Online purchase experience feedback of more than 24,000 web users Focus on

7 June 2012

London 7th June 2012 – website functionality quoted by more than half of
clients as the first characteristic that has impacted their online shopping!


Digital experience specialist Yuseo recently conducted a study comparing the
feedback given by internet shoppers concerning their online experience,
across two different sectors, namely the ‘food & grocery’ market and the
‘general retail’ market. Yuseo gathered the views of over 24,000 online
users as to the types of characteristics they value most when using the
internet to purchase either food or more general goods and then compared the
differences.


Online shopping experience: what clients value most?

Clients of these online shops tell us their views by selecting the four main
elements that have impacted their shopping experience. The characteristics
that they value most from their latest online shopping experiences on these
websites, in the 3 first positions in both markets are: the ease of use, the
smoothness of purchase process and a wide range of brands. Each item (on
average in both markets) was quoted by 53 % of the 24,000 shoppers
questioned for the ‘ease of use’, by 51% for the ‘smoothness of the purchase
process‘ and a ‘a broad choice of well known brands’ received 47% of votes.
Clearly, the overall handling of the web site comes across as playing a
major part in the online purchase satisfaction.
Beyond these aspects, results show more specific characteristics for each
field of business. For Food & Grocery, 33% of online buyers quoted at the
same level the ‘freshness and products of good quality’ and ‘many good own
brand products’; a bit as a surprise, the ‘pricing’ aspect was ranked 6th.
Finally the visual characteristics seem to have little impact on the
customer experience in this business.
While for the General Retail, the ‘pricing’ aspect comes along at fourth
place with 36% closely followed by ‘the existence of interesting offers’
(35%). The visual aspects with 33% ("different images of the products" and
"visual and good quality images") are just behind.


Retailers’ focus: the challenging balance between “performing” and “showing
my differences”!

Clients of the biggest retailers in these two sectors underline the
differences in their positioning as they are involved in a challenging
environment.

Food & Grocery
Tesco’s website leads the aspect of ‘ease of use’ and ‘smoothness of the
purchase process’ with 51% and 48% on these items. Sainsbury’s follows
closely with 51% and 46%. Tesco is also on top on the ‘a broad choice of
well known brands’ voted by 42% of its clients.
For the ‘freshness of products’ and ‘broad choice of good own brand
products’, 48% and 45% of Waitrose’s clients acknowledge these items. Ocado
follows slightly behind with 47% and 32%.
The shopping experience on Asda’s site is unanimously appreciated for
getting the ‘best price guarantee’ with a 51% score, against 25 % for
average of the sector.

General retail
66 % of Amazon, Marks & Spencer and Littlewoods customers welcome ‘the
smoothness of the purchase process’.
For the ‘broad choice of well known brands’, House of Fraser and Littlewoods
are on top receiving 68% and 67% of votes from their clients (the average
score being 57%).
House of Fraser performs also quite well compare to its competitors on the
‘visuals and high quality images’ topic acknowledged by 47% of its
customers. On the ‘existence of different product images and possibilities
to "zoom"’, House of Fraser and M & S are hand in hand with 45% (the average
score being 33%).
Tesco Direct is recognised for its attractive pricing policy: 51% of its
clients praise the ‘guarantee of the best price’ and ‘attractive
promotions‘(44%).
Debenhams remains in the fray on most items but is acknowledged for its
attractive promotions “ahead of the pack” for 46% of its customers.
Finally, John Lewis outperforms its competitors on the client information
and assistance with 47% of its clients selecting this item (29% on average).


The results pinpoints, from a customer perspective, the items that made a
difference for each retailer when purchasing last with them. From a new
customer point of view, the results and findings provided by the competitive
benchmark – the Observatory - enable to pinpoint which items of the online
customer experience do impact the attractiveness and image of the site…