At DTDigital, each of the designers have a nominated ninja skill - a topic of interest or specialisation that we are passionate about. I have well and truly earned my particular ninja skill - the Online Shopping Ninja.
I've calculated that in the last few years alone, I've spent thousands of dollars online. I'm part of a fast growing demographic. A young generation of highly computer literate internet users who feel very comfortable with the idea of ecommerce.
If you're not online, I don't know about you
I've used the internet to locate everything from my dentist to doctor and hairdresser... and the list goes on. So I cannot emphasise strongly enough that, in today's digital age, if you don't have a retail presence online, consumers like myself don't even know you exist.
Consumers have the ability to browse a seemingly infinite number of brands and products, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, in the comfort and privacy of our own homes. And why wouldn't we when there are so many choices and big savings to be had.
As an example: the GHD hair straightener, the essential fashionista's hair product, can be bought in store from a local salon for roughly $300-330. To buy the exact same item online from eBay, it will cost as little as $265 including postage. Sound good? Well hell yes!
The increasing trend of buying online has been made even easier thanks to the introduction of debit cards. These days, even teens are able to buy tickets and products online using their savings accounts.
To add to the temptation, the Australian dollar is trading strongly and predicted to reach parity with the greenback sometime around New Year. The trend will only intensify.
Online shopping from the global village
Australian retailers should never become complacent about the online retail experience. Within seconds, users have the ability to be shopping at any one of thousands of overseas online stores.
Nor should they ignore the standard of online shopping set by leading websites. This is something international e-stores tend to do extremely well, such as victoriasecret.com, bathandbodyworks.com and amazon.com.
Imagine comparing bathandbodyworks.com to a local Australian retailer who only provides a downloadable PDF catalogue. The difference in user experience is extreme. Yet this is what most Australian retailers still believe is acceptable.
We consumers are fickle beings with high expectations. Retailers take note: if you don't put your products online, or offer a comparable level of service, you will quickly be left behind.
One of the factors currently favouring Australian retailers who are not heavily investing in their online strategy is that some leading international e-tailers do not ship to Australia yet. This is quickly changing as overseas e-tailers realise and harness the potential of the global shopping village.
Pity the day for local bath product retailers when Bath & Body Works changes their shipping policy, because they will be losing this particular consumer's business. Local cosmetic stores have already suffered my defection, with all my mineral foundation, eye shadow and blush purchases going offshore to meowcosmetics.com.
The power of 'word of mouth'
The power of the internet is remarkable and word travels at lightning speed. User reviews have amazing power and the ability to make or break products or campaigns within hours or days. A good example of this is the movie release of Bruno in the US. Overnight users tweeted reviews and the next day, the movie opening in Canada flopped at the box office.
The ability to compare and find best value has led to a trend of comparison websites such as Buzzillions.com. It's a website built around a searchable database of over 750,000 products, supported by customer reviews. A simple search for a single product offers many user reviews, a list of which e-tailers are selling it at the lowest price and a direct link to buy. Too easy!
Marketers have known for a long time that word of mouth is extremely important in transitioning consumers from researchers to purchasers. So those retailers that provide the ability for online user product reviews have a twofold advantage; they empower users to make the best judgment when committing to purchase, and gain powerful insight into the products their users want.
In the past year alone, I have made two purchases based purely on user reviews. I find them extremely useful for items that I consider to be 'grey area' products - things like shoes and clothing that are usually best tried on in store. In both cases, I was very satisfied with the products I bought. All thanks to the help of many reviewers from the global shopping village.
Being a good online store
The internet is here. It's been here for well over a decade and it's moving forward in leaps and bounds. Australian retailers need to get online. Do it now and do it well.
Ten years ago local video stores were everywhere. Now they are an endangered species thanks to the likes of Apple iTunes. Heed the warning. Consumers will move to channels and services that provide ease, value and the feeling of instantaneous satisfaction.
So what does it take to be a good online store...
- Invest time and money into an online digital strategy. You should treat it as seriously as if it were an actual physical store you solely rely on for your brand.
- Research what your competitors are doing online, both locally and internationally. Aim to achieve a similar solution or better.
- Place your products online and provide details such as pricing, specifications, images, reviews and video.
- Allow various methods of payment and postage. Don't over charge for postage, otherwise you make purchasing offline or elsewhere online more attractive.
- Engage people in your brand to create those essential brand advocates.
- Provide great customer service and value by making the shipping information easy to find, providing Q&A, being quick to answer questions, notifying customers of order confirmation and shipment, and providing special offers and incentives.
- Allow users to find and filter products easily in various ways. I know of an Australian fashion site that allows users to view a range of 50 products by 6 items at a time. This is extremely frustrating. What does it say about their brand?
- Display the shopping cart tally, listing the number of products, the price total, or both.
- Come up with an online marketing and search engine strategy. Chances are that if you're not ranking on the first page of results, people won't find you.
- Have a clear and fair returns policy.
- Don't make things hard to find or do.
- Allow users to sign up for more information and offers.
- Ensure security and privacy is taken seriously.
The bottom line is that consumers are rapidly transitioning to online shopping. If the experience you offer does not at least match your in store experience, it's time to reinvest.