In 2015, online retail sales were predicted to reach £52.25bn, a 16.2% increase from the previous year (Moth, 2015). These e-commerce trends are only expected to rise, and thus the attention retailers are giving to their digital retail platforms are crucial. According to a study by the Financial Times, British consumers spend an average of around 4.8 times more online than in-store (2014).

Of course, consumers still shop offline, thus understanding the difference in motivators behind offline and online shopping is important for companies who are threatened of e-commerce growth. A study by Brown (1988) suggested that consumers suffer non-monetary costs when shopping offline; time, effort, and psychological costs, in addition to the extra cost spent in store. However, a report published by the State of Retail in 2015 states that consumers prefer to shop offline, in physical retail stores:

‘The bottom line is customers value the personal experience of the physical store,” said Gary Ambrosino, CEO of TimeTrade. “We found that shoppers have done their shopping or discovery online, then go into the store to get help with their final purchase decision.’

Thus, the only stage of the consumer purchase decision process made offline is the purchase decision. Even the post purchase decision can be found online, through customer reviews.

Companies with a positive presence on review sites as well as other forms of social media will benefit from the mere exposure effect, in which consumers favour a product or company to which they have been previously exposed (Smith, 2012). A survey done by BrightLocal, found that an astounding 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation (DeMers, 2015). This viral word of mouth represents one of the fasts growing phenomena on the Internet, as social media and virtual communities provide platforms to tell the world how they feel about a product or company (Mangold & Smith, 2012). Social media has the potential to influence all stages of the consumption process, including awareness, information acquisition, attitudes, decision-making, and post purchase evaluation (Mangold & Faulds, 2009). Enabling customer reviews on the company’s site can also have a positive effect on the company’s organic search ranking in search engines (Colao, 2014). Both scholars and practitioners claim customer retention to be one of the critical success factors for retail businesses; the cost of acquiring new customers is five to seven times that of retaining existing ones (Doyle, 2003).

Motivations for online shoppers mirror that of offline shoppers, and can be seen as two: experiential (for fun) or goal directed (for efficiency). Additionally, scholars have also discovered that the higher playfulness associated with experiential behaviour results in a more positive mood, greater shopping satisfaction and a higher likelihood of impulse purchasing compared to goal-focused shopping (Wolfinbarger & Gilly, 2001).

So what should companies do on their digital platforms?

Be Playful With Your Consumers!

ASOS

ASOS, an online fashion retailer, regularly ‘gamifies’ the online shopping experience with competitions such as fashion bingo, matching celebrities with clothing and Pinterest competitions to win prizes.This particular ‘Love’ themed competition proved to be rather spot on; running around Valentines Day. With one winner every hour, and in one combined effort, ASOS had pulled off this campaign that would get them Facebook Activity, Tweets (with a hashtag trending), and extra visits to their sites (2011).

Jack Wills

Another retailer using interactive games to retain customers is Jack Wills, in which customers can scan their gift guide Christmas calendar each day for a chance to win prizes. The key is to stay relevant; a calendar competition wouldn’t make much sense in April, right? Additionally, this gives consumers an incentive to keep coming back. Every. Single. Day.

Missguided

Missguided is another great example of retailer utilising the power of social media for consumer engagement. By inviting consumers to share selfies of themselves, with the hashtag #MissguidedActive, the retailer is recognised in the tag, the users are engaged, and it is relevant, by offering a prize of ‘Protein World’ goodies, a brand affiliated with healthy lifestyle.

Conclusion

If companies want consumers to be talking about their products, they need to be active on their social media platforms. Social networking sites were found to be the most popular online venue for product discussions (Smith, 2012). According to a survey by eMarketer (December 2010), millennials are talking about products and services online more than the general population, and their preferred channels to do this are Facebook and company websites.

“Marketers must acknowledge the phenomenon of social media because it is becoming “the de facto modus operandi for consumers who are disseminating information on products and services” (Mangold & Faulds, 2009).

Thus, in order for companies to enhance the customer online shopping experience, they must bridge the gap between the stages of the purchasing decision. Consumers should be urged to read reviews on the company’s own website, then follow with an easy gateway towards the purchase, rather than purchasing offline. Additionally, in order to retain these consumers and boost online sales, companies must ensure they are playful with their online marketing, inviting consumers to engage through social media through competitions and prizes. Furthermore, during these ‘gamified’ marketing efforts, companies should ensure that through this engagement, consumers are invited to like, share, and post with a trending hashtag associated with the company.

Critical analysis

The emphasis on customers’ ‘willingness to participate’ in online communications is becoming crucial for the success of promotional activities. (Parent, Plangger, & Bal, 2011). This means that marketers need to implement social media as part of their marketing mix. This may be a timely and rather complex task, if the company’s current social media platforms are not used that often. This is also a ‘new’ phenomenon, therefore understanding and implementing it into a traditional company may seem strenuous.

The digital platforms in which consumers post their reviews/ratings such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and blogs should be carefully monitored for reviews concerning the company or product. This can be accomplished by keeping careful track of communications on and surrounding a Facebook page, by book marking relevant sites, and by subscribing to RSS feeds (Smith, 2012).

Lessons Learned:

• Allow reviews on your website, that way it’s easier to monitor
• Retain online shoppers by being playful: through interactive games, competitions, and prizes – always get the consumer involved
• Start a hashtag competition – ensure you invite consumers to like, share, and subscribe to the online platforms

References:

Bauer, H., Falk, T. and Hammerschmidt, M. (2006). eTransQual: A transaction process-based approach for capturing service quality in online shopping. Journal of Business Research, 59(7), pp.866-875.

Häubl, G. and Trifts, V. (2000). Consumer Decision Making in Online Shopping Environments: The Effects of Interactive Decision Aids. Marketing Science, 19(1), pp.4-21.

Khalifa, M. and Liu, V. (2007). Online consumer retention: contingent effects of online shopping habit and online shopping experience. European Journal of Information Systems, 16(6), pp.780-792.

Kim, J. and Park, J. (2005). A consumer shopping channel extension model: attitude shift toward the online store. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management: An International Journal, 9(1), pp.106-121.

Mangold, W. and Smith, K. (2012). Selling to Millennials with online reviews. Business Horizons, 55(2), pp.141-153.

Roy Dholakia, R. and Uusitalo, O. (2002). Switching to electronic stores: consumer characteristics and the perception of shopping benefits. Intl J of Retail & Distrib Mgt, 30(10), pp.459-469.

Wolfinbarger, M. and Gilly, M. (2001). Shopping Online for Freedom, Control, and Fun.California Management Review, 43(2), pp.34-55.