Price may be a large factor in consumer decision-making in some e-commerce
categories, but loyalty is a key factor when it comes to “fashion and style
goods,” according to a new study.
In fact, the study from ActivMedia Research, entitled
“Fashion & Style: Building Consumer Loyalty Online,” shows that among highly
experienced shoppers in this category, more than three in four purchases are
made at sites that shoppers went online specifically to visit.
Among frequent buyers who shop for such products online more than five times
a year, five in six purchases are made at favorite sites that have proven
their worth in past visits, and inspire loyalty with a highly satisfying
online shopping experience, the study found.
These intense loyalties exhibited online among customers at Web sites that
market Fashion & Style products make it all the more difficult for newcomers
to capture a piece of the pie, ActivMedia said.
The good news for online retailers in this category is that repeat customers
cost less to
manage and service, helping to avoid the high acquisition costs associated
with
attracting new customers.
What does it take to earn this customer loyalty?
- In four of five recent online shopping experiences, vendors were able to
match customers with the products that have the features they came to find - In-stock, immediate delivery is a hallmark of a preferred site — four in
five F&S purchases are shipped within two days of placing the order
- Nearly three in five of the most recent F&S purchases were made at sites
belonging to stores previously purchased from off-line - So-called
“Click-and-Brick” Fashion & Style retailers are increasingly leveraging their
off-line presence, brand equity and existing past customer relationships to
build high-traffic online shopping destinations - Customer support and service after the sale are critical to maintaining
online loyalty Three in four Fashion & Style shoppers feel customer support
at the sites last shopped at was strong For buyers of Furniture &
Appliances, this rating reached above 90 percent Three in four stores
selling Jewelry & Accessories are considered to have strong customer service
The study involved 1,000 shoppers with experience purchasing Fashion & Style
merchandise online and the full version is priced at $1,295.
PaintingsDIRECT.com Signs E-Com Pact With StarMedia
Original, contemporary paintings e-commerce site PaintingsDIRECT.com signed a
placement deal to offer its entire art collection through StarMedia Network Inc., an Internet media
company for Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking audiences.
PaintingsDIRECT.com will make its collection of art products available on
StarMedia’s Shopping Channel under Arts (Arte) as well as on the Arts &
Entertainment Channel (Artes y Espectaculos) and under the Culture and Style
(Cultura y Estilo) category.
Financial arrangements were not disclosed. Users will be welcomed to the
StarMedia/PaintingsDIRECT.com area in Spanish and Portuguese. All of
PaintingsDIRECT.com’s features will be available through the StarMedia
network including its customized framing and its “view to scale” options.
The
framing
feature enables customers to virtually “try on” a variety of frame styles and
mat colors to visualize how a painting would look in a particular frame.
“View to scale” enables visitors to view the size of a painting relative to
the size of an average person.
PaintingsDIRECT.com enables visitors to search for art using a variety of
criteria including country of origin, color, theme, key word, size and price.
It also offers detailed biographies of all its artists as well as artists’
quotes on the inspiration behind the
paintings.
