Editorial Articles

E-commerce is growing rapidly and resilient to current economic gloom as people look for bargains online. Real world shopping is a good benchmark for online retailers. Can your site provide an experience that matches, or beats the real world? 

A good place to start is the shopper, using a basic model that divides customers into three stages of evolution, each with different mindsets and needs; Browsers Hunters and Buyers.

So what can the e-tailer learn from the real world?

People often scope down as they shop, considering the broadbrush aspects at the start and finer details later. They also like to feel they are in control, with flexibility to change their mind and to easily go back at any stage.

Consider someone shopping for a new shirt. They often start with the broadest view – the colour and style of the shirt, which they compare with others on the rack and what’s in their wardrobe.

Then they look more closely, lifting it off the rack and examining finer details like pattern, feel and cut. If they are still interested they may try it on or look more thoroughly, perhaps checking the label for material, washing instructions and country of origin.

A good online store can support a similar journey, like Gap.com. Once the user arrives at the shirts category, they get an overview of the designs, with a helpful magnified detail to show the stripe pattern. They are also invited to have a ‘quick look’ at one of the shirts. This is equivalent to taking the shirt off the rack and examining it while keeping others for comparison.

They can then examine other details such as available sizes and product name (useful for referring it to others, or remembering for later purchase). Or on another tab they can look in further depth, effectively reading the shirt label to see the materials and where it is was made.

As you can see, the user is sequentially invited to explore their next stage of evolution and purchase the item in a manner similar to that of buying on the high street.

GAP is certainly not the only retailer to include these features, and there are different ways to achieve this end.

The human nature of shopping has not changed much, despite the fast paced development of e-commerce. We still like to feel in control of the situation and browse according to our own preferences, getting the right information at the right time on the journey - from initial attention grabbing through to desire and rational decision making.

As with offline shopping the most successful web sites are those that support this journey elegantly.

Author: Chris Rourke, Managing Director, Uservision