Better advice would mean more online sales: survey
More than a third (35%) of Britons would spend more online if they were offered better customer care or advice, according to a new survey published today.
The research, carried out by YouGov for behavioural merchandising specialists Avail Intelligence, found 30% of customers preferred shopping on the high street. For 47% that was where better customer care was to be found, while 35% said they could tap into advice and support more easily in shops.
Consumers also thought prices were better on the high street, according to 61%.
But at the same time, it seems customers believe they can get more choice online. Only 14% said it was easier to find what they wanted online than in a store, while 51% said the range offered online was better than on the high street.
The survey asked its 2,107 respondents to rank the improvements online retailers could make in order to encourage them to spend more. They came up with: customer care (22%), pricing (14%), advice and support (12%), product information (10%), navigation (9%) and range of products (5%).
“It’s clear that shoppers would spend more online if they had access to the recommendations and advice they currently get when visiting a physical store,” said Pontus Kristiansson, chief executive and co-founder of Avail Intelligence. “The challenge for retailers is offering that without impacting its cost base so much that it takes away the benefit consumers see in terms of lower prices online.”
He adds: “The findings also suggest retailers should be doing more to create a consistent shopping experience cross-channel for its customers. For example, the range and volume of products stocked by a store is determined by floor space. The simple addition of a web-enabled kiosk could link instore and online and provide shoppers with acess to a wide range of products, increasing the chance they’ll make a purchase with you and not a competitor.”
2 Comments »
This is sound advice and whilst it would be foolish to assume you could replicate an instore service model online there are definate ways to integrate added offering.
The application of live assistance and chat can benefit the buyer process and reviews and feedback allow greater user comfort. This coupled with ongoing user journey development can add security to the buyer process and increase sales which is the whole point
It is always important within the online sales cycle to repeat, in the correct way, what works evidently well in the high street and like the high street, online retailers need to work to satisfy the customers needs pre purchase.
It is not enough simply to dump products into an online store and await transactions as the online experience has got to be a developing model at all levels. As the consumer gains knowledge so must retailers move with that requirement.
In agreement with Brian’s commnets live chat is perhaps the most cost effective way of improving customer service and sales and is the closest match currently available to the interaction you would recieve in a brick and mortar store. Retailers in the UK have been slow to adopt the technology, which is difficult to understand why, when it is estimated that conversion alone improve by a minimum of 20% with live chat. The conversion stastic alone should not be the only consideration for retailers, chat impacts other operational costs such as reductions in telephony and email.
From a customer perspective live chat offers consumers an alternative method of contact (a choice)!
Perhpaps its time to look at companies such as John Smedley a company that has been built on tradition but is not afraid to innovate they currently provide Live Chat as a contact option for its customers!
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