59% of UK shoppers have not decided on the brand they will purchase before researching or buying a product online.
Research is first to measure mobile shopping habits; indicates UK shoppers are less loyal to a particular retail brand and hungry for relevant information
London, UK – 10th November 2010 – Fifty-nine percent of UK shoppers have not decided on the brand they will purchase before researching or buying a product online. Consumers are also beginning to take the web with them when they shop, accessing price comparison sites, social networks and product reviews via their mobile phones – all of which are key factors in helping them to make decisions on which brand to purchase. Nearly half of UK shoppers (42%) have used their mobile phone while shopping, 16% of which used it to compare prices with other stores, according to a new study of 501 UK shoppers. The study – the first of its kind to measure mobile shopping habits – also indicated that most UK shoppers (82%) will visit more than one website before purchasing a product; 17% will visit as many as four.
The study also revealed that shoppers rely on three types of content when making buying decisions: product details, user reviews and personalised recommendations. Eighty-six percent indicated that they used user ratings and reviews for online purchases, while the majority of those surveyed (84%) had researched or purchased products online using recommendations, and 42% of UK shoppers made a purchase that was recommended by an online retailer.
These statistics indicate that access to recommendations, ratings and reviews online – at home or on the go – influence consumers’ purchase decisions, making them savvier than ever before. Customers increasingly shop across channels. Forty-four percent of UK shoppers have “channel-switched,” going online before purchasing a product in store, making the competition for shoppers on the high street as fierce as it is on the web.
“Capturing the consumer’s attention prior to purchase and retaining it following the purchase is the magic formula that all retailers are trying to achieve. We call it ‘stickiness’ and it is becoming even more necessary as cross-channel shopping increases,” said David Selinger CEO of RichRelevance. “Whether it’s a knowledgeable shop assistant in-store or a set of personalised recommendations online, consumers want access to information and products catered specifically to them at a competitive price. Balancing these requirements is the key to making shoppers ‘stick’ to a shop or site to make their purchase.”
“What’s clear is that the rulebook on customer engagement has been torn up. Consumers are making more informed decisions than ever before and they demand access to recommendations and customer opinions such as ratings and reviews across all channels,” said Gerardo Dada, senior director of product marketing at Bazaarvoice. “Retailers must shift focus from the point of purchase to the point of decision – and shoppers are making their decisions online.”
To download a copy of the whitepaper detailing the study’s findings, please visit: https://richrelevance.com/newrules/whitepaper
Methodology
The study was commissioned by RichRelevance and Bazaarvoice, and conducted by Forrester Consulting in September 2010. Forrester conducted research in the UK, France, and Germany, with 501 respondents from each country, for a total of 1503 respondents. The survey was administered in English, French, and German. Forrester was responsible for survey fielding and data validation. All respondents were screened to ensure they researched and/or purchased products or services online in the last 12 months.
About RichRelevance
RichRelevance is the leading provider of dynamic e-commerce personalisation for the world’s largest retailers, including Wal-Mart, Overstock.com and Sears. Founded and led by the e-commerce expert who pioneered personalisation R&D at Amazon.com, RichRelevance helps retailers increase revenues (over $1B in attributable sales since June 2008) by powering relevant experiences throughout the customer lifecycle and across multiple sales channels. The company stands apart for its dedicated team of personalisation experts, integrated product suite, and award-winning personalisation engine, which enables twice as many consumer touchpoints as the industry average. RichRelevance is located in San Francisco, with offices in Seattle and London. For more information, please visit www.richrelevance.com.
About Bazaarvoice
Bazaarvoice (www.bazaarvoice.com) is a social commerce technology company. Its Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions have served more than 150 billion pieces of customer-generated content helping over 950 brands globally to harness and amplify customer online word of mouth. In the UK, clients include Argos, Boots, Halfords, Wickes, Thomas Cook, Dell and QVC.
Bazaarvoice’s products – Ratings & Reviews, Ask & Answer™ and Stories™ – are social commerce applications that drive sales. They enable customers to review products, ask and answer questions and share stories online; enhancing the online shopping experience and allowing them to make more informed and rewarding purchase decisions. Benefits for the retailer include content ownership, seamless customisation, increased search engine optimisation impact, advanced analytics and syndication across the web. Retailers can also leverage the content generated across on and offline marketing channels.
Founded in 2005, Bazaarvoice has offices in the UK, US, France, Australia and Singapore. The company was named in 2007’s Red Herring Global 100 and received the Technology Vendor of the Year award from Retail Systems in 2009.
For more information and access to client success stories, visit www.bazaarvoice.co.uk read the blog at www.bazaarvoice.com/blog, and follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/BV_Intl.
By Darren Vengroff, chief scientist at RichRelevance.
In the online retail environment, a shopper’s time equates to money – literally. Leading Internet powerhouses such as Google, Microsoft and Amazon concur that online, business is gained (or lost) every 100 milliseconds. That extra fraction of a second for an enhanced graphic to load can mean the difference between a sale—or a bounced session. Without timely uploads, retailers may lose sales to the tune of one-percent for every millisecond in delay (Google Search/Microsoft’s Bing, 2009).
Former Accenture Executive and CRM thought-leader joins RichRelevance to deliver the highest levels of relationship management and unprecedented client success to the world’s top retailers
San Francisco, CA – October 7, 2010 – RichRelevance®, the leading provider of dynamic e-commerce personalization for the world’s largest retailers, today announced that Brian Sprague has joined the company as Vice President of Client Services. Sprague comes to RichRelevance from Accenture, where he spent more than 25 years leading global customer initiatives in complex business environments for customers in the high tech, media and retail segments. In his new role, he will be responsible for RichRelevance’s global client strategy as the leader of the RichResults Personalization Team, the only relationship management organization of its kind in the industry. The team, which combines e-commerce expertise across a broad range of disciplines with a dedicated focus on partner relationships, has been instrumental in helping RichRelevance deliver more than $1 billion in attributable sales for its clients. Sprague will be responsible for accelerating these results as RichRelevance rapidly expands into new markets including the UK and Europe.
“Brian is a seasoned and strategic executive who combines customer advocacy with an unparalleled ability to listen, advise and guide global brands on the best ways to achieve their goals,” said David Selinger, CEO of RichRelevance. “His experience and proven track record at Accenture is a tremendous asset for RichRelevance – and to our clients who represent nearly $20 billion in annual e-commerce sales. In hiring Brian, we are demonstrating our continued commitment to the highest level of relationship management possible.”
Sprague most recently served as Global Communications, Media and High Tech Customer Service and Support Managing Partner at Accenture. In this role, Sprague created and grew a new practice to over $200 million in annual sales. Each year, Sprague and his team of executives exceeded their targets in thought leadership established, client quality delivered, sales generated and client benefits achieved.
Sprague’s CRM insights and research have been featured on MSNBC, Businessweek.com, The Wall Street Journal, and he is a frequent industry speaker. He was also a founding member of Accenture’s alliance leadership team, creating and managing Accenture’s most important global software alliances. His team of alliance executives expanded Accenture’s capability and delivery quality and increased sales of software alliance partner products.
“As e-commerce has become the growth channel, top retailers are looking for true partners who can deliver innovation, strategy, and bottom-line results,” said Sprague. “RichRelevance is already accelerating the customer relationship through the RichResults team and I look forward to continuing to bring the very best to our customers now and into the future.”
The RichResults team combines expertise across a broad range of e-commerce disciplines with a unique partnership approach and 100% commitment to personalization success. Team members have over 85 years of combined e-commerce expertise in strategic consulting, best practice implementation and user design, with deep expertise in establishing successful client partnerships at leading companies like Salesforce.com, Amazon.com, Digitas, Accenture, Charles Schwab and Autodesk. By tapping into the RichResults Personalization Team, retailers gain more from their personalization strategies through a precise and innovative services implementation, as well as an ongoing advocate and strategic consultant long after the integration.
RichRelevance currently serves more than 350 million product recommendations each day on over 45 of the world’s largest e-commerce sites with combined e-commerce sales volume of over $19.7 billion, including Sears.com and Walmart.com. In the last year, the company has expanded with offices in Seattle and the UK, as well as key customer wins, including Overstock.com and outdoor retailer, Patagonia.
About RichRelevance
RichRelevance is the leading provider of dynamic e-commerce personalization for the world’s largest retailers, including Wal-Mart, Overstock.com and Sears. Founded and led by the e-commerce expert who pioneered personalization R&D at Amazon.com, RichRelevance helps retailers increase revenues (over $1B in attributable sales since June 2008) by powering relevant experiences throughout the customer lifecycle and across multiple sales channels. The company stands apart for its dedicated team of personalization experts, integrated product suite, and award-winning personalization engine, which enables twice as many consumer touchpoints as the industry average. RichRelevance is located in San Francisco, with offices in Seattle and London. For more information, please visit www.richrelevance.com.
by Darren Vengroff, chief scientist, RichRelevance
Amazon and Facebook made headlines with the new application that allows shoppers to receive product recommendations based on their Facebook preferences (“Likes”).
Combining accounts with an application such as this, whether specific to Amazon or to other retailers, has the potential to create a compelling hybrid of social networking and shopping that creates value for both shoppers and retailers.
You can learn a lot wandering around the EXPO Hall and talking to exhibitors. For example, the UN World Food Programme has partnered with PayPal to fight world hunger, and retailers have an opportunity to help through www.wefeedback.org. One trend Monetate had heard in the hall is the need for retailers to be able to make changes to their website faster. RichRelevance said mobile had been a big topic among their booth visitors.