A new study (like one of those doesn't pop up every day) shows that ten percent of the world's population has actually spent money online.
"We wanted to know how far the Internet had gone beyond the simple exchange of information and were extremely surprised," said Bhawani Singh, managing director of consumer research at ACNielsen Europe. "This medium is far bigger than we expected, and it is clear to us that many retailers and marketers are not using it to its full potential."
That is the quote of the day. According to the study the biggest sellers online are books, DVDs, and music–adult content was excluded from the overall study. That leaves millions of products and services online that have yet to be properly marketed. In addition to confirming that Internet users actually do spend money, it exposes how consumers are in sort of a rut.
Right now, if books and movies and music are what most people are comfortable in purchasing, then what does that say about other industries? Even within retail, there seems to be a need for more savvy marketing and product placement. This is not to say that spam or other obnoxious "marketing" is necessary. But I'm not entirely convinced company's have completely bought into e-commerce strategies that work. Just throwing up a shopping cart on a site is not going make sales. What will make sales are:
- Customer comfort with privacy and security
- Values that can't be found in real-world stores
- Unique products or product packages only available on the Web
- Easy return policies
- Enhanced product information and customer reviews
Amazon has it right in many cases. However, they are still using their books and music paradigm. I'm starting to wonder if the online shopping experience needs to be as unique as the products. Can the shopping environment change based on the type of product and even the pricing? The answer is yes it can. But how to pull it off takes time, money, research, and an enormous amount of creativity.
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