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Cash-strapped Britons ditch brand loyalty

Trust Index reveals that although consumers are now more price conscious than ever, failure to show them what they want means they won’t buy online

UK - September 07, 2009

Nearly half of all UK shoppers claim they would leave a retail website if it failed to show them what they wanted first time round. This is according to the latest Trust Index from ecommerce specialist, Avail Intelligence.

Findings from the survey reveal that in the past six months Brits have increased their use of price comparison sites such as Kelkoo, as well as external search engines including Yahoo! and Google to hunt down the best possible deal before parting with their cash.

Key findings from the research, which surveyed 939 respondents across the UK, are:

63% have increased their use of price comparison sites, while 53% are now using external search engines more regularly to find the best deal

45% stated they would immediately leave a retailer’s site without refining their search if it failed to show them what they wanted on the first page they arrived at

53% claimed retailers are returning generic, one-size fits all content on the first page they are directed to from a search on an external search engine

A further 21% said that this content is, in fact, totally irrelevant

22% said it was very likely that they would make additional purchases if the retailer showed them a good deal in response to their initial request

6% stated they were now making greater use of cashback websites such as TopCashBack

Executive quote

“What’s clear from our latest Trust index is that many consumers aren’t taking the time they once did to browse a retailer’s website. Instead, they expect to be shown what they want the moment they are directed to a site following an online search,” said Pontus Kristiansson, CEO of Avail Intelligence. “There is clearly little margin for error, and greater personalisation is the key to success for retailers looking to convert that web traffic into paying customers.“

Analyst quote

"Campaigns focusing on price leave little room for maximising margin and at the very least, offers must deep link to the appropriate page on the retailers website in order to maximise conversions. However, once you have attracted a customer to your website, there is clearly an opportunity to add value through upselling or cross selling,” said Andrew McClelland, of the IMRG. “Behavioural merchandising can be used to present appropriate options to consumers with out alienating the customer who has come from a price comparison site. Retailers should always be wary of adding additional steps in the shopping process as this can be seen by the customer as an overt attempt at getting more money from them. However, providing options, choice and value will mean an increase in conversions and could see the customer come direct to you next time"

About the company

About Avail Intelligence (http://www.avail.net)

Avail is the pioneer of behavioral merchandising software for the online retail industry. Its plug-in solution enables websites to automatically present the most relevant products to each individual visitor, resulting in a significant uplift in conversion rates and average order values.

Unlike traditional rules-based merchandising solutions, Avail Behavioral Merchandising software uses the collective behavioral data of all website visitors to automatically personalise the shopping experience for each individual shopper.

Using advanced mathematical techniques from its research arm Avail Labs, the Avail Behavioral Merchandising solution comprises a set of modules, which improve relevance when merchandising to and communicating with individual visitors across the entire Customer Interaction Cycle™ of a single web site or across multiple web sites. The solution is available either as an on-demand Software-as-a-Service or for local installation behind the retailer’s firewalls.

The results are significant, immediate and measurable improvements to conversion rates and average order values.

Avail Intelligence’s technology is being used by over 80% of the leading Scandinavian e-commerce sites. Key UK customers include Evans Cycles, GAME and Berry Brothers.

You can follow Avail Intelligence on twitter: http://twitter.com/avail_net

Contact details

For further press information and photography please contact:
Patrick Hussey at LEWIS, the PR agency
Tel: +44 (0) 161 457 2050
Fax: +44 (0) 161 457 2051
Email: availuk@lewispr.com
Website: www.lewispr.com

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