In the world of online retail, competition is growing and now you can often find the item you are looking for on multiple websites with similar price points.

Comparing online retail to the high street

by Chris Rowett

In the world of online retail, competition is growing and now you can often find the item you are looking for on multiple websites with similar price points.

For this reason, it is important for retailers to improve aspects of their website in order to generate more sales.

We can also draw some comparisons if we look at the offline world. On the high street it is possible to find an item in a range of different shops; supermarkets start selling electronics, clothes shops start selling gifts and book stores sell DVDs.

In order to survive, the top retailers will try to convince you to buy from them rather than their competitors. Shop windows become more and more attractive, with the more expensive stores like Harvey Nicholls creating new elaborate and artistic window displays every three months.

Weatherspoons chooses appealing buildings to entice you to eat and drink at their establishments. Argos invests heavily in creating the easiest buying experience possible, with automated pay points and a fast collection service.

Why? It improves their conversion rates. For every visitor who enters its stores, they have found the best setup and business model to make people buy, and keep coming back to buy again.

The online world is similar in many ways to the high street - you attract visitors through search marketing, and you build your shop through web development. The missing piece is to find the best setup to make your visitors want to buy.

That is where online retail has a significant advantage. In the real world, you cannot test multiple versions of your shop to see which format is best, but online you can.

Just for fun, here are some interesting comparisons between the high street and online:

1. Shop front = website design

The look of your high street store is very important for building trust with your customers. A store that looks unprofessional will immediately lead to visitors making assumptions about the quality of service and goods they should expect.

They may question whether the store will offer a fair returns policy, or have competitive prices and many more things.

Similarly, when arriving at a website, visitors will make all the same assumptions based on the look of the site. This is a crucial moment at which a certain amount of trust can be lost or won.

2. Customer service = usability

Image via PassiveAggressivenotes.com.

It doesn’t matter how great your store is, if customer service is lacking. If you make it difficult for your visitors to find prices & pay points then they won’t buy. If you aren’t able to answer questions or let visitors examine the products, then you are in danger of them going elsewhere.

The same is true online. You should aim to showcase your products and answer questions about them. It is essential to make the customer journey swift and easy.

3. Line of sight = above the fold

Stores purposely place items they want you to buy in your eye-line. They have banners high up to help you find your way around supermarkets. You are shown offers in relevant places, and clearly in view. Cash desks are given bright lights or big signs to help you find them easily.

Online, this is the equivalent to placing products above the fold, and highlighting certain key elements such as prices, offers and purchase options.

4. Changing rooms & display items = images and descriptions

In stores, you are able to get involved with products, which ultimately helps you to decide whether to buy or not. You are able to try on clothes and examine display items. In examining, you can evaluate the cost versus the benefit of the product.

Online, this is much more difficult, and so it becomes important to help visitors to understand products in any way you can. High quality images, videos, descriptions, testimonials, ratings, comparison’s – these are all ways in which we can help a visitor become involved with a product.

The visitor must be able to gauge the benefit in order to buy, and if you fail to help them do this, you will not sell.

5. Clubcards & points = remarketing

Lifetime value is important to many high street businesses. You want customer loyalty to keep your business turning over revenue each month, and an easy way to do this is through loyalty schemes.

Why not offer discounts to regular customers? Why would they change supermarkets if they are saving points?

Online, you can send emails to your existing customer base displaying offers and reminding them they haven’t bought any beans in a while. You can display adverts to previous visitors offering cross sell items, or giving discounts if they choose to return.

6. Salesmen = behavioural targeting

Salesmen are able to offer a more personal service on the high street. They know the products on offer and their individual merits. By finding out a little about you, a salesman can offer you a small selection of options that will match your needs.

It is much more likely you will find and buy a product when there is someone there to guide you, answer your questions and resolve any fears.

Online, this has been the most difficult piece of the puzzle for years, but we are able to serve unique content to visitors based on previous site and search behaviour, which means we can show products that have been viewed or searched for previously.

This reduces the effort required by the visitor to locate items they have researched previously.

Many websites are offering product suggestions now, based on what other visitors bought or viewed after viewing the product you have selected. Instant chat options also breach the gap between online and offline, giving you access to a salesman.

Date: 2015-02-28; view: 532