Time for shopping
Internet users most willingly buy products online that are highly standardized and can be easily familiarized with in traditional stores. These are primarily books, audio CDs, movie DVDs, and computer hardware. According to the Gemius “e-Commerce Market 2005” report, as many as 42% of surveyed internet users bought books in the last six months, over one-fifth bought audio CDs, and one-sixth bought movies. Computer hardware is purchased by approx. 14.8%, and cosmetics by 13%.
Internet users most willingly buy products online that are highly standardized and can be easily familiarized with in traditional stores. These are primarily books, audio CDs, movie DVDs, and computer hardware. According to the Gemius “e-Commerce Market 2005” report, as many as 42% of surveyed internet users bought books in the last six months, over one-fifth bought audio CDs, and one-sixth bought movies. Computer hardware is purchased by approx. 14.8%, and cosmetics by 13%.
Online stores allow customers to save time, as they operate 24 hours a day and ensure delivery of ordered goods to the home at specified times. These are the most important reasons why internet users decide to shop in the virtual world. More than half of the people surveyed by Gemius also point to the possibility of buying goods online that are unavailable or difficult to find in traditional stores. It is also very popular among internet users to believe that one can buy cheaper online, although this refers more to long-term price reductions rather than one-off promotions.
Source: GemiusAdHoc, 2005
Lower interest in short-term discounts is easy to explain. The Polish e-customer rarely buys a product “on the fly,” immediately upon seeing it. They usually need three to seven days to think it over. During this time, they compare prices using increasingly popular services (e.g., Ceneo.pl, Skąpiec.pl, 9sekund.pl), seek opinions about buying a given product (often through internet forums or the ability to attach a comment under the product description), and verify the guarantees they are entitled to in a specific case. And here, those responsible for the appearance of the store’s website have a lot of room for improvement. It turns out that nothing is as discouraging as unclear rules for purchasing a product, lack of information about delivery times, or the possibility of returning a damaged or non-compliant product. The effectiveness of commercial solutions used in our country is quite low compared to competitors from the West. Research conducted by the company Janmedia.pl suggests that the simplest way to improve the efficiency of online stores may be to increase the usability of their websites.
– One of the first and main mistakes that companies, including electronic stores, make is developing a bad site structure – says Tomasz Karwatka from Janmedia.pl. – It is forgotten that the site is supposed to serve customers, not the website owners.
One must remember that the Internet is a specific environment. If a customer does not feel comfortable entering a chosen e-store website, they may choose a completely different one next time. Nielsen Norman Group research indicates that improving site usability can increase the number of products sold by 100% to 400%. Furthermore, high site usability increases trust in the service and customer loyalty, and also influences more frequent recommendations of the service by its users.
– One of the first and main mistakes that companies, including electronic stores, make is developing a bad site structure – says Tomasz Karwatka from Janmedia.pl. – It is forgotten that the site is supposed to serve customers, not the website owners.
One must remember that the Internet is a specific environment. If a customer does not feel comfortable entering a chosen e-store website, they may choose a completely different one next time. Nielsen Norman Group research indicates that improving site usability can increase the number of products sold by 100% to 400%. Furthermore, high site usability increases trust in the service and customer loyalty, and also influences more frequent recommendations of the service by its users.