The convenience, ease of finding items that are hard to find otherwise, ease of finding the best bargains, confidence in the ability to make the right purchase decision, time saving and being anonymous to an extent are the benefits which turn consumers to Internet for shopping. The number of shoppers would be even higher, if the stores could minimize the frustrations, frictions, confusions, concerns, and worries users encounter and infuse the safety feeling about the e-commerce environment in the course.
Though financial worries have affected behavior and spending plans of online shoppers with the need to economize, for most online users they are over weighed by better website usability, easy to access product information, operational effectiveness, price, word of mouth and trust.
Participation in social networks, involvement with blogs, discussion forums and rating and review systems altered the way consumers make their purchasing decisions. They consider them as the most valuable sources of information as they could choose companies, shops, brands and products based on others' experiences. With the help of technology they are spreading the word when they have had a bad experience or problems conducting online transactions. This is one of the powerful recommendations against something a consumer can make
When most of the online shops believe that they deliver best user experience, in contrast very few percentage of users have actually experienced it. In tiring times even the so famous consumer loyalty will take a toll if the shops continuously fail to understand how the economic news has impacted customer's mindset, lifestyle buying behavior etc. and when you lose one customer replacing would be more costly and time consuming than other times
Incorporating intelligent social media in marketing strategies, reducing interruptive ads to reduce the dizziness, reaching local users through trusted local websites, delivering a superior user experience, personalized re marketing strategies and thus letting your customers do the marketing for you would be the best ways to drive traffic, convert sales and to stay cost effective and profitable in the age of heightened accountability. Displaying product or service related customer questions and answers too may be more effective and would aid shoppers in making purchase decisions and help drive continued success
In a time when a consumer takes longer to make a purchase decision, a single disappointing experience may lead the customer to make the switching decision to your competition. Very often the consumer gives more value to satisfaction over price when they purchase something online. Its time to recognize and realize the true meaning "Customer rules" and react accordingly.
