Online Shoppers are Looking for Customer Service Beyond Price

Getprice has released its 2011 Shopping report that identifies that online shopping habits and behaviours of over 3000 consumers who visit its site. It found:

- Comparison shopping sites are the most useful for shopping and researching online, ahead of search engines, online marketplaces and retailer websites.

- Consumers are looking beyond price during their purchasing decision process. Customer service, brand familiarity and user reviews are the most important types of information in the decision making process when researching or shopping online

-There is great opportunity for retailers to improve or establish their social media, mobile and website capabilities as marketing channels to attract consumers.

The report found that while online consumers are engaged most with social networking sites on their mobile, only one in five actually interact with their favourite brands via social media sites such as twitter and Facebook.

There was also a clear gap identified when it came to the usefulness of retailer websites. Retailer websites were selected as the most used sites when researching or shopping online, however they ranked fifth in terms of usefulness.

Chief executive officer of Getprice, Chris Hitchen commented on the results: “We recently witnessed a so-called ‘war’ between online and offline retail channels as each attempted to attract consumers to shop with them.

“Offline retailers were calling on the Government to apply GST to goods; while online retailers were telling the industry that offline retailers needed to look beyond the issue of GST and focus on additional factors such as brand reputation and customer service.

“This report went further and identified clear gaps and issues that offline retailers should be focusing on in order to work together with online retail channels to create the best retail experience for the consumer.

“Consumers will be loyal if you deliver strong customer service and are relevant and valuable throughout the shopping process. That means connecting more effectively with shoppers on social media sites, your own website and mobile applications. There was a clear discrepancy
in how consumers view these channels compared to how useful they find them during their shopping experience.”

The Getprice 2011 Shopping Report also explores: o Technology consumption habits of comparison shoppers

- Motivations for online shopping

- How online fits into the buying cycle

- How consumers make choices online

- Which products people buy online and how they prefer to transact

Mr Hitchen continued: “As Australia’s leading comparison shopping site, we continually research our audience in order to create the best shopping experience for them. It was encouraging to see that comparison sites ranked highest when it came to usefulness for consumers when researching or shopping online. “Looking at the appetite for online shopping reflected in this report, we’re confident online retail will only go from strength to strength in the year ahead.”

About getprice.com.au

Getprice.com.au is Australia’s leading shopping comparison site. The site allows consumers to make smart, informed purchasing decision by arming them with as much information on a particular product as possible, covering all stages in the consumer buying cycle. Merchants who list their products on Getprice are trusted, reputable retailers who have met a certain criteria in order to be listed on the site and who undergo regular reviews based on consumer feedback. Info: http://www.getprice.com.au.
 

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