The way people shop online is maturing and retail has been going through some heavy disruption. Rather than going to one place, shoppers now have their card details saved in as many as 10 different websites.
The speed of change has caught many retailers off-guard, but it should be the other way around. Retailers should be guiding users in their online habits and showing how the online shopping experience could be so much more.
If brands continue to neglect their eCommerce platforms, their sales channels and the structure of their data, it’s no wonder shoppers are having a bad time of it. Buying online should be an experience, not a chore.
But that doesn’t mean shoppers have simply disappeared, they haven’t. They’re actually still shopping and still browsing catalogs. Only instead of whiling away hours strolling through the mall, they’re killing time shopping on the internet.
Right now, many retailers are not prepared for this. Put aside the huge logistical challenges of shipping and delivery, and let’s focus on the buying experience itself. It’s not good, and shoppers find it a frustrating, uninspiring process. Why?
Shopping in a store is a tangible process. Customers try things on, feel the fabrics, hold things up to a mirror. The online experience is a long way away from this. It will be years until technology is good enough to artificially show fitted clothes through VR or AR.
The only tool brands have for the moment is the accuracy of their product information.
Amazon is the only company that is even close to creating the right experience (they are strict on the information they request from their sellers). They understand the importance of the information for shoppers. Anyone buying a new laptop has some standard questions:
But on many shopping channels, you find that this information is not provided for every laptop. So no comparison can be made, and it’s obvious why shoppers go elsewhere to find the right information.
Brands need to create better product experiences for their clients.
Digital transformation for retailers is about much more than bringing in the latest apps and installing an eCommerce platform. It’s about creating a closer experience between brand and customer.
The reality of all of the transformation hype is that shoppers would like to buy online. So retailers and tech providers are currently working towards creating an affordable ecosystem that can give their buyers a unique and fluid shopping experience online.
Many retailers thought that one website was enough to keep them up to date, but that's not enough if:
Retailers' products without a digital presence will increasingly lose sales by going unnoticed. Users will only come across what is best positioned on the internet and accessible through more channels than just a store or a website.
But it gets worse still for traditional retail. In this new era, no one will wait for the September trade show to discover your business, nor will they be interested in your ads in Country Life.
If your products are online and visible, that’s where the new revenue is.
More and more devices are connected and used for everyday shopping, even for mundane grocery shops. And people are buying not only on computers and smartphones (52% of web traffic worldwide is mobile. Statista, 2020), but Smart TVs, smartwatches, smart fridges, voice assistants and so on. Shopping and buying online will, as some experts define it, be pretzel shaped.
It is increasingly difficult to predict how a user will find a product. Companies need to be everywhere and easy to locate, but in an integrated and consistent way, with accurate information across all their sales and marketing channels. As users flit from screen to screen, they want to see consistency:
Shoppers want convenience; they always have. The internet doesn’t change that basic principle. New shopping experiences make it easier to save previous purchases, make suggestions appropriate to the history of each buyer and attend to them personally via chat or chatbot.
The online shopping experience is vastly different from the in-store experience. But this is used as an advantage on the best websites that are harnessing the tools offered by eCommerce platforms.
Buyers want to see similar products displayed on the same page. Quick, at-a-glance reviews are now fundamental to good product experience. Buyers already expect to see reviews, and without them, value is lost from the very start.
The opportunities offered for cross-selling and upselling are huge. Offers and discounts can be made at speed, and according to analytics data on visits and conversions.
Google some years ago introduced the structured internet (Schema), a set of guidelines that would allow search engines to more easily scan websites and give programmers a better chance of making readable websites. The tourism industry came next with unified information across many platforms, making holidaying a more affordable and more immersive experience.
Retail looks a little chaotic in comparison. Even some of the biggest brands have a lot of catching up to do. And consumers are out in front waiting and wondering when the internet will offer some really cool shopping experiences.
That will only come after retailers start to get a grip on their product information.
Do you need help getting your product catalog online in multiple sales channels? Schedule some time with us.