Why do online shoppers abandon from checkout? [Infographic] – Smart Insights Digital Marketing Advice

Why do online shoppers abandon from checkout? [Infographic] – Smart Insights Digital Marketing Advice.

I’m often asked about average ecommerce rates by site owners looking to boost their sales. It’s a year-round concern with this compilation showing that even for established brands during sale periods, the average add to basket conversion rate is around 12% during a visit with convert to order around half that at 5.6%.

If this sounds poor compared to the conversion rate a physical retail outlet would achieve, that’s a fair improvement on ten years ago when we used to speak of a “rule-of-thumb” for average Ecommerce conversion rates of around 2%. The improvement in averages since then suggests the value in conversion rate optimisation. That said, it’s inevitable that online conversion rates will be lower than offline with price transparency available through comparison sites and many still researching online and purchasing offline (the ROPO effect).

Reasons for shopping cart abandonment?

To encourage site owners to think about the factors that lead to checkout abandonment, inEmarketing Excellence we include this graphic to prompt site owners to think about all the factors that can affect conversion. This chart includes both shopping cart abandonment and branding and usability factors that affect the top of the funnel when site visitors are on the home page or browsing category and product pages.

Unfortunately, this chart doesn’t show the relative importance of different factors, so I liked this new infographic from Fifth Gear. Which has compiled different research into the reasons why consumers abandon checkout. The main concerns are clear from the pie charts on the bottom right which include:

• Communicating shipping costs
• Convoluted checkout process
• Enforced account creation

The main reports informing this infographic are from Forrester, there is a good summary of their research in this post from SeeWhy on Shopping Cart Abandonment.

 

BBC News – UK is the ‘most internet-based major economy’

BBC News – UK is the ‘most internet-based major economy’.

UK is the ‘most internet-based major economy’

Continue reading the main story

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The internet contributes to 8.3% of the UK economy, a bigger share than for any of the other G20 major countries, a new study suggests.

The “internet economy” was worth £121bn in 2010, more than £2,000 per person, researchers at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) said.

That made it bigger than the healthcare, construction or education sectors.

The UK also carries out far more retail online than any other major economy.

Some 13.5% of all purchases were done over the internet in 2010, according to BCG, and this is projected to rise to 23% by 2016.

Chocolate vs sex

The researchers said that the overall UK web economy is particularly fast-growing.

They predict it will continue to expand at a rate of 11% per year for the next four years, reaching a total value of £221bn by 2016.

That compares with projected growth rates of 5.4% in the US and 6.9% in China.

This may be particularly good news for small and medium-sized businesses that focus on the sector.

The research suggested that their revenues have grown by 12.5% each year in the last three years.

The study also provided an indication of the UK public’s growing love affair with the web.

While only a quarter of those surveyed said they would consider giving up sex for a year in order to maintain their broadband connection, the figures for other vices were much higher.

Some 65% would give up alcohol, 76% chocolate and 78% coffee.

BeCommerce

BeCommerce.

23/09/2011
Prévisions de croissance de 40%, forte demande pour des marketeurs en ligne, des spécialistes IT et des opérateurs de logistique. Bruxelles, 23 septembre 2011 – Patricia Ceysens, nouvelle présidente de BeCommerce, a présenté aujourd’hui les résultats de l’étude sur l’e-commerce en Belgique. Désormais, la vente en ligne est également vue chez nous comme un canal de vente arrivé à maturité. Ceci ressort de la récente étude menée par le bureau d’enquête iVox à la demande des membres de BeCommerce, la fédération des spécialistes belges de la vente à distance. Le secteur est très positif: par rapport à l’année dernière, 70% des répondants prévoient pour 2011 une croissance de leurs ventes en ligne de 40%. Le marché belge de l’E-commerce est encore loin d’être saturé. Le secteur est dès lors en quête de marketeurs en ligne, de spécialistes IT et d’opérateurs de logistique afin de répondre à la croissance annoncée!

Les résultats montrent que de plus en plus d’entreprises belges vendent uniquement par le biais d’Internet. La part de marché des multi-channel players (entreprises exploitant plusieurs canaux de vente aussi bien online que offline) a chuté à 46% contre 65,9% en 2009. Les pure-players, entreprises qui vendent exclusivement via Internet, dominent le marché avec 54% de part de marché (contre 34,1% en 2009). “Cette augmentation signifie que le ‘online’ est de plus en plus vu comme un canal de vente adulte et que nos boutiques en ligne sont désormais suffisamment puissantes pour se concentrer sur la vente par Internet” explique Patricia Ceysens.

L’e-commerce embauche!
Les acteurs belges de la vente à distance envisagent l’avenir de façon très positive. 7 personnes interrogées sur 10 s’attendent pour 2011 à une augmentation de leurs ventes en ligne de 40% par rapport à l’année dernière. Une impressionnante croissance qui démontre que l’e-commerce belge est loin d’une phase de saturation et possède encore un fort potentiel de croissance. Afin d’accompagner celle-ci dans les meilleures conditions, le marché va devoir s’entourer de personnel compétent. Plus de 75% des entreprises d’e-commerce sondées sont d’avis d’engager 10 nouveaux employés en 2011 afin de répondre à la demande. Les entreprises belges d’e-commerce sont principalement à la recherche de marketeurs en ligne (49%), de spécialistes IT (32%) et d’opérateurs de logistique (19%).

L’e-commerce belge cartographié
Sur base des résultats de l’enquête en ligne, iVox a retenu quelques aspects géographiques à propos de l’e-commerce en Belgique. Car contrairement à la plupart des magasins traditionnels (physiques), leur portée ne s’arrête pas aux frontières politiques. 73% des entreprises d’e-commerce basées en Belgique vendent d’abord aux consommateurs et aux entreprises belges. Les autres pays d’Europe occidentale constituent un important marché extérieur (60%), avant le reste de l’Europe (24%). À peine 11% des boutiques en ligne belges vendent leurs produits au-delà de l’Europe.

Quels produits sont les plus vendus? Comme l’an dernier, les articles les plus fréquemment vendus sur Internet sont les objets de décoration intérieure (35,1% en 2009 et 46% en 2010). Le top 3 est complété par les accessoires de mode (43%) et les vêtements (43%).

Les entreprises belges d’e-commerce ont compris que les consommateurs qui achètent en ligne attendent d’une livraison qu’elle intervienne “ici et maintenant”! Les boutiques en ligne offrent différentes possibilités de livraison. La Poste reste toujours le système de distribution le plus populaire. 65% des entreprises interrogées choisissent la Poste pour amener les paquets à leur clientèle. Les coursiers (38%) et les points d’enlèvement (comme Kiala) constituent d’autres manières de livrer les marchandises commandées en ligne. De plus en plus d’entreprises d’e-commerce offrent la possibilité de retirer les colis dans des points d’enlèvement (de 29,5% en 2009 à 38% en 2010). “Ceci peut être expliqué à la fois par l’importante augmentation du nombre de ces points d’enlèvement et leur meilleure répartition géographique. D’autre part, l’avènement du ‘time slot delivery’ en Belgique a donné un coup de pouce à l’utilisation de ces points d’enlèvement. 11% des e-shops de Belgique offrent déjà aux clients la possibilité d’être livrés à la maison ou de pouvoir aller chercher leur colis dans un point d’enlèvement (également 11%) dans un créneau horaire agréé par le consommateur”, souligne Patricia Ceysens.

Pour ce qui concerne les méthodes de paiement offertes par les boutiques en ligne, les cartes de crédit restent toujours très populaires. 95% des magasins en ligne belges permettent le paiement via Visa et Mastercard, 38% via American Express. Payer avec une simple carte bancaire – Bancontact/Mister Cash – est possible auprès de 60% des boutiques en ligne belges. La carte Maestro est acceptée par 49% d’entre elles. Outre les systèmes de paiement en ligne comme PayPal (54%) et Ideal (46%), la banque en ligne est également reconnue comme méthode de paiement.

Nouvelle direction pour BeCommerce
Aujourd’hui, parallèlement aux résultats de l’enquête, BeCommerce annonce la nomination de sa co-fondatrice Carine Moitier au poste de Directrice. Avec cette nomination, BeCommerce s’inscrit dans la même démarche que ses collègues néerlandais de Thuiswinkel.org qui, avec Wijnand Jongen, ont aussi appelé à la barre un représentant de l’e-commerce. L’exemple de thuiswinkel.org a également été suivi pour ce qui concerne le choix d’une personnalité politiquement active en tant que présidente, Patricia Ceysens, pour assurer à l’organisation un développement réussi.

Driving Online Sales with Video (Source: E-Marketeer)

Retailers are responding to the growing consumer appetite for online videos by adding them to their Websites both to differentiate themselves from competitors and to keep up with what consumers expect from their online shopping experience.

“Consumers rank other purchase decision-making tools, such as customer reviews, ahead of videos in importance,” said Jeffrey Grau, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report “Video E-Commerce: Innovative Models Drive Sales. “But that has not discouraged retailers from quickly adding videos to their sites. They find that videos boost sales conversion rates and reduce abandoned shopping cart and product return rates.”

The proportion of the top 50 US online retailers offering videos jumped 378% in 2009 over the year before, according to a Forrester Research study, “Online Retailers’ Adoption of Online Video Content Is Ahead of Consumers’ Preferences,” published in November 2009. Last year over two-thirds of the biggest online retailers hosted videos.

The adoption rate is poised to climb further, as revealed by a February 2010 Multichannel Merchant survey. Among the two-thirds of respondents who indicated they were planning a site redesign in the next 12 months, some 42.3% said they would add video to their site. That makes it the second-highest priority, well behind social media tools but ahead of other popular Website enhancements including customer reviews and personalized recommendations.

“Retailers are making the case that videos boost their sales conversion rate, a measure of the increase in the percentage of shoppers who make a purchase after viewing a product video,” said Mr. Grau. “Retailers also claim videos reduce shopping cart abandonment rates and lower product return rates.”

http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1007709

Is the Click Still King? (Source: e-marketer)

http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1007679

Online marketing has been touted for its measurability, a quality that should make it easy for marketers to determine effectiveness and value for money. Despite widespread recognition that the click-through does not measure the full effect of an online ad—even ones placed with direct response objectives—and calls for better branding metrics, many marketers still rely on the easy-to-track click as their top performance metric.

A March 2010 survey by Chief Marketer showed the click remained on top, with 60% of US marketers reporting they measured performance in click-throughs. Fewer than two-fifths measured overall return on investment (ROI).

Those responses were similar to the 2009 edition of the same survey, and Chief Marketer suggested respondents were sticking with “old-school metrics” while playing lip service to the importance of ROI.

Similarly, Collective Media reported that in February 2010, click-throughs were the most common measurement of ad network performance, used by 64% of responding advertisers.

Datran Media found in December 2009 that marketers worldwide considered conversions the most important success metric, with nearly 90% saying it was “very important.” Click-throughs were rated important by 56.7% of respondents. But when Datran asked what types of measurement marketers actually used, clicks came out on top, with 72% of respondents tracking them.

These measurement practices left one-quarter of respondents to the Chief Marketer survey unsure whether interactive campaigns produced greater ROI than traditional marketing efforts.

The CMO Council’s “State of Marketing” survey did not ask about click-throughs specifically, but found marketers worldwide were most likely to measure their campaigns through page views, registrations, and the volume and origin of site traffic.

Asked about their online marketing performance measurement ability, the plurality of respondents to that survey (44%) were either working on increasing their capabilities or “struggling” to put a value on their interactive spending.

“Marketers’ familiarity with clicks is only one factor that contributes to its continued usage as the top metric,” said David Hallerman, senior analyst at eMarketer. “Click are easy to count, too, and therefore an inexpensive metric to gather.

“In contrast,” Mr. Hallerman said, “measuring either brand effectiveness or the indirect effects of online ads—such as how display ads contribute to search clicks—is more complex and typically costs more to accomplish that just tallying up clicks.

La Belgique compte 80 nouveaux commerces en ligne chaque mois (Source: Dhnet.be / Ogone)

L’an dernier, Ogone a enregistré 6,9 millions d’achats sur des sites belges
BRUXELLES Environ 80 nouveaux magasins en ligne sont créés chaque mois en Belgique, indique la plate-forme de paiement Ogone mardi dans De Morgen. Il s’agit principalement de magasins existants qui franchissent le cap de l’internet. Grâce à l’offre croissante et à la possibilité de comparer les magasins entre eux, le secteur de l’e-commerce semble bien réagir face à la crise.
“Il s’agit surtout de petits magasins qui ont petit à petit estimé qu’il était bon d’être présent sur internet”, explique Pierre Willaert, directeur général d’Ogone, dont le système de paiement est utilisé par 85% des magasins belges en ligne. “Mais plusieurs grandes chaînes de magasins franchissent aussi le cap de la vente en ligne.”

L’an dernier, Ogone a enregistré 6,9 millions d’achats sur des sites belges, ce qui représente, malgré la crise économique, une augmentation de 42% par rapport à 2007. Les magasins belges en ligne ont dégagé un chiffre d’affaires total de 590 millions d’euros grâce à leurs activités en ligne.

Merchants & Affiliates (source: MarketingSherpa)

Competition between companies and their affiliates is natural. Affiliates can be very effective at creating revenue-generating traffic through search so there’s an inherent tension in the system. See the main attitudes/policies with which merchants attempt to deal with this issue.

Merchant Affiliate Search Engine Marketing Policies — 2009 vs. 2007

Click here to see larger, printable version of this chart

With the advent of search marketing came the problem of competition between companies and the affiliates with whom they have, hopefully, symbiotic relationships. It’s in an affiliate’s best interests to generate search traffic using the most alluring keyword terms, and these are often branded, including the company name itself. Merchants for their part generally want to take full advantage of those same terms and to avoid ‘paying twice’ for affiliate search-driven clicks that they feel would have come to them anyway based on the keyword.

At the same time, affiliates can be very effective at creating revenue-generating traffic through search (some merchants simply cede paid search to their affiliates) so there’s an inherent tension in the system.

Above we see the main attitudes/policies with which merchants attempt to deal with this issue. Interestingly, the number of them who completely reserves brand/trademarked terms has dropped in favor of more nuanced approaches:

Offering specific terms to affiliates. This solution carves off specific terms that aren’t obviously navigational (BestBuy, BestBuy.com, etc.) and allows some or all affiliates to use them in the search marketing.

Limiting terms to the elite. As we saw in figures 3.20 and 3.21, a small number of affiliates tend to produce the lion’s share of revenue, and these elites are given the right to use some or all trademarked/branded terms. Another advantage of this is that monitoring and oversight are somewhat easier.

Placing bid limits. This tactic attempts to reduce competition in the never ending auction for ad placement. This speaks to the efficiency of some affiliates, which have determined that they can make money at keyword prices higher than the merchant itself.

Free reign. For some, the decrease in ROI because of the affiliate ‘cut’ is balanced against affiliates overall success and the affiliates become the ersatz search marketing arm of the merchant.