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John Danenbarger
Is This Who I Think It Is?
The personalization of online shopping is being driven both by the ability to act on more in-depth analytics, and the rise of social networking.
From an analytics standpoint, it is easier to track online behavior now, and also to customize the information being presented to a consumer based on that data. That customization can take many forms, from addressing someone by name on a site,to saving a visitor’s shopping preferences, to targeting specific products or discounts to a consumer based on past purchasing trends. In recent research released by Limelight Networks, consumer survey respondents rated personalization features very highly.
The ability of a website to automatically recall billing and shipping information was listed as extremely or very important by 73% of respondents who make personal online purchases more than once a month. Meanwhile 55% of those same respondents said it was extremely or very important that an online shopping site provide product recommendations based on items already purchased or viewed.
Social networking offers a different look into how the shopping experience is becoming more personal. Hitwise Intelligence 2011, found that social networking and community forum sites ranked third as a traffic driver to department stores online behind only search engines and other department store sites. Traffic from social networking sites to the Retail 500 also increased 27% in December of 2010 compared to December of 2009. All this means that conversations taking place online among friends are guiding subsequent shopping behavior.
For retailers, the message here is that online presence must extend beyond traditional branded websites and into the social networking arena. These spheres of personal interaction online are where consumers are forming many of their opinions, and increasingly where they are choosing their shopping site preferences.
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