Recently, the Pew Internet and American Life Project revealed survey results showing nearly half of Internet users conduct a search on a typical day, up from about a third in 2002. Search is fast approaching e-mail as the most popular thing to do on the Internet. 

We’ve all seen how search has dramatically shifted the landscape for national and local advertising – but how is it more broadly affecting online shopping? How is “the Google effect” changing the game for online retailers? 

The search engine has emerged as the most dominant user interface. As search becomes the primary entrance to your Web site, the visitor cares far less about your home page and reading your positioning statements, and far more about finding specific products or information. Your Web segmentation strategy must begin at the search engine, and cater to a far more granular range of segments than ever. 

Consumer tendency to “search first” rather than type in a Web store URL directly has made it much more challenging for e-tailers to attract and retain customers within the first few seconds of their visit – because if your customers are entering your site not on the home page, but on a specific product page, then that product page needs to be dynamic and personalized enough to “recognize” the customer and appeal directly to her in record time. Otherwise, forget it – she’s moving on. 

Of course, search doesn’t stop at your site – once a shopper lands there, if you capture her interest and convince her to stick around, she’s likely to continue a “search first” mentality and rely on your search box rather than on the navigation menus. So making sure that search capabilities are strong and that products and content are enhanced with specific facets designed to make them more “discoverable” can make an incredible impact on your bottom line. Now more than ever merchants have to give shoppers lots of easy ways to quickly move through their stores and find the best products for them.    E-tailers are responding to this challenge in a variety of ways, with some like Figleaves.com using automated recommendations throughout their site, and others relying on personalized landing pages that appear as a sort of introduction “welcoming” shoppers from search engines before they make it to the full site. However they are responding to this challenge, it’s clear that they must. Because reliance on the search engine is going to continue to grow, and consumers will expect retailers keep up with them.

Individuality is an important aspect to any age group, but particularly those in Generation Y. Companies are catching on to this trend, and offering their customers unique ways to customize their purchases to match their personalities.  Here, our Millennial gives her perspective on an ATG powered website that is providing this option online

Restoration Hardware

On the Restoration Hardware website, the Furniture Configurator enables customers to configure fabrics and colors on sofas, lamps and other furniture. Customers can go onto the website, decide which collection or style of sofa, loveseat, or other piece of furniture they like the best, and then pair it with their desired fabric and color choice to create a personalized piece of furniture for their home.

On the website, there are over 26 different collections, with many pieces within each collection and over 154 fabric options. This allows users to customize their own furniture to suit their taste and style, while creating items that are one-of-a-kind. Not only can you choose the fabric and color you want, but you can also decide which filling you would like, which includes either down or standard.

I like that you can order a swatch to make sure that it goes with your home, as well as view the fabric details. I also find it helpful that you can print off your different options to show people. However, I do believe it would be helpful if you could email your desired selection to a friend or relative, which is not a feature on the website. The color choices and fabrics will suit everyone’s taste due to the many designs, patterns, and choices offered.                          Millennial Musings offers insight into the newest generation of online shoppers – with reviews reactions straight from those who represent this strong and growing market segment
 

In what has typically been perceived to be an online strategy only for retailers; personalized ads are being used to target consumers at in-store retail locations: more here.

Have you ever purchased something at a boutique or in the mall, only to go home and find the same item offered online for much cheaper? Annoying, right?! Allison Knowles, ATG’s Millennial in Residence, explores this frustrating phenomenon of cross channel inconsistency when it comes to in-store pricing vs. online shopping. 
 

I was recently out shopping and I bought a bikini from the Victoria’s Secret store. It put me back $68.00, but I bought it anyways even though I would not normally spend that much on a suit, but hey, that’s what the VS credit card is for right? When I got home from shopping, I went on to the Victoria’s Secret website to view my always increasing bill, and decided to browse the site looking for the bikini I had just purchased. To my surprise, it was only $40.00 online! I was in shock that it could be so much lower online than it was in the store. After seeing the price difference, I immediately ran back to the store and returned the bikini that would have cost me an extra $28.00, and then purchased it online at a discounted price. I always thought that items that were in the store are the same price as they are online, especially at major retail stores. After discussing this with my co-workers the following day, I realized I was not the only one that had run into this type of inconsistency between in-store and online prices. My colleague Tucker (who does PR here) just had a similar experience.  He had gone into a multi brand retail store in Boston with the intent of purchasing some Original Penguin surf shorts that were priced at $70.00. Once he got home, he had looked up similar shorts online at originalpenguin.com, and noticed there were certain colors for only $20.00! After some further investigating on the site, Tucker had discovered these reduced prices were an “online only” sale, so it really wasn’t due to a lack of inconsistency on the part of Original Penguin…more like an effort to offer their online customers a reduced rate on specific colors.  
 

Part of the beauty of shopping online is that we go there to see if we can get things a tad cheaper than the store. But that works better for a brand that doesn’t have to worry about inconsistency between their own stores and their Web site.  There is definitely a lesson to be learned here for retailers: trying to maintain as much cross channel consistency as possible will actually be more beneficial to you in terms of sales and customer satisfaction, both in regards to your e-commerce sites as well as your brick and mortar stores.

 

Millennial Musings offers insight into the newest generation of online shoppers – with reviews reactions straight from those who represent this strong and growing market segment

[tags] e-commerce, Ecommerce, brick and mortar, brick & mortar, retail store, cross channel consistency, in-store, [/tags]

Picking out the right gift is always challenging, and sometimes even stressful. Add to that the time and budget restrictions of our age group, and it’s truly one of my least favorite things to do.  It would be great if more sites could learn from Personal Shopper (full disclosure:  they’re an ATG customer).  The kind of tools it provides has really answered the prayers of Millennials like me (and I’m sure lots of non-millennials, too!).

Personal Shopper

Every single year, my sisters and I get my dad socks, whether it’s for his birthday, Christmas, or Fathers day. We never know what else to get him and he is so hard to buy for, so every year he receives the same gift from us.  Knowing that one man can only have so many pairs of socks, I turned to the Personal Shopper website to see what it was all about, and more importantly, if it could save my father from yet another gift of foot fashion. Personal Shopper is a one stop shopping destination, offering millions of products from thousands of brands and designers, with categories ranging from fashion to toys.  One of the best features of the Personal Shopper website is that it customizes the shopping experience to the interests and preferences of each person.

This specific personalization feature on the Personal Shopper website is called My Gifts. It’s unique because it provides one source for all my gifting needs. I share a little information about the people on my gift list, such as their interests, occasion, and my budget. My Gifts then gives me ideas for each person and upcoming occasion. 

I love that they’ve given me a great solution to gift giving that actually offers great ideas, not random ones. I received over 132 awesome gift ideas for my dad, including a Pro-Tech Grill and barbeque set which I am sure he will love for his next birthday gift.

I only wish that more of the sites I shop on could be so helpful.  I’m sure it’s only a matter of time.

Millennial Musings offers insight into the newest generation of online shoppers – with reviews reactions straight from those who represent this strong and growing market segment. 

          [tags] e-commerce, eCommerce, personalization, product recommendations [/tags]

Love to talk and addicted to Facebook? Lucky for you – M-commerce technology firm Volantis is introducing new technology that will enable consumers who buy content through their mobile phone to have their purchases listed on their Facebook pages. 

By Cid Jenkins, ATG

According to JupiterResearch (recently acquired by Forrester Research), the only customer service touch points with consistent and appreciable gains in customer satisfaction and adoption since 2001 have been click to call and click to chat. Sites that have implemented these services are seeing abandonment rates decrease by 25 to 30 percent.

In our own experience at ATG, we’ve found that companies in financial services industry, in particular, can have great success with click to chat implementations, due to the nature of their business. One of the reasons that click to chat works so well in this case is that consumers are often uneasy about the prequalification process. They’re unsure if they qualify and are uncomfortable engaging in a phone conversation about their credit history. Click to chat lets these people answer their questions and solve their problems without speaking to anyone on the phone. They feel more anonymous, more protected, when they’re chatting online.

To put it in context, imagine you’re consolidating your credit card balance. You can call your bank, wade through the phone menu and wait on hold 10 minutes before you have to divulge private information to someone you’ve never met. Or you can go to the Web site, fill out a form and, if you need any questions answered, just click on a link that will open up a chat session with an agent who knows just how far along you are on the form and can then walk you through the rest of the application.

A customer of ours – and one of the largest banking and financial corporations in the world – took great advantage of this dynamic when the company implemented click to chat in its customer care unit in early 2007. The company wanted to increase revenue by helping customers transfer a balance from another bank to the financial institution’s card. The idea was to get more customers to sign up for online account access because it would be more effective and convenient for the customer, and less expensive for the company. Also, executives were looking for new ways to increase customer loyalty and thought that improving the online experience was a great way to do it.

Later that year, the card services department started using click to chat to help prospects complete an online credit card pre-qualification application. Now the company manages about 6,000 chat sessions per month.

Armed with a complete view of the customer’s online profile, this company’s customer service representatives were able to connect with its prospective customers in a way that made the customers feel most comfortable, at exactly the time when they were ready to make a commitment.  The reps could resolve questions faster and more effectively with the chat channel than with any other, and were able to catch customers directly from the Web site, where they started their process.  

Within a few months, the financial institution increased online sales, lowered web site abandonment rates, shortened issue-resolution times, made its support centers more productive, and reported higher customer satisfaction.

More and more, we’re expecting to see financial services businesses bridging the gap between their online and offline channels to ensure a continuous customer experiences—and higher revenue.

[tags] e-commerce, eCommerce, financial services, click to call, click to chat [/tags]