Online shopping catches on thanks to good Web site design

Better Web site design has a lot to do with exceptional growth in online shopping in South Africa over the past two years - more than 800% in the experience of 320 local Web sites.

According to an international hosting specialist, Rackspace Managed Hosting, people with Internet access increasingly want to buy online.

Commenting on a local press report that this past Christmas saw huge growth in online shopping in South Africa, Geoff Dowell, Rackspace spokesman for the South African market, said the company's international experience is that nine out of 10 people with Internet access visited a shopping site in 2006.

"However, retail Web sites that are poorly designed cannot expect to cash in on online shopping growth. Research conducted for us by the Social Issues Research Centre (SIRC) showed that consumers are fussy about Web site design and performance. They will not tolerate slow page loading, complicated navigation layouts and intrusive pop-up advertising, among other faults."

The experience of 320 commercial Web sites managed by local Web-hosting company MWeb indicates that online Christmas shopping in South Africa has grown by a startling 837% over the past two years. The value of transactions on these sites increased from R26 million in 2004 to R243 million in 2006, while the number of transactions during the months of November and December rose from 38 902 in 2004 to 241 438 in 2006, an increase of 520%.

Dowell said that in South Africa Rackspace is achieving significant growth. "We have more than doubled our sites over the past 18 months. In Europe, 'etail' also continues to post impressive growth. In the UK for example, the average number of daily visitors to retail or shopping Web sites during 2006 grew by 13% to 10.4 million a day. Furthermore, retailers are realising that an online storefront is a path to global expansion, as online consumers worldwide can buy their products. About 10% of total consumer spending today is online and the figure for business to business is even higher."

To take advantage of this trend, Dowell said businesses need to provide high-speed page loading with simple and easy to navigate layouts while reducing the impact of intrusive advertising and pop-ups.

"The SIRC research for Rackspace was based on an online survey of 2 500 adults, using in-depth interviews and in-house qualitative research. It nailed down the key differentiators for the 'perfect Web site' as: ease of navigation, high speed of page down loads, a clean and simple design and functionality while sites always awash with excessive aggressive advertising were given the thumbs down."

The research highlighted:

* 83% of respondents reported ease of navigation as being the most important factor in their 'ideal' Web site, with 62% rating high speed and 49% rating functionality as the other key factors.
* 80% of people surveyed rated a clean and simple overall design as their most desirable design factor, with only 6% wanting innovative use of flash and multimedia options.
* Running a faster (61%) and easier to navigate (52%) Web site were the two most popular improvements people would make to Internet sites.

Dowell added that another interesting revelation from the survey was the conclusion that badly designed Web sites can lead to online shoppers developing "Mouse Rage Syndrome" which can negatively affect heart rates, brain waves and muscle tension.

"The SIRC study also concluded that shopping on badly designed Web sites could pose a health threat to the immune system, cardio functioning and nervous system. It examined a range of indicators including brainwaves, heart-rate fluctuations, muscle tension and skin conductivity among Internet users and led to the term 'Mouse Rage Syndrome' being coined."