Know Your Customer

Online shopping is growing and for many reasons. And many websites are springing up in the hope of cashing in on the internet millions. But do you know your audience and why they would shop at your site? In this report I`ve looked over many statistics on offer freely and dissected them into a readable format to help the online entrepreneur make sense of the consumer habits and perhaps somewhere in here is a direction to go.
Thirty-five percent of consumers surveyed said added costs, such as shipping and handling, or lengthy delivery times resulted in their abandoning an online purchase. Sites requesting too much information is another annoyance that drives away 35 percent of buyers surveyed.
Shipping charges for online orders continue to be a thorn in the side of consumers, 20% of whom cited shipping costs as their biggest frustration related to online shopping. 19% said spam is most annoying, followed by the inability to try on clothes, 15%, and the risk of entering a credit card number online, 13%
The top reason online consumers prefer to shop on the web is to avoid crowds, a reason cited by 38% of respondents. The next four reasons consumers prefer the web, and the percent of respondents citing them: Lower prices, 35%; ease of comparing products and prices, 28%; avoiding the inconvenience of traveling to stores, 28%; and a wider selection of products, 26%.
Online retailing sites are prime destinations for women 18-34 years old who are Internet users. While women 18-34 are 15.7% of all Internet users, they are 24% of shoppers at fragrance/cosmetic sites, 22.3% of shoppers at jewelry/accessories/luxury goods sites and 20.8% of shoppers at apparel sites
The online channel is coming into its own not just as a way to buy but also to research purchases and other opportunities. 66% of online households have researched products online for purchase. 52% go online to contact customer service by e-mail, while 36% go online to research free products or find coupons.
65 percent of Internet users won't patronize a poorly designed site. Even that of a favourite brand. And 30 percent reported that Web site design is more important than a great product. Even rock-bottom prices only persuaded 4 percent to shop on a poorly designed Web site. What's worse is that nearly 30 percent stop buying from their favourite offline store if their online experience is poor.
Nearly half (45 percent) of respondents indicated that they were researching product information, rather than making an immediate buy. Of the remaining 55 percent that had purchasing intentions, 11 percent immediately bought online, and 6 percent immediately bought offline. The locale was more difficult to determine for the 21 percent who indicated they would buy within 48 hours, and the 17 percent who intended to buy within the week.
Sixty-seven percent of online shoppers said that value is more important to them now than it was five years ago. As for the merchandise that the respondents ordered, over 93 percent said items received were of high quality and 88 percent agreed that the purchase was a good value for the money spent. While 84 percent said that the merchandise received met or exceeded expectations.
The Internet was the top ranking source for shopping research on travel (71 percent), software (46 percent), tickets for entertainment events (44 percent), computer hardware/software (40 percent), books (39 percent), investments (37 percent), automobiles (35 percent), electronic equipment (34 percent), videos/DVDs (28 percent), and video games (27 percent).
U.S. online retail sales this year will close at $95.7 billion, climbing to $229.9 billion in 2008. Next year's sales are projected at $122.6 billion, with $149.2 billion, $176.8 billion and $204.3 billion forecast for 2005, 2006 and 2007, respectively.
Staying alert to your customers ever changing demands and being as responsive as you can will also mark you out as someone to do business with, just as in the physical commercial world so it matters in the virtual realm.

Dream Away Worries

My First Year In Cyber Space.

My first year as a Cyberpreneur was a steep learning-curve. I was an academic before starting an online business, so I had a lot to learn. But even if you were in offline-business before going online, you may still have to learn some new skills -online business is a whole new ball-game. Here are some of the things I learnt in my first year in Cyber Space: (1) Be careful who you register your domain with. Some domain name registrars make it very difficult to change your web host. I registered my first two domains with a registrar that caused me more headaches than I care to think about. When I needed to transfer one of my domain names to a new web host, my original email address had changed. I was no longer able to send them an email from that address and so I couldn't authenticate my request for domain transfer. So I tried to update my personal record with my new email address. I got a message saying that I could only change my email address by sending an email from my original email address (which no longer existed). This bureaucratic nightmare went on for 4 weeks. To add to my frustration, I was communicating with a machine, not a human being. By the end of that time I had no less than 35 computer-generated emails telling me that my domain could not be transferred. Finally, I sent my request for domain transfer in a 5-page fax, including photocopy of my passport. They then sent me an email saying my request for domain transfer could not be processed because my request was not on company letterhead. So I designed a letterhead and re-submitted the 5-page fax. Finally, 6 weeks after my first request, my domain was transferred. To avoid this kind of experience I recommend you use register.com: http://www.register.com Using their online Domain Manager, it took me less than two minutes to transfer my domain! (2) A slow-loading index page is still one of the main reasons that online businesses lose customers. Surveys show that the average surfer will wait no more than 8 seconds for a web page to load before moving onto another website. So 'load-time' is a vital consideration when you choose a web host. Below is a website that allows you to check the load-time of a web host: http://www.hostpulse.com/app/networktools/ping.asp (3) Once you've designed your home page and uploaded it to your server space, check to see what it looks like to other people. What you're seeing may not be what other people are seeing. I once designed a home page I was very proud of - I had added a piece of javascript that gave the day and date. Then one day I checked my home page at Anybrowser.com. I was horrified to see that my home page was invisible except for my company logo and the navigation bar. For two weeks it had been virtually blank to most visitors! So take a minute and look at your website through your visitors' browser: http://www.anybrowser.com/siteviewer.html (4) If a customer asks you for a refund, give it to them immediately, even if you think it's unjustified. You'll be out of pocket by a few dollars, but your name and your integrity will be intact. Your good name is perhaps your most precious commodity on the Internet. Remember these words from Shakespeare: "Who steals my purse steals trash; 'tis something, nothing; 'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands; But he that filches from me my good name Robs me of that which not enriches him, And makes me poor indeed." (Othello, Act III. Scene III.) (5) Reply to emails quickly. Nothing impresses me more on the Internet than a rapid response to a business enquiry. Try and respond within 2 hours, or at least within 24 hours. (6) Never reply angrily to abusive emails or flames. People who send flames want you to reply, but there is nothing to be gained by replying. An abusive email can be very disturbing, but the best thing to do is ignore it. Better still delete it - that way you remove it from your life and you remove the temptation to reply. (7) Lastly, never give up. Most successes are due to sheer persistence: "Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men of talent. Genius will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan, 'press on' has solved, and always will solve, the problems of the human race." (Calvin Coolidge)