Apple Slips in E-Commerce Satisfaction - Page 2

The 2009 study also found that shoppers aren't truly less dissatisfied than in previous years. Instead, price now matters more.

"This doesn't mean companies should start slashing prices, but it does reflect the current mood of the consumer," Freed said. "Online shoppers are a savvy group, able to compare price and merchandise at the click of a mouse. In an economy where rising unemployment, plummeting home values, and tight credit continue to make headlines, consumers are punishing retailers if they feel prices aren't fair or competitive."

The report also compares desirable future behaviors of highly satisfied shoppers to dissatisfied shoppers and finds that the former group is 71 percent more likely to purchase online than the latter, and 72 percent more likely to recommend the Web site.

But satisfaction with the Web site has an impact with a shopper's brand experience and translates into a greater likelihood -- 44 percent more likely -- to make a purchase offline, ForeSee said.

Future of e-commerce

Additional findings show that mobile commerce, though poised to grow significantly, is still in its infancy. Over half of those surveyed have mobile phones with Internet access, but only 9 percent recalled seeing smartphone apps related to retail shopping. "Overall, the most common uses of a phone while shipping are to ask someone's opinion about a product or send a photo of a product," the report said. "However, when asked which mobile app features they would be interested in using during a shopping experience, the majority chose comparing prices at other retailers, product availability at another store location and product reviews."

Freed said mobile shopping apps are set to have a huge impact on retailers.

"Amazon has thrown down the gauntlet with its iPhone app," he said. "Imagine customers walking through your store, and they want details on a product, so they go on their iPhone Amazon app, and get a list of all these competing prices."

"Now you're suddenly in a price battle with Amazon. It's scary for the retailer because it's like the customer is holding the iPhone to his head like a gun and saying, 'Match this price or I'll push the Buy button now.'"

He said we can expect to see a "flurry of activity" in mobile deployment for third quarter.

"It's not going to be like 50 percent of online shoppers are using mobile apps, might not even be 20 percent this year, but even if it's 5 percent, that's a huge risk that's significant if you're not in the space," he said.

Goole just released an iPhone app for its price comparison search, while other analysts have agreed that smartphones are poised to boost online comparison shopping in the next few years

The ForeSee survey also supports research over the past two years that shows product reviews moving from a "nice-to-have" e-commerce feature to a "must-have" due to the ever maturing expectation of the online shopper in terms of the site experience.

"Not only are more Web sites using product reviews, but these site have more satisfied customers," the study said. "Computers and electronics Web site visitors who recalled seeing customer reviews were considerably more satisfied with the experience. These site visitors were significantly more satisfied with their experience versus those who stated they did not see reviews at the site, a score of 77 versus 67."

In the past, product review technology was expensive for smaller online store owners, generally costing a few thousand dollars a month, but as companies such as ProductReviews introduce more affordable plans for smaller e-tailers, it's becoming critical to have them, Freed said.

It's not surprising then that PowerReviews sales increased over 200 percent last year, considerably higher growth than previous year, with a significant increase in demand from small businesses in the last 18 months, based on a major uptick in in-bound calls from retailers below $30 million in annual sales, according to the company.

Meanwhile, BazaarVoice, a pioneer in product-review technology, continues to expand its line of offerings, most recently with social networking apps for Twitter, Facebook and MySpace.

"It's too expensive not to have customer review functionality if you're in e-commerce, regardless of size, because if someone leaves your site to get a review at another site, there's a good chance they're not going to come back," Freed said.