Shoppers want more from online stores

Author: ITWeb

Online shops need to extend their focus beyond usability to deliver an experience that leaves shoppers feeling positive.

This is according to Carola Weller, a senior consultant for GfK SirValUse, a Germany-based marketing research company.

Weller says online customers do not simply want to buy a product; they also want to have a good experience that inspires them. She argues this is why online shops have changed the ways they showcase their products and their prices.

For example, says Weller, Amazon offers additional context with user ratings and reviews, while eBay offers pages with special deals.

According to Weller, product development over the next few years is also going to change. She predicts that the views of users will be taken into account earlier on in the development phase.

Weller says that, while testing products with users at the end of the development cycle is becoming more acceptable, taking users’ opinions into account from the start is still rare. However, she argues that this is important and this sort of collaboration will become more common in the future.