In an interesting turn of opinion, e-commerce customers feel that over 80% of their decision to purchase or not resides in issues beyond their online experience, according to Miller-Williams research.
The research was based on interviews with 976 active customers of various e-commerce companies including Amazon.com, AOL-Time Warner, BN.com, eBay, Monster.com and Yahoo.
Current customers, defected customers and prospects were asked to describe their ideal e-commerce company vis-'a-vis a subset of the top e-commerce companies.
Each company listed above had at least 200 respondents.
Of the five drivers customers use to evaluate e-commerce companies, the clicks interaction driver makes up only 15% of decision-making.
The clicks driver contains all the online aspects of what customers experience. Other drivers include brand performance (35%), financial longevity (18%), strategic direction (17%) and bricks interaction (15%).
Customers see the value of a well-performing brand and today`s top e-commerce companies are clearly meeting their expectations.
Companies should continue, or increase if warranted, their investments in traditional advertising campaigns.
Amazon.com is the premier e-commerce company, having translated its brand performance into value on the bricks interaction. The research shows its value here is essentially the equivalent of a retail storefront, something that customers don`t see in the other e-commerce companies.
With strong consensus though, customers feel that e-commerce companies need to better demonstrate their financial security. What`s more interesting is that customers do not necessarily equate financial resources with security.
Instead, customers see a company`s aggressiveness and ability to seize new markets as increasing their financial longevity. After analysing 27 brick-and-mortar and e-commerce market-leading companies, customers ranked Oracle number one in terms of financial security, outperforming others such as AOL-Time Warner, Dell Computer and General Motors.
"This shows us why so many recent activities and acquisitions have been taking place in e-commerce," said Miller-Williams CEO, Gary A Williams.
"Their revenues and profits are stabilising and becoming more predictable so they make nice merger or alliance candidates. E-Commerce customers are voting with their dollars, and the winners are companies that have shown their brand strength and ability to execute in a proven market space."
While the US Census Bureau reports e-commerce revenues at $9.85 billion for Q1-2002, the Miller-Williams research shows that a large portion of untapped customer value remains for industry growth.
Five types of e-commerce customers exist: Sensibles, Agonisers, Hagglers, Loners and Techies. The largest levels of untapped value, totalling about $19 billion, exists in just two customer segments: Sensibles and Hagglers.
Sensibles, defined by their desire for human interaction and decision-approach, make up 37% of all customers but are less than 10% tapped. Sensibles believe that Amazon.com is best at delivering value to them.
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Miller-Williams Inc conducted the research independent from any e-commerce company to ensure unbiased results. Using its database of over 2 million responses, Miller-Williams invited a random sample of e-commerce customers to participate in a 10-minute online interview.
Certain respondents were disqualified if they were not potential e-commerce customers, were not familiar with the e-commerce companies measured, or faked their responses (note: the M-W system distinguishes between natural and systematic responses to ensure the most accurate and reliable data possible).
Miller-Williams analysed the data from 976 total respondents, with at least 200 respondents per company required for inclusion in the study. At a 95% confidence level, the margin of error is 3.2 percentage points.
Miller-Williams Inc.
Miller-Williams provides customer research to senior executives at many of today`s most influential corporations to help them deliver results. Executives obtain a fresh, unbiased and decisive analysis of where customer revenue growth exists for their company. The company delivers results to the executive in concise reports and briefings -- with the drill-down details available for further analysis -- to enable or rule-out activities under evaluation.
The measurable outcomes from Miller-Williams research show executives how and where to focus resources in sales, marketing, service and other customer-driven initiatives. Miller-Williams Inc has over 1 200 members that renew at a 92% rate and represent many of the world`s largest and most prestigious corporations.
Miller-Williams is the collective effort of Robert B Miller, co-author of "Strategic Selling", and Gary A Williams, co-author of "Change The Way You Persuade" in Harvard Business Review, May-2002. For more information, please visit www.millwill.com or call 800/790 6070.
Oracle
Oracle is the world`s largest enterprise software company. For more information about Oracle, visit our Website at www.oracle.com.
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