Retail leaders to adopt video, mobile and social media strategies

Wednesday, 3 March 2010

Website technologies, such as site search and web analytics, made great strides in 2009 as retailers looked for ways to provide richer, more engaging and user-friendly experiences - a trend that local company SLI Systems believes will continue in 2010.

But while the intention to improve the user experience is high, SLI Systems' recent global E-commerce Customer Experience Survey suggests that most online retailers are uncertain if they are using the data from these applications to improve the online experience for their customers.

SLI Systems' CEO, Shaun Ryan, elaborated, "What we're finding both locally and overseas is a tendency among e-commerce businesses to take a siloed approach to using their digital marketing and sales applications. Of the 569 online retailers we surveyed, only half have made an attempt to integrate their various applications while 68% are uncertain if they are using the data they retrieve to improve conversions and maintain existing customers."

Regardless, the uptake of web technologies is strong with 88% of survey respondents using site search to better engage with customers and prospects. Equal in popularity is web analytics (88%), followed closely by email marketing tactics (81%), user-generated reviews (53%), product recommendations (47%) and online communities (46%).

Shaun Ryan continued, "As the local e-commerce industry continues to grow and become more competitive we'll see retailers take a more integrated approach to using their web technologies. And they'll have to if they want to stay in the game, especially as e-commerce leaders begin to cater for mobile and smart phone users in 2010 by making browsing on the run just as seamless as sitting at the desk.

"In addition, we'll see retailers acknowledge the appeal of video to consumers and the positive effect this has on sales conversion by strategically connecting video content with products and services.

"The third trend we can expect to see this year is the integration of social media content, such as blogs and Facebook, with site search as a way of offering visitors valuable information about the company, products and services. Given that more and more businesses are using social networking to build brands and communicate with customers, it makes sense to incorporate this material with site information as a way of adding extra 'sway' in the sales cycle," concluded Shaun Ryan.

To assist companies with their site search approach, SLI Systems has just released a 'Big Book of Site Search Tips', which presents more than 80 suggestions on how to improve the look and feel, as well as the relevance of search results, how to use search for merchandising and how to get the most out of site search data. Please click here to view the whitepaper.

Survey Methodology
The "2009 E-Commerce Customer Experience" survey was conducted online by Zoomerang on behalf of SLI Systems. The poll, which gathered feedback from 567 e-commerce business managers and executives, was conducted from October 20 to November 10, 2009.