Amazon Ranks Top for Online Shopping Experience, According to Blast Radius Research Report
Wednesday, 22 November 2006
Blast Radius has identified Amazon.com as America's Best Online Shopping Experience for the second year in a row in a report based on extensive independent evaluation of the top 100 online retail sites.
The report is designed to evaluate the online shopping experience from a customer's point of view and provides insight as to how the online retail industry has changed in the past year and how leading retailers can gain a competitive advantage through experience–based differentiation.
The report's key findings indicate that overall online shopping experiences have improved since 2005. So many retailers are now adopting industry–wide best practices for design and usability that they are now challenged to truly differentiate themselves based on customer experience. Some key trends that offer opportunities to create differentiation are: creating a seamless experience across all channels and stages of the shopping experience, enabling and encouraging customer participation to offer new value to shoppers and innovating based on unmet customer needs.
Amazon.com was again selected as the best overall online retailer based on their continued dedication to customer experience as demonstrated by their introduction of social networking capabilities and other technology innovations such as "tagging", customer blogs, discussion boards and more, all of which enable user generated content and a stronger ability for customers to engage and participate.
The biggest gain compared to last year's list was made by Buy.com who bounced from the bottom of the list to fourth place this year. Buy.com's gain was based on an improved overall customer experience and a willingness to present a range of innovative features including RSS feeds, which allow shoppers to stay more engaged and connected by subscribing to updates about new products, sales and promotions.
"Online retail has changed dramatically in the past year, with many more retailers putting more effort into offering a consistent experience across all stages of customer interaction," said Idris Mootee, senior vice president of strategy and innovation for Blast Radius. "Going forward, experience–based differentiation will mark the new leaders in online retailing, so more retailers will be seeking true cross–channel integration and encouraging community participation and engagement to support online purchases."
Many cross–channel retailers recognize and are striving to provide consistent customer experiences, however the report finds that this is one area that poses many complex logistical issues, particularly for those that use rich media catalogs as marketing tools. Many of the major multi–channel retailers post rich media catalogs online, but do not allow customers to click through and purchase items online.
The Ten Best Online Shopping Experiences
· www.amazon.com
· www.walmart.com
· www.buy.com
· www.bestbuy.com
· www.tigerdirect.com
· www.macys.com
· www.newegg.com
· www.smartbargains.com
· www.overstock.com
· www.williams-sonoma.com
Blast Radius customer experience panel members devised the methodology for the research report and it was supported by subsequent research conducted by Informa Research Services Inc., a premier provider of market research and mystery shopping services. The research went beyond the Web sites themselves to evaluate the entire online shopping experience, including fulfillment and returns and integration with other retail channels. The complete report is available at www.blastradius.com.