Distribution Strategies

British consumers show little forgiveness towards poor e-commerce sites but reward those that perform well and provide them with timely, personalised offers, according to a new survey from Apptus and YouGov.

Published: 22 Jun 2011

British consumers show little forgiveness towards poor e-commerce sites but reward those that perform well and provide them with timely, personalised offers, according to a new survey from Apptus and YouGov.

The research, which surveyed 2050 UK adults online, examined customer satisfaction in a number of key areas, including retailers' promotions, recommendations, website search, navigation and pricing.

According to David Davies, VP of Marketing at Apptus: “After 15 years of e-commerce, UK consumers are setting a high bar for the online shopping experience. They will punish poor performance in areas like search and navigation, while 70 percent admit to rewarding relevant, well-targeted offers and recommendations. With 3 out of 4 UK adults online shopping online or browsing at least once a month, there is a huge opportunity for retailers who respond to these demands using the next generation of e-commerce technologies”.

Little patience with not getting the basics right

When asked for their top 3 reasons for abandoning a purchase, 52 percent of online shoppers said they would be likely to abandon a site part-way through an online shopping session due to slow performance (e.g. from search results). Unsatisfactory check-out and payment would give a further 41 percent the hump - ample evidence that the poor technology hits sales hard.

Poor Navigation and web site search major turn-offs

Shoppers are particularly critical of poor navigation and site search. More than half (55 percent) of all online shoppers in the UK would click away from web sites where they planned to make a purchase due to lack of being able to navigate to the product they want. Likewise, the lack of a good web site search function (38 percent) was one of the three major factors for fed up Internet shoppers.

Personalised offers and recommendations work

Survey results show that there are ample opportunities to increase spend with personalised offers and recommendations – 70 percent of online shoppers admitted to being influenced to spend more by personalised marketing tactics. Successful tactics include relevant promotional offers (45 percent) and smart recommendations tactics (upsells – being prompted with a more expensive alternative (28 percent), cross-sells – getting shown what goes with items already in your basket (17 percent) and seeing what others bought (13 percent).

“The best, most profitable websites are the ones that create relevant and highly usable shopping experiences. They deliver simple, easy to use navigation, search and recommendations, and customise what the user sees and is offered. They do what a traditional sales assistant would have done, offering them a personal service tailored to their likes and needs,” said Davies.

Other key facts in the YouGov research:

• 43 percent of all UK adults online shop for something at least once a week online. 7 percent every day, 20 percent use e-commerce a few times a week and 16 percent once a week.
• When online shoppers were asked for the top 3 things they shop online for most often, nearly 4 out of 10 (39 percent) plan their travel (e.g. flights, hotels and holidays) online as well as fashion and shoes (38 percent) - highlighting that this remains a major area for e-commerce even during tough times.
• Poor navigation (55 percent), slow websites (52 percent), poor check-out/payment processes (41 percent) and poor search (38 percent) are among the top three factors that would make consumers leave retailers they intended to buy from.
• Reviews and ratings remain a big influence on purchases with 35 percent looking to them to make a decision - proving that the human element in cyberspace is an area that e-traders must tap into to win sales and trust.
• Frequent online shoppers were also asked to list three areas that most influenced them to shop online. Unsurprisingly a good price was top at 82 percent followed by an easy search to find items at 43 percent.

Outlook of travel sites

In general terms, travel sites today offer more consumer information than ever before. At the same time, however, they have become more complicated to use and have alienated those that not be as online savvy.

“This is precisely why we are seeing trends of the resurgence of traditional brick-and-mortar agencies,” Edward Perry, senior director of e-commerce, WorldHotels told EyeforTravel’s Ritesh Gupta in an interview earlier this year. “Consumers research travel online but end up frustrated with either the deluge of information or lack of details that they need to make a sound financial decision. They want to take their findings and send it off to a travel professional that can make sense of all the requests and create a customised itinerary. As we all find ourselves with more work and less people to do it, time suddenly becomes a precious commodity that we would rather spend with our loved ones instead of in front of a computer.”

“I envision social media to become one of the driving forces in holiday decisions within the next three years. If I look at my own Facebook community, I see an increasing number of people asking opinions about trip options and a tremendous amount of quality interaction. We as hoteliers need to find a way to capture the best of this trend and be cognizant of what the consumer is saying about us and our competitors. We also need to be aware of the impact that the convergence of data of our friends from sites like TripAdvisor and Facebook will have on our travel decisions moving forward.”