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The May bank holidays are just around the corner for UK residents. This means many consumers will be looking to snap up best deals online without having to leave the comfort of their homes, therefore your website will need to be ready to benefit from these shoppers.
Earlier this year the Royal Mail commissioned a survey that asked 1500 UK online shoppers about their shopping habits and preferences. The study found that the main key reasons for respondents to choose online shopping rather than in-store was:
• Choice (54%)
• Price (53%)
• Convenience (49%)
Ecommerce continues to grow with the study finding that over a three month period, “online shoppers claimed to make 80% of purchases (excluding groceries) online”. This has increased from 74% the previous year.
Royal Mail believes that the main factor for competitiveness is the cost and speed of delivery, as “one in four shoppers now pays for delivery subscriptions, which allow unlimited next day delivery on all orders within a pre-paid period. The most common retailer that online shoppers have a delivery subscription with is Amazon (76%)”.
So now you know online shoppers preferences how can you prepare your website?
Easily Present Important Information
The first thing to do is to present your delivery information, including if you are offering free delivery over the bank holidays with a discount code, or have reduced the minimum price before visitors are eligible. Your ecommerce store can achieve this by adding a Promotion to any of your webpages.
A Promotion is an image that appears to the visitor based on the duration they have browsed the site and/ or the page they are viewing, it can present an organisation’s important information, latest news or special offers. It can also contain a URL that automatically directs the consumer to the relevant page.
Presenting your delivery information via a Promotion when visitors enter your website can encourage them to browse as your organisation has already met one of their requirements; psychologically they are further prepared to look at your range of products.
Support Your Visitors via Your Website
The second step is to ensure your online visitors are supported as they browse your website. If they have questions about stock, have experienced an issue or want further information about a product, they need to be able to have their enquiry answered easily and quickly.
A web chat system provides an instant communication channel where consumers can directly speak to a representative in real time, via text based messages. The tool can be placed on every webpage with the choice of ‘sticking’ it to the page so that the chat button remains in view as the visitor browses. Alternatively, the button can be embedded, this is particularly useful on pages that the consumer may require help on, for example the contact us and checkout pages.
Optimise the Customer Experience
A year-on-year comparison in December 2017 showed that online retail sales via smartphones grew 19%. With mobile shopping becoming more popular, your organisation needs to ensure the customer experience is as good on a mobile as consumers would expect on a desktop pc.
This means that your organisation may need to streamline the content and design available to ensure your website looks good on smaller resolutions. Usability is a huge factor for consumers abandoning sites on mobile devices, as the site is too small to navigate, or the content overtakes the screen size.
These three strategies should help your organisation to prepare for the upcoming bank holidays and the extra sale potential they bring. Has your organisation started prepping yet?
Sources:
Royal Mail, 2018, Online Shoppers in the UK make 80% of their retail purchases online, up from 74%
Retail Gazette, Online retail sales via smartphones grow 19%
