The customer delivery experience is about keeping your promises.
"Many retailers forget how important it is to keep your customer at the centre of your business."
Speaking at the eCommerce Africa Confex in Cape Town yesterday, Louna Lohann, GM of Spree, unpacked the intricacies of running an online fashion retailer.
"It doesn't matter what channel you use, everything you do should be about catering to your customers' needs and delivering on your promises." Part of this hinges on living up to the expectations that customers associate with your brand, noted Lohann. "The brand promise is the first step to developing and fostering a lasting relationship with your customer."
Looking specifically at online fashion retail, Lohann noted providing consumers with the right kind of products is essential. For a clothing retailer, a comprehensive assortment of sizes and styles is a must, she added. "Online fashion retail is about providing something for everyone from people who are interested in fashion trends, to catering to people who want more simple clothing," she commented. Providing the right variety extends to product cost, according to Lohann, which translates into having products available at various price points.
Because people cannot try on the clothes or feel the fabric as part of an online shopping experience, it is the responsibility of the online merchant to provide customers with a good description of the product and to offer enough relevant product information, she continued.
"E-commerce is all about creating a positive shopping experience for your customer," said Lohann, stressing the design of the Web site and the ease of navigation can affect the type of experience your customer has, and whether or not they make a purchase. This involves ensuring the Web site is user-friendly and fast. "If your site is visually rich, you need to make sure all the content loads quickly. The quicker the customer can shop, the better the experience; ultimately, the more money they spend, the more money you make."
She cited search functionality as an essential component of any online retail platform because customers need to be able to locate the specific product they want to purchase without any hassle. This is especially true should you have a large database of products and services on offer, she went on to say.
According to Andre de Wet, CEO of PriceCheck Online, shopping is no longer somewhere you go, it is now something you do, which means the customer's experience should be a focus. Merchants must effectively manage what their customers see when they access their platform. "A cluttered site is unappealing," he stressed. Retailers must make is easy for customers to navigate and search for the specific product they want to purchase.
Part of this entails making sure the platform works on all browsers and devices, De Wet added. PriceCheck's click-through rate increased by 60% just by switching over to a responsive user interface, he noted. "This is your best defence against losing a sale from otherwise ready, willing and able shoppers."
For Lohann, content is not only about what you tell the customer about the product, but also how you display the product. If the products you are selling are not displayed in an appealing way, people will be less inclined to buy them, she said.
Lohann and De Wet agreed with the sentiments of earlier speakers around the importance of a simple and easy checkout experience. Lohann believes this can be achieved by offering customers various payment options, on a reliable platform and in a secure environment.
"Checkout is the bread and butter of e-commerce. Getting this right means keeping things simple," said De Wet. "You will lose 25% of your sales if you force people to register or sign up before placing an order." He noted merchants should try to keep shipping costs low and even offer free shipments if possible.
The e-commerce experience revolves around making promises and then delivering on those promises, Lohann reiterated. Loyal customers are 10 times more valuable than a new customer. The cost of not delivering on your promises can be drastic - it takes roughly 12 positive responses to make up for just a single bad experience, she added. "Customers like to speak very loudly when they have had a bad experience, and it is harder to secure a new customer than it is to keep a current one."
As such, it makes good business sense to give your customers what they want and ultimately what they expect, she said, quoting a Chinese proverb: "A man without a smiling face should not open a shop".
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