“Looks still count, but retailers want more than just aesthetically pleasing pages from their next web site redesign,” according to a new survey by US trade publication Internet Retailer. “To build ecommerce sites that drive more traffic and sales, retailers are creating interactive page treatments and adding video, customer reviews and other advanced features. Merchants also are making site optimization a top priority and redesigning their web sites to achieve speedier navigation and faster performance, according to Internet Retailer’s latest monthly survey.”

The survey found that:

• 49.9% of merchants have rolled out a new design in the past year, 26.6% in the last six months and 13.3% in the last ninety days.
• Improved site optimisation is the top priority for 72.9% of merchants, followed by clearly organised home, category and product pages at 62.4%, better navigation at 49.4%, improved site search at 47.1% and faster checkout at 40%.
• 81.7% of merchants expect their latest redesign to attract a higher number of visitors and shoppers, compared with 76.7% that anticipate higher sales, 66.7% a higher sales conversion, 50% improved customer service and 48.3% better multi-channel sales.

You can read the full survey findings on the Internet Retailer website.

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