod holder, adjustable inside compartments, side pocket for memory cards, and a water bottle holder. I also could see how to get my camera out of the back without having to set the pack on the ground. They answered all my questions quickly and I didn’t have to read a thing.
- Customer Reviews
Who do shoppers trust more than anyone else? Other people, like themselves, that have bought and used the products. Conversion rates increase dramatically when shoppers can see what other people have to say. To make an even bigger impact, consider tailoring your reviews to your products like American Musical Supply does. I can see a lot more information on this review than on simple rating systems or general “comments” boxes. This is especially helpful when the information is new and is helping me to know what questions to ask when I’m new to the products.
- Related Items and Additional Products
What are you doing to merchandise additional products on your ecommerce site? Try suggesting related items, accessories or giving “customer also bought” suggestions to pump up your average order value. Combine it with a deal for buying multiple items like Amazon does to make the offer even more attractive. I’m looking for deals when I shop online now more than ever and features like this get my attention. 
This will give you a great start to turning your ecommerce website into your best salesperson.
What else are you doing to give your customers a great online experience?
1 Comment | General eCommerce, MulitChannel Retail, Online Marketing, eCommerce Usability, eMerchandising | Tagged: ecommerce, ecommerce software, increase conversions, increase online sales | Permalink
Posted by Anna Slyter
February 9, 2009
We’re in difficult economic times. Many retailers are battening down the hatches, cutting spending and delaying ecommerce improvements for ‘better times”. It’s hard to argue with the logic of cutting spending when times are tough. But savvy e-tailers know better. They know that these times offer an excellent opportunity to reach new customers and gain valuable market share. Why are they spending instead of saving?
- Online sales growth is out-pacing other channels. More people are shopping online, and the trend doesn’t appear to be changing any time soon.
- Web users conducted 137 billion searches on the top 5 US search engines in 2008, that’s up 21% from 2007. (comScore’s 2008 Digital Year in Review reported in Internet Retailer)
- Online retail sales grew by 6% in 2008, according to comScore, whereas US Department of Commerce statistics showed a decline of .1% for general merchandise in the same period.
- According to Forrester Research Inc., US retail ecommerce sales are expected to grow 11% in 2009, even with consumers cutting back on their overall spend.
- Poor shopping experiences leave a gap that you can fill. Underwhelming satisfaction during the holiday season left consumers looking for better online shopping experiences and now is the time to show them what you’ve got.
- Now is the time to get ahead of the competition. Improve your ecommerce experience to keep your loyal customers and acquire new ones, before your competition does.
- According to an Internet Retailer survey from January 2009, 49.9% of merchants rolled out a new design in the past year, including 26.6% in the last six months and 13.3% within 90 days.
- Improved site optimization is the top priority for 72.9% of merchants, followed by clearly organized home, category and product pages at 62.4%, better navigation at 49.4%, improved site search at 47.1% and faster checkout at 40%.
Now is the time to act!
Leave a Comment » | General eCommerce, MulitChannel Retail, Online Marketing, eCommerce Usability | Tagged: e-tailers, ecommerce software, ecommerce technology, economy, online sales, retail economy | Permalink
Posted by Anna Slyter
February 4, 2009
I love browsing through catalogs (it makes me feel like I’m still multi-tasking when I’m watching TV.) I got a great one this week and they had some really nice sweaters that I wanted to order. Naturally, I wanted to order online – actually picking up the phone and calling is so inconvenient.
I went to my trusty computer and typed in the company name and a “.com” thinking I’d get the website, but that didn’t work. So, I grabbed my catalog and looked on the front cover – no URL there. Flipped it over to the back side – no URL there either. Inside cover – nope. Finally found it on the order form in the middle of the catalog in teeny-weeny print.
So, I started to wonder, why would a company not want to make it easy for me to know their URL – especially when it isn’t just their company name followed by “.com”? Why would they want shoppers to have to search for it? Or Google it and potentially get distracted by other sites, or find bunches of coupon sites so they can pay less than they would have? Or wonder enough to run to their computer and blog about it?
I started checking the other catalogs I got this week. Only 1 out of 5 had the web address on the front cover. 2 managed to put it in small print on the back of the catalog and 3 hid it somewhere inside the catalog.
Catalogs are no longer an entity to themselves. They can successfully drive BUYERS who’ve finished browsing to your site. Make it easy for them – get that URL on the front of the catalog.
1 Comment | Catalog, General eCommerce, MulitChannel Retail | Tagged: Catalog, ecommerce, ecommerce website, online sales, traffic | Permalink
Posted by Anna Slyter
January 20, 2009
Even if you have the best designed and most clearly organized website on the internet, you’re bound to run into some customers who just can’t find what they need on your ecommerce website.
Maybe the words they are using to search for products are different than the ones you (and the majority of your other shoppers) use. Maybe they have a question that your product page didn’t address to their satisfaction. Maybe they just haven’t had their coffee yet.
So what do you do?
- Put your customer service number in the header of every page, and make it really easy to see. Don’t make shoppers hunt for it – if they have to search for contact information, they are much more likely to leave and go to one of your competitor’s sites instead.
- Give your customers the option to connect with a live customer service rep via Chat. For shoppers who don’t want to pick up their phone, Chat can be a great way to reduce site abandonment. Customer service reps can use Chat to “push” the exact pages to your shoppers are trying to find or transfer to shoppers to product specialists for technical information.
The simple fact is this – no ecommerce website can predict and address every single question your online shoppers have. That’s why other contact options are so important.
2 Comments | Call Center, General eCommerce, MulitChannel Retail, eCommerce Usability | Tagged: Call Center, ecommerce, ecommerce experience, multichannel retail, user experience | Permalink
Posted by Anna Slyter
