Information and inspiration both have a role to play
Everyone cares deeply about the food they eat, the cosmetics they use or the drugs they take. What makes the e-commerce sites in the Food and Drug category noteworthy is how they deliver information, and, where appropriate, spark a desire to consume.
The featured cosmetics sites all have found ways to make consumers feel comfortable buying products without smelling or feeling them in person.
Avon.com includes comments from customer reviews in search results, and highlights consumer reviewers deemed particularly reliable, to help consumers quickly find quality products. At FragranceNet.com a visitor can list a fragrance she likes to see a list of similar products.
StilaCosmetics.com features videos illustrating makeup application techniques, and lets shoppers e-mail makeup artists for advice. Each week a Stila Girl blogs about the Stila products she likes, and shows photos of the results. “We want to make our brand more accessible to women by creating features that speak directly to them about our products,” says Ken Kilar, chief information officer.
For national drugstore chains like Walgreens and CVS, the role of the web site is to offer both convenience and information. Both allow consumers to fill or refill prescriptions online, for home delivery or store pickup. CVS not only has a store locator, but a web site feature that shows the nearest CVS pharmacy along a route the consumer plans to travel.
As for inspiration, check out the mouth-watering imagery at Godiva Chocolatier or gift basket retailer iGourmet. But both offer more than just tempting photos.
Godiva has made it remarkably easy for consumers to buy sinful treats through mobile phones. The family behind iGourmet has been importing food for three generations and offers a selection—800 cheeses from 36 countries, all freshly cut for each order—only available in the largest U.S. cities.
KingArthurFlour.com, which sells bakeware and baking ingredients, is the place to go to exchange baking recipes, and to ask questions of the company’s baking experts. Detailed photos show how a recipe should look at each stage in preparation.
“It creates such a good experience for the customer,” says e-commerce consultant Lauren Freedman of The E-tailing Group, “like warm cookies coming out of the oven.”Back to top
The search for beauty
With web sales growing steadily over the last three years, Avon Products Inc. has taken steps to improve the quality of its e-commerce site, Shop.Avon.com.
Among the enhancements is a site search engine that incorporates comments from customer reviews in the search results. That helps visitors learn from other consumers, and find products with the attributes they are seeking. A consumer who provides many reviews that Avon deems helpful is labeled a “Top 500 Contributor” and her reviews carry that designation, helping other viewers to assess which reviews to trust the most. Customer reviews are plentiful and detailed for most products and include a 5-star rating scale.
Avon has added other customer-friendly features to its site, as well. “Avon.com has most of the basics of a modern web site: customer reviews, multiple and/or larger views and ‘customers who bought this product also bought,’” says Mark Lee of consulting firm The Mark Lee Group LLC.
On product pages, visitors can quickly see available products that complement the items they are viewing. “‘This will go great with’ is an excellent way to phrase companion cross-sells,” Lee says.
Liberally scattered beauty tips and suggestions help make the site a useful destination for beauty-conscious consumers. Avon.com recently featured a quiz that lets women choose the appropriate skin care products for their skin type. Product pages also list ingredients, an important feature for many careful shoppers.
Avon also uses its site to help the company establish one-to-one relationships with consumers. The site’s home page touts the eRepresentative option as “the most convenient way” of shopping with Avon. Site visitors can use this feature to locate and speak directly to a representative who lives nearby. Not only does this feature offer the consumer a personal link to an Avon representative, it also offers special perks like “free personal delivery” and personalized e-mail alerts of new products or special offers.
With this year’s addition of a Spanish version of Shop.Avon.com, the company hopes to attract more Spanish-speaking consumers, many of whom are more comfortable shopping in Spanish, even if they speak some English, surveys show.Back to top
Internet meets pharmacy
When CVS.com reconfigured its web site in July, it had clear goals in mind. The company aimed to enhance its services in ways that would help customers better manage their health care, and to reinforce the relationship between CVS.com and the pharmacy chain’s 6,800 stores.
“The vision for the new CVS.com is to be an extension of our stores by providing market-leading tools and services 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” explains Dustin Humphreys, director of ebusiness and technology and general manager of CVS.com. “This aligns with our enterprise effort to provide the best possible multi-channel pharmacy and shopping experience for our customers.”
The primary thrust of that effort was to make it easier for customers to fill prescriptions.
New features of the site allow customers to view their prescriptions online and those of dependents. They also can transfer prescriptions to CVS via the web site, and order prescription refills online and pick up their medications at a CVS store.
The site also established online Health and Drug Information Centers, which offers advice on such issues as weight control, women’s health issues, fitness and nutrition, and heart health. The various health centers are listed on the left side of the home page. There’s also a “Consultation Corner,” which provides articles on a variety of health issues.
“And we’ve integrated information with prescription management,” says Humphreys. “For example, consumers can click on a drug in their medication profile and view information about proper use, side effects and precautions.”
CVS.com’s campaign to strengthen its ties with the company’s brick-and-mortar pharmacies is also reflected in an enhanced store locator. Not only can a consumer find a CVS pharmacy by entering her home address or the CVS store number, but also by using an “along a route” feature that locates pharmacies along the route that she plans to walk or drive.
“It will show me all the stores along the route, which is very smart and uncommon,” says analyst Scott Kincaid, vice president of the usability practice at web experience consulting firm Usability Sciences Inc. Back to top
Brewing convenience
Coffee drinkers are creatures of habit. They love their regular cups of joe and typically drink them the same way whether it’s with cream and sugar, black or some other way.
Dunkin’ Brands Inc. aims to build on this loyalty through its web site, DunkinDonuts.com. While the web site contains a limited selection of items, such as coffee, rechargeable Dunkin’ Donuts prepaid cards, coffee equipment and travel accessories, it provides features that make shopping interactive and convenient for customers.
For example, customers can purchase regular coffee subscriptions on the site and have the products automatically sent to their homes or offices. Customers can sign up for coffee subscriptions by clicking on the category header located on the top navigation bar and scheduling their own times for deliveries. In addition, customers can buy a stored value card that they can use online and in stores and sign up on the site to automatically recharge the card once a week, once a month, or whenever the balance drops below a certain amount.
On DunkinDonuts.com, launched in 2001, the shopping bag remains on the right-hand side of the page once a purchase is made and the purchase amount recalculates if an order changes so that customers can keep track of purchases. Another convenience feature allows purchases to be sent to multiple addresses.
The web site also boasts engaging content. “The DDSMART Menu feature lets users view the menu and nutritional information in an engaging and interactive way,” says Manivone Phommahaxay, senior experience design consultant at online marketing firm Molecular Inc. “Rather than reading about calories from a chart, DD presents a fun interaction that lets users see enticing food while learning about the nutritional value.”
Dunkin’ Donuts, which has 7,900 shops in 30 countries, has also jumped into social networking, posting its promotional videos on YouTube as well as on its web site. “Clever integration of YouTube videos builds a community of fans who can subscribe, share and riff off of each other about the latest commercials and Dunkin’s experience,” says Phommahaxay. Back to top
A beauty salon online
Estée Lauder is on a mission to help its customers look good, even glamorous. And it’s using its e-commerce site to carry out that mission in a manner that lets it connect with customers in multiple ways.
Estée Lauder, a long-time leading beauty products brand from manufacturer and marketer The Estée Lauder Companies Inc., sells a collection of makeup, skincare and fragrance items on EsteeLauder.com. But it also engages online shoppers with interactive and image-rich content to give them the virtual experience of visiting a beauty salon.
“E-commerce is a critical growth vehicle for the Estée Lauder brand,” says Karmine Yu, Estée Lauder’s vice president of e-commerce. “But EsteeLauder.com is not just about sales. It’s also about providing tools, tips and useful information to our customers that they can use every day.
“We offer our customers detailed descriptions of all products and the ability to communicate with an Estée Lauder beauty advisor via live chat or phone for personalized service and recommendations.”
The company carries out its mission well and in line with its venerable cosmetics and fragrance brand, says Danielle Savin, former head of e-commerce at Frederick’s of Hollywood and now vice president and retail specialist at consulting firm FitForCommerce.
“The color and imagery throughout EsteeLauder.com is striking and reflective of the nature and elegance of Estée Lauder,” Savin says. “The site also offers good category refinement and intuitive customer navigation. The overall site experience is very good.”
The site injects a personalized salon-like shopping experience with tips from professional models on their personal profile pages, which show each model’s favorite perfume and makeup materials. Two interactive tools, the Foundation Finder and the Skincare Finder, let shoppers on EsteeLauder.com enter their personal skin type and complexion, then enter their personal makeup-wearing style and appearance or skincare goals, to find the most appropriate group of cosmetics and tools for applying them.
Personal attention, of course, is what Estée Lauder is about. “Our site is a reflection of our brand’s personality,” Yu says. Back to top
Sniffing out product
It’s not easy purchasing a fragrance online when you can’t smell the product.
But FragranceNet.com is undergoing a redesign of is site and navigational tools that will help customers find fragrances and related products based on their descriptions—for instance, a soft and fruity scent versus a strong and spicy one.
Although the full redesign won’t be complete until February, some features were rolled out this fall. Already, customers can list a fragrance that they like and get suggestions for similar fragrances. That aids customers who like certain high-end designer fragrances but don’t want to pay the high-end prices and want suggestions of similar, lower-cost alternatives.
By early next year, customers will be able to take that a step farther by describing their ideal scent. They will be able to specify if they want a light, medium or heavy scent and whether they like flowery, fruity or spicy fragrances. They’ll even be able to specify how long they want the scent to last. Then, they get suggestions that fit the bill, explains Jason Apfel, president.
“In our category, selection is key,” he says. “We need to help customers quickly and easily find the fragrances that fit their desires.”
These new features are taking this web site to a new level. Its strength in the past has been its selection and prices—selling popular fragrances up to 70% below department store prices. But customers generally had to know in advance the name of the fragrance they wanted.
Features that help customers sort product and quickly find what they like is a welcome addition, says Lee Diercks, managing director of consulting firm Clear Thinking Group LLC. Fragrancenet.com offers 11,000 products in its fragrance, cosmetics, candles and aromatherapy lines.
Diercks notes the site previously needed “a lot of verbiage” to describe so many products, and it wasn’t easy for customers to sort through all the options. “You pretty much had to know what brand of fragrance you wanted; it was not very shopper-friendly,” Diercks says.
Letting customers describe what they want and get appropriate suggestions addresses those concerns. Back to top
I want candy
A man is out to lunch when it suddenly dawns on him that it’s his honey’s birthday tomorrow. Fortunately he remembers his significant other’s most significant candy is White Chocolate Raspberry Stars from Godiva. So he whips out his smartphone, goes into his Godiva application, searches “raspberry stars,” selects a gift box, enters shipping and billing information automatically through the smartphone’s address book, selects overnight shipping, clicks Buy (payment information is stored and encrypted in the application), and returns to his sandwich.
Leaders in mobile commerce know it’s as simple as that—or rather, that it needs to be as simple as that. Godiva dove into m-commerce when the chocolatier launched a shop on mobile mall Digby in 2007. This year, it continued to pioneer m-commerce by launching a downloadable mobile application available for BlackBerrys, iPhones and smartphones with Windows Mobile.
An m-commerce site is essentially a small version of an e-commerce site. A mobile application is small software that users download onto their smartphones and run like any other program. Because mobile applications use the resident computing power and functionality of the smartphone instead of a distant web server, and communicate with web servers much less frequently, they provide a faster, richer experience. And they reside on a user’s mobile desktop, which the cell phone owner sees several times a day.
Godiva knew this, and is among the first retailers to launch a downloadable mobile application—and one for so many different smartphones, no less.
“The mobile application is about driving transactions, of course, but it’s also about branding and getting your name out there in the mobile realm and, most especially, having the opportunity to stay very, very close to your best customers,” says Dave Sikora, CEO of Digby, which helped Godiva build the application.
In 2009, Godiva will launch an m-commerce site, accessible via any mobile phone with Internet access. And it will introduce a version of its mobile application for the newly minted Android mobile operating system from Google, a move that shows Godiva will continue to push the m-commerce envelope. Back to top
Epicurean delights
iGourmet is for two kinds of people: gourmets and the people who love them, or at least like them enough to want to send a really nice gift.
And its navigation bar is color-coded accordingly: sepia for the gourmet, with tabs leading directly to cheese, coffee, chocolate and desserts, oils and vinegars (hungry yet?) and other specialty categories, and mustard-yellow for the gift-giver, with tabs for gift baskets, of-the-month clubs, and create-your-own-basket.
A long list of Hot Topics down the left side (Anchovies! Sopressata! Butter!) further abets the epicure’s search. Some of the most mouthwatering food photography on the web makes those gourmet dishes really pop off the screen (ostrich tenderloin, anyone?).
iGourmet’s founder, Spencer Chesman, is from a family that’s been in food importing for three generations and has strong, sometimes exclusive, relationships with small European suppliers. What iGourmet lacks in delicious aromas, it makes up for in selection, like 800 cheeses from 36 countries, all cut fresh for each order. A tab for “regional cuisines” leads customers to the usual French and Italian, plus such exotic culinary destinations as Africa, Israel and Australia.
A redesign earlier this year paid big dividends by simplifying the categories and putting product pages only one or two clicks from the home page, says director of marketing Stephan Bernstein. “We made changes in our hierarchy based on user feedback about being able to find things, and then we matched our paid search terms to the new categories,” he says. “Now we can really see which terms are performing. We can see when we’re getting a lot of traffic on a term, and maybe we should expand that product line.”
The site also sharpened its ask-the-expert capabilities with live chat; questions on given products are routed automatically to the person who knows the product line best.
“The navigation looks a little busy to me, but otherwise I think they’ve done a really good job with the design,” says e-commerce consultant Erin Cisney of Ciztek Consulting, Denver. “The product pages are clear and get a lot of information across.” Back to top
First bake, then blog
Take a big assortment of bake ware and ingredients, add a large quantity of how-to content, bind it together with an online community 100,000 members strong, and you have KingArthurFlour.com’s recipe for success. Though the 200-year-old brand launched a catalog in 1990, it is its web site that’s brought it into the 21st century. It’s harnessed the social networking power of the Internet to tap into the popular online activity of recipe sharing and built one of the largest enthusiast communities online.
The Bakers’ Banter Blog launched in 2007 was a turning point for the site, says web marketing manager Halley Silver. The blog posts recipes and information on technique by the company’s blogger baking experts, who also answer customer baking questions that come in by e-mail, live chat or telephone. Distinguishing the site is detailed photography showing not only how a recipe should look in preparation, but also the mouth-watering results. Visitors can also engage with the company’s experts and with each other via the Baking Circle message board. Other resources include tips for baking, ingredient guides, and more.
E-Tailing Group president Lauren Freedman has praise for how the depth of content, the photos and the layout entice shoppers to buy. “The copy is as strong as the product imagery. It all creates such a good experience for the customer, like warm cookies coming out of the oven. You want to order everything,” she says.
The wealth of educational content has found the brand a new audience online, Silver says. The site is tagged so often on peer recommendation engine StumbleUpon that it’s become King Arthur’s largest source of referred traffic and its third-largest source of all traffic.
As a result, more bakers and shoppers are discovering the site’s products. Silver says about 65% of sales are now transacted online, up about five percentage points from last year. The rest come via catalog-driven calls. “We have a well-staffed call center trained to answer baking questions,” Silver says. “As more of our orders shift from phone to web we are shifting customer service to the web as well.” Back to top
Keeping it fun
It’s a tribute to the marketing know-how of candy maker Mars Direct Inc. that M&M’s, the chocolate candy Mars introduced in 1941, remains so popular. From the 1990’s addition of peanut butter M&M’s, to the consumer contest for choosing a new candy color in the early part of this decade, to the personalized candies consumers can now create online, Mars has shown repeatedly that it knows how to keep an established brand fresh. This year it’s leveraged the power of the Internet to take that one step further with the introduction of Faces on its web site, MyMMs.com.
The feature allows consumers to upload photos to print the faces of loved ones on M&M’s candies. To pump up interest in the new option, the site in October launched the Candy Lab, a tool allowing consumers to animate virtual M&Ms with the faces in the uploaded photos, making them talk or sing.
“It’s fun to play with and it really inspires you,” says Lauren Freedman, president of retail consultancy The E-Tailing Group. Freedman adds that the site also excels at walking visitors through the process of both using the animation tool and creating personalized candies for ordering. “The instructions are very strong. You can easily follow them and preview your order,” she notes.
The brand has reached out to online venues beyond its own site in a big way through a collaboration with Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. MarthaStewart.com hosts video of a tour of the M&M’s factory, highlighting the candy personalization process, which was featured on the Martha Stewart television show. MarthaStewart.com hosts a link directing shoppers to an “As seen on Martha” link on the MyMMs.com home page that leads to ideas on packaging the personalized candies as gifts or decorations, also featured on the television show.
“Millions turn to Martha for do-it-yourself inspiration for holiday gifts,” says Jim Cass, vice president and general manager at Mars Direct. “My M&M’s is pleased to provide a platform to personalize gifts that are fun, meaningful and a treat to eat.” Back to top
Social scents
People wear perfume and cologne to send a message. It’s a social act that says other peoples’ opinions matter. Scentiments.com, which features deeply discounted prices, makes buying fragrances a social experience, as well.
Product pages offer visitors many ways to seek others’ opinions about a product, or to express their own. A Share This link allows a visitor to e-mail a friend, post a comment to a page on Facebook or other social networks, or to comment on more than three dozen social web sites, from familiar ones like Digg and StumbleUpon to the Chinese-language Funp.
“It’s similar to word of mouth,” says Howard Wyner, CEO of Scentiments.com. Consumers are always bragging about getting a great deal, he says. “That’s the tipping point, not just buying the product, but buying it at the best price out there.”
In a recent 30-day period, Wyner says, 1,400 visitors used the sharing tool, from ShareThis Inc. Most e-mailed friends, while others posted to Facebook, Google Bookmarks, MySpace and other social networks. It all helps build qualified traffic, Wyner says.
The site also added customer reviews in September 2007, and now has about 50,000 reviews posted. That helps make the site a more useful resource for customers, Wyner adds. Consumers also can e-mail the retailer’s Fragrance Guru and get advice from employees who can sample products stored in the company’s on-site warehouse.
When an item is out of stock, consumers can click an Alert Me option and provide their e-mail address. Fragrances are often unavailable, as a suddenly hot product can disappear quickly. Scentiments sends out an e-mail when the item is available again. “We get huge conversions when those e-mail go out, 35-45%,” Wyner says.
Recognizing that consumers may be skeptical of the site’s low prices, Wyner prominently displays the company’s high ranking from BizRate, which summarizes consumer ratings of companies, and provides answers to questions about its low prices and quality of goods.
“Scentiments makes great use of visitor assurances and carries an extensive selection,” says Ethan Giffin, founder of e-commerce consulting firm Groove Commerce. Back to top
Girl to girl
When it comes to buying cosmetics, consumers like to interact with a sales representative who can explain how to apply the makeup and select the proper shade and style, such as gloss or powder, best suited to the buyer’s complexion.
Stilacosmetics.com tries to recreate the face-to-face experience through video, blogs and e-mail that allow shoppers to get the most of their shopping experience and the product purchased by interacting with a makeup artist or customer that used the product.
Shoppers can choose from a variety of videos based on their needs. For instance, one video is tied to a promotion featuring female pop music group “The Bridges” talking about why they like Stila products and showing those products being applied by a makeup professional.
“Seeing videos of how people apply make-up and why they like the product is very educational and helps recreate the in-store demonstration experience,” says Lee Diercks, managing director at consulting firm Clear Thinking Group LLC. “The education aspect makes the site very attractive.” He also gives high marks to the site navigation, which includes top-of-the-page category headings such as What’s New and Best Sellers that reveal sub-categories when a visitor mouses over them.
Visitors can find additional information at the Stila Girl of the Week section, a blog where one customer each week explains which Stila products they use and why. The blog includes a photo of the customer wearing the Stila makeup, and lists her product recommendations.
“We want to make our brand more accessible to women by creating features that speak directly to them about our products,” says Ken Kilar, chief information officer for Stilacosmetics.com. “The Bridges actually approached us about doing a video.”
An Ask the Artist feature on the site lets shoppers e-mail questions to a makeup artist. It’s been such a hit with shoppers that it has provided many of the topics covered in the instructional videos.
“Being able to consult with a make-up artist makes the site more knowledge-driven,” says Chris Vicente, senior manager, Products Consumer Markets Group, for consulting firm BearingPoint. Back to top
Beauty superstore
Ulta’s nearly 300 stores serve up one-stop shopping for prestige, mass-market and salon products and services to combine the appeal of a beauty superstore with that of a specialty retailer, an approach that’s a major departure from the separate, traditional distribution venues of department stores, drugstores and salons.
And now, Ulta’s assortment online is even bigger: In the past year it’s increased products available online by 50%, adding thousands of SKUs to ensure the depth of product online matches what’s in stores.
And Ulta.com brings much of that in-store experience to its web site. This year it added multiple microsites that mimic the brand boutique approach by which cosmetics are sold in department stores. Each boutique differs, with Ulta working closely with the brands to develop an online boutique experience that captures the essence of each.
“The microsites are the big differentiator,” says Gartner Inc. vice president Gene Alvarez. “Ulta recognizes that this is a product consumers buy by brand.”
Brand boutiques such as Bare Minerals offer shoppers tools and content that approximate in-store shopping; for instance, they help in matching a customer’s skin tone to the right shade of foundation by offering color swatches. That match-up triggers the presentation of other items geared toward the customer’s skin tone, such as kits or complementary items aimed at her particular needs and interests.
“We line it all up to try to make it easy for the customer to find the products that are right for her,” says David Southworth, vice president of e-commerce.
This year, Ulta.com also has streamlined its checkout process, reducing it by about half, Southworth adds. Another in a series of strategic initiatives is a drive to collect customer e-mail addresses at store checkout.
“Getting consumers into our database allows us to talk to them in a multi-channel way,” Southworth says. “It gets consumers engaged with the value-added content that is on the site, and gives them another way to engage with the brand, another way to shop and another way to fulfill their needs.” Back to top
More than a drugstore
Walgreens.com is not just an online pharmacy. It’s a site where people can go to learn how to become healthy and keep fit.
Walgreens.com features a health library in English and Spanish, tutorials on prescription refills and health records, and an “Ask a Pharmacist” tool that provides responses to questions—usually within 24 hours.
“The health library is a driver of traffic to our site,” says Tim McCauley, director of e-commerce for Walgreen Co.
It’s easy to see why. Not only can visitors gain access to a comprehensive health encyclopedia, they also can take a health assessment test, link to a stop-smoking program, or begin a diet with the help of an interactive weight loss center.
Scott Kincaid, an analyst and vice president of the usability practice at Usability Sciences, Inc., describes Walgreens.com’s reservoir of health information and services as a “very smart way of getting people to come back to the site. They’re thinking of how can we provide what you’re after, and things above and beyond that.”
The site offers a full range of drugstore services and related products. A popular feature, according to McCauley, allows customers to fill or refill prescriptions online and then pick up medication at one of the chain’s more than 6,500 bricks-and-mortar pharmacies around the country. Customers also can have medication shipped directly to their homes. Walgreens.com offers automatic prescription refills and will alert customers by e-mail, if they request, when it’s time for a prescription to be refilled.
Visitors may customize the site to their own specifications so their own prescriptions show up automatically when they log in. Shoppers also can store photos on the site for sharing with friends and relatives. “It has been a key to our success,” McCauley says of the customization features.
Tabs running atop the site’s home page list by category Walgreens.com’s products and services. They are easy to read and include a highlighted seasonal tab to attract the attention of visitors. A new feature enables shoppers to see if their local Walgreens pharmacy has a product listed online.
