February 26, 2010
By the ZippyCart Ecommerce Software Content Team
Consumers are becoming increasingly smarter and savvier with their online shopping techniques, as a variety of web resources are making it easier for them to research products and hunt for deals. The sheer magnitude of information online about products is staggering, and consumers are using various sources to do their research including shopping comparison sites, coupons sites, and friends in their social media networks. It is not uncommon for someone to post on Twitter or Facebook about how much they love a particular product, or posting to ask their friends which products they like best. Online retailers need to take notice of these online shopping trends, so that they can adjust their marketing strategy accordingly to make sure consumers come to their site to make a purchase. More specifically, online retailers should do in-depth research into their niche, so that they can better understand the method that consumers are using to decide which products they want to buy.
Recent research from web analytics company Compete.com indicated that online shoppers use search engines more than any other resource to learn more about a particular product. However, this does not mean that other channels are not being utilized, as coupon sites and retailer emails were the #2 and #3 tools consumers used while shopping online. Online retailers like Nordstrom are known for having a great email newsletter, and to keep up with customer demand, they introduced a “buy online, pickup in stores” feature. Compete.com also did individual studies for the electronics and apparel niches, which indicated that online shoppers have different methods for researching these product categories. The top tool used for apparel was the online retailer’s newsletter, whereas the online retailer’s website was the primary tool used by consumers looking for electronics. Regardless of your product niche, you need to research the habits of your customers so that you can efficiently use all of your marketing spend toward the right tools.
Nick was born and raised in California, but has been working the dot com scene in Seattle for many years. He co-founded ZippyCart back in 2009, and now works here full-time. Nick wears many hats at ZippyCart, including producing content for our Ecommerce News blog. Nick loves photography and the outdoors, so when not working on ZippyCart you can find him out and about in Seattle.
