The Web's Influence on Brick and Mortar

An article todaly in eMarketer Daily, which quotes a survey from e-commerce solutions provider ATG and conducted by MarketTools, ads some additional emphasis to the behavior of online consumers with respect to shopping.

Put simply, no matter which channel the end purchase occurs in, an enormous percentage of consumers research the purchase first online. Other studies have shown that shopping research activity often starts on retail sites. Put these two facts together. Now step back and look at how, what and whom makes decisions regarding the retail ecommerce site with your organization. Is it a group of people who understand marketing? Communications? Influencing the purchase cycle? Or is it a group primarily focused on transactional analysis and incremental improvements within the mechanics of the site itself?

If consumers research products prior to buying (and they clearly do in very large numbers) and if they often start that search on retail websites (and they clearly do in very large numbers) THEN the very low net conversion rates for these sites indicate that amongst other variables, large number of consumers are not getting the information they need to feel comfortable completing a purchase.

Which calls into question what type of information is being provided, and the format the information is presented in. At the top of the hierarchy is video. This is the Internet. Outside of email, the number one activity online is video consumption. Period. Yet retail sites insist on communicating with their visitors through pictures and text. Video on retail sites can and should be used to actively influence the researching consumer, engaging and informing, while simultaneously giving them the opportunity to act on the impulse being created.

Think about it. Millions of visitors engaged in research. Most of them leave without buying. Some of that is inevitable. Very little of it, anymore, is because of security concerns. Most of it, now, is because there simply isn't the information they need presented in a way they want to consume it.

Enable video commerce.