[June 17, 2015]

Like Mother Like Father? New VOC Research from ANSWERS Reveals Price Is King for Mother's Day Shoppers

Answers Corporation, owner of the leading Internet brand Answers.com and a premier provider of cloud-based voice of customer (VOC) solutions, today released details of customer experience intelligence gathered in the weeks leading up to the 2015 Mother's Day shopping season. Thousands of consumer feedback responses were collected across participating retailers' web, mobile and in-store channels using ForeSee, the preeminent predictive customer experience analytics solution from Answers™. The findings suggest that price remains the chief consideration when purchasing gifts for mom and offer insights into the customer experience that can help retailers optimize the Father's Day gift-purchasing cycle.

Utilizing customer feedback data from leading providers of flowers and candy, fashion, jewelry, housewares and gourmet foods and gifts, Answers found that:

• 37 percent of consumers make purchase decisions largely based on price, but considerations such as variety of product and the "perfect gift" also factor into the gift decision.
• 63 percent spent the same amount on Mother's Day as last year.
• 64 percent of consumers prefer to shop online, but those who buy in store reported notably higher satisfaction with their experience.
• Almost 70 percent of consumers shopped for gifts the week before Mother's Day.
• Mobile user experiences are improving, with more than 50 percent saying that mobile websites provided a mobile experience that was close to ideal.

"With consumers spending more than $20 billion on Mother's Day (source: NRF), understanding the needs and expectations of consumers around this and similar holidays is more important than ever. Our data indicate that price was the most imprtant factor in Mother's Day purchasing decisions. With that in mind, retailers that appeal to cost-conscious consumers by offering deals or promoting merchandise set at lower price points are likely winners for Father's Day. However, curation also plays a role; providing guidance towards selecting the 'perfect gift' can improve the shopping experience and ultimately, retailers' bottom lines," said Bharati Hulbanni, Senior Manager, Client Services, ForeSee by Answers. "We also saw a significant gap between customer satisfaction scores among those shopping in store versus online, so website enhancements that offer product merchandising and customer service tactics that more closely mirror the brick-and-mortar experience could improve a brand's perception among consumers."

In addition to the data collected on the mobile experience around Mother's Day, the results from the 2014 U.S. Retail Edition of the Answers Experience Index, which measures customer experiences with the largest retailers in the United States, found remarkable year-over-year growth in consumers using mobile devices for research and shopping. Seventy-seven percent of all mobile shoppers are doing research on their phones, compared to just 55 percent in 2013. In addition, 42 percent of mobile shoppers made purchases with their smartphones in 2014, up from just 25 percent in the previous year.

Taken collectively, these results suggest that retailers optimizing web and mobile usability and offering cross-channel deals on hot items, while also ensuring a seamless multichannel customer experience, stand to see increased sales. Noting the growing importance of mobile for an increasingly large number of shoppers, specific attention should be given by retailers to ensuring a near-perfect mobile experience. Finally, given the timing of most Mother's Day shopping, marketers have a clear indication of when to maximize their spend, offer cross-channel promotions, and underline to their staff and managers the importance of providing a good customer experience.

About Answers Corporation

Answers' mission is to empower consumers, brands and organizations by connecting them with the information they need to make better-informed decisions. The Answers Voice of Customer (VOC) Platform leverages the sizable reach of the top-10 Internet brand Answers.com (News - Alert) (source: Quantcast), along with leading cloud-based solutions from ForeSee, Webcollage and ResellerRatings, to enable businesses and organizations to engage with customers at every interaction point, drive investment decisions from customer insights and deliver content that powers the customer experience. Answers is headquartered in St. Louis with offices in Ann Arbor, New York City, Silicon Valley, Cleveland, London, Vancouver and Tel Aviv. For Answers, visit http://www.answers.com.

ForeSee and Answers.com are registered trademarks of Answers Corporation in the United States and in jurisdictions throughout the world. All other trademarks, trade names or service marks used or mentioned herein belong to their respective owners.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150617005158/en/

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