When we first conceived Yomdel we started with a simple problem: Why is it that when shopping online customers enter a store only to have the lights turned off? Think about it. In a traditional shop customers generally have shop assistants standing ready to answer questions, find products and help people make selections. Shopping online is very different, and people are often left to grope around in the dark.
In the Zero Moment of Truth, or ZMOT, world that we live in it is true to say that many people carefully research their online purchases before they make a final decision. They will use comparison sites, search engines, read reviews and visit Facebook product or consumer pages to find out about the items they are considering purchasing. They will also increasingly do a bit of "showrooming" or visiting shops to look at and handle the products before going back to complete the purchase via ecommerce.
While shops in the high street are suffering from increasing costs coupled with declining footfall and diminishing spend, online retailers are also faced with increasing competition to capture website visitors when they pass through and then convert them into customers. There are many innovations out there to help make online shopping is becoming an altogether better experience. Some of these are technology-related (such as personalisation, suggested products etc) and some are human-related such as live chat that seeks to replace the role of a traditional shop assistant.
But the online shopping experience is still in its infancy. There will be many innovations and changes to come. But before then, it's worth taking a look at these three short videos put out by Google Analytics in the UK, that takes a sideways looks at online shopping in real life. You may have seen these videos already, but if you are someone who likes online shopping, they will surely raise a giggle.