|
Losing Loyal Online Customers Carries a High Price, Finds New Report
LONDON, Nov 21, 2008 (PR Newswire Europe via COMTEX) --
'How to Pull Customers Online' Research Report Launched by Webloyalty,
the Company Behind the Shopper Discounts & Rewards Programme
http://www.shopperdiscountsandrewards.co.uk
Online retailers must provide a shopping experience more akin to a
physical store's if they want customers to increase their spending. These are
the findings in a new report by retail industry experts Verdict Consulting.
The report, entitled 'How to pull customers online' was conducted on behalf
of Webloyalty - a leading provider of incremental revenue for e-businesses -
who owns and operates the online rewards, savings and protection programme
Shopper Discounts & Rewards (http://www.shopperdiscountsandrewards.co.uk).
With online sales predicted to grow by 129% over the next five years,
according to the Verdict Consulting report, online retailers have a large
commercial incentive if they can apply the techniques used by physical
stores, such as John Lewis, to tempt customers to increase their
discretionary spend when they shop online.
But - says Verdict - it's not just about boosting unplanned customer
spending. Getting the basics right such as easy navigation at the point of
purchase and offering more choice and better value for money are equally
important for generating loyal customers.
Even so, until sites improve, Verdict calculates that levels of online
loyalty are still some 10% lower than in physical shops as we stand today.
According to the Verdict Consulting report, online customers abandon
almost a quarter (24.8%) of their shopping carts before sales are completed.
This equates to around 95m transactions a year so businesses that employ
strategies to prevent shopping cart abandonment have the opportunity to claw
back significant potential lost revenue.
The reasons customers abandon their carts range from well-established
concerns over giving out their personal financial details, to high delivery
charges and illogical or poorly designed navigation of some sites.
But if online retailers can get it right, almost a fifth of respondents
(19%) sampled by Verdict said they would be loyal customers if a website was
easy to navigate and offered good service and competitive prices.
According to Verdict report, commissioned by Webloyalty, if a large
online retailer converted only 1% more in sales from its average site traffic
it could expect to boost revenues by almost GBP700,000 a year. Even smaller
sites could make GBP27,000 more from their existing traffic, while a
medium-sized site could expect to generate an uplift of over GBP180,000 a
year.
Martin Child, Managing Director Europe of Webloyalty, thinks e-retailers
have much to learn about generating incremental revenue from offline
retailers.
Child says: "Offline, retailers have become sophisticated at utilising
space in their stores to generate incremental revenue. It is all about
maximising their high levels of footfall. The same principle applies online,
where web traffic can help generate much-needed incremental revenue for
retailers. As the battle for customers increasingly moves online, the
retailers that get this right will be the big winners."
About Webloyalty
Webloyalty provides more than 150 e-commerce sites with solutions for
generating incremental revenue by driving traffic, minimising site and
shopping cart abandonment, offering alternative payment methods,
cross-selling additional merchandise and encouraging repeat business.
Headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut, Webloyalty has more than 470 employees
in 8 different locations across the US and in Europe.
About Shopper Discounts & Rewards
Shopper Discounts & Rewards is a discount shopping and protection
programme. Webloyalty's clients, e-commerce sites, benefit from the potential
to generate additional online revenue and increase site traffic. Members of
the Shopper Discounts & Rewards programme benefit from discounts and cash
back rebates at hundreds of top online retail sites.
Additional information on Webloyalty is available at
http://www.webloyalty.co.uk. Programmes in the UK include Shopper Discounts &
Rewards (http://www.shopperdiscountsandrewards.co.uk).
The customer contact centre can be reached at: tel: +44(0)808-234-1539 or
email: customerservice@shopperdiscountsandrewards.co.uk.
About Verdict
Verdict Research is the leading authority on retailing. The firm has
privileged access, at the highest level, to key executives working within the
top 200 retailers. Its research and publications provide executives working
in a wide range of business sectors - retailing, manufacturing, advertising,
marketing, professional services, property, finance and the media - with
unrivalled independent analysis of the retail sectors, the key trends driving
each and insight into the major players and forecasts. Verdict Research
(http://www.verdict.co.uk) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Datamonitor plc
(DTM.L).
Press Contacts: For media enquiries in the UK please contact: Ruth Reynolds:
CitySavvy, Financial and Corporate Communications, +44-20-7-395-1000,
ruth@citysavvy.com; Neil Saunders, author of the research and Consulting
Director at Verdict, is also available for comment. To arrange an interview or
for further information about the report, contact Anne Bourgeois at the Verdict
press office: +44(0)20-7551-9412, abourgeois@datamonitor.com
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
|
|
INDUSTRIES
Activate Email 
Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at the INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference and EXPO East, January 20-22, 2010. Miami, FL.
