Even in summer 2009, Internet Retailer and Vovici found e-commerce sites preparing to invest ahead of recovery to provide a better shopping experience. The increasingly consumer-centric focus of online shopping sites is now leading two-thirds of them to plan a site redesign for 2010, according to the researchers’ “Website Design Strategies and Tactics” survey.
Among those sites that will refresh their looks, better organization and updating of home, category and product pages are top priorities, followed by better search engine optimization.
The goal is to help the consumer who demands a seamless shopping experience—and in turn to help the bottom line.
Retailers’ biggest reasons for site redesigns were to increase sales and conversions and to grab the attention of new visitors and shoppers.
To this end, many will add advanced features to their sites such as video or streaming media and customer reviews and ratings. About one-quarter will also introduce personalized product recommendations, which can be difficult to execute and get mixed reactions from shoppers.
Many respondents also plan on adding mobile site capabilities in the next two years, though about six in 10 say they have no plans for an m-commerce site.
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Check out today’s other article, “Boomers Slowly Warm to Mobile Web.”