Online retailers upgrading their sites

As today's shoppers become more discriminating about their interactions online, the stakes are being raised for retailers to provide a consistently positive, more sophisticated experience. According to the 150 retailers surveyed for the second part of The State of Retailing Online 2007, the tenth annual Shop.org study conducted by Forrester Research, top priorities include fixing website design and performance issues, improving the efficiency of online marketing, and enhancing cross-channel integration.

Fixing product detail pages will top retailers' website to-do lists for the next 12 months. According to the survey, 88% of retailers plan to focus on improving content presented on product detail pages, with 80% adding alternative images, 72% incorporating lifestyle photography, and 63% integrating customer ratings and reviews. Retailers are also focusing on their homepages, integrating top sellers and "what's new" sections, and making their websites more sophisticated, with dropdown menus and rollover lists in navigational areas. To differentiate themselves from competitors, online retailers are also making customer service a priority, with 33% of companies planning to invest more in live chat and 53% planning to enhance their guest checkout process within the next year.

Add to: del.icio.us | Digg