Increase Online Sales :: Personalize the Online Shopping Experience

Believe it or not, retailers are still struggling to personalize the online shopping experience and in turn, increase online sales.

As recently as just a few years ago, you'd go to the mall to buy a new outfit; today, online shopping is more popular than ever with convenience that is nearly unbeatable.  So why is it still so difficult for online retailers to make it as personal as that trip to your neighborhood mall? And what can they do to fix it?

We've all had a shopping experience we remember; whether it was wandering into a tiny, unknown store, only to find exactly what we were looking for, or commiserating with a friend in the fitting room over a pair of jeans.  When you're shopping online, you tend to lose that experience.  Sure, your friends can tell you where they got their new pair of jeans, but once you click on the site, who do you chat with about the fit?

Up until now, it's been difficult for retailers to get a pulse on this sort of experience for their customers; but, right now, they are in a unique position to change all that.  In the age of technology, it's easier than ever for friends to exchange their likes, dislikes and greatest new finds and for online retailers to capture this information. 

So, the question is, how do they do it? 

By listening to their customers. ECommerce recently posed a question to a group of online shoppers, "what do you wish you could do when shopping online?"  The groups responses overwhelmingly fell in to three categories: "find stuff I like faster," "see what the products looks like/would look like on me," and "find cool new products."

Things like "finding stuff faster" and "finding cool new products" can mainly be addressed by retailers via the power of social networking and using filtering techniques to make product recommendations.  But when it comes to helping a cusotmer know what an item will look like when they try it on, things get a little more tricky; however, great strides have been made.

The current trend is to offer the option of trying on clothes via a "virtual model." We here at Fashion-Fox started talking about this back in August when Sears first started targeting tweens during the back-to-school shopping season.  After that, it was South Korea and the iFashion program.

As shoppers, we know that there is nothing more disappointing than purchasing a pair of pants online, waiting patiently for it to show up, and then trying it on and finding out it makes your butt look as broad as a barn door.  Online apparel retailer MyShape.com is already catering to their customer base, adopting the tag line, "Where Everything Fits & Flatters."  By keeping track of customers measurements, the site is able to make recommendations and reduce their return rates while increasing their customer satisfaction. 

Other retailers are teaming up with third-party sites such as My Virtual Model, to begin offering the option of "try before you buy."  This third-party site gives customers the ability to put on the clothes they are considering via virtual avatars of themselves; recently, the site even began offering the option of putting your own face on your created avatar's body.  Participating merchants include Lands End, Sears, H&M, Adidas, and Speedo. Customers are able to get a better visual of what they will look like and the retailer reduces their return rate. However, online retailers need to be vigilant in posting exact product specs so the customer knows exactly what they are getting - including fabric make-up.

Put all three of these elements together, and you've got lots of happy customers blogging and chatting about what a great shopping experience they've had.  They're building groups about their favorite things at places like Facebook and StyleHive; in essence, they're creating their very own "mini-store" of their favorite stuff that all their friends and family can browse. Heck, even perfect strangers that have similar tastes can check out their picks!

Giving the customer this kind of steering power is incredibly empowering to them. In a 2006 survey by Yahoo Small Business and Harris Interactive, it was found that sixty percent of e-commerce sales are influenced by a recommendation by a friend or family member - you can't argue with those kinds of numbers.  The bottom line is this: online retailers have to go with the flow when it comes to their customer base; provide what they're looking for or you stand to loose their business.