In the young world of online retailing, merchants still look for the right way to present products
By Linda Punch
Retailers in the bricks-and-mortar world have had at least 100 years to perfect modern merchandising techniques. But for Internet retailers, getting the right product to the right customer is still very much what one merchant describes as a “test-and-learn” process. Retailers still haven’t found how to bring to online shopping the salesperson’s expertise that results in consumers finding what they want—and sometimes more than they wanted.
That’s not because online merchants aren’t trying. Retailers are using everything from tools that allow shoppers to focus on even the most minute features of a product—a waterproof zipper, for example—to so-called virtual search reps that deliver detailed information on an item straight from the manufacturer’s web site.
And many of the new merchandising tools are designed to be user friendly for the retailer. For example, merchandising staff at B&H Photos can update content on the latest digital camera simply by setting up a feed or installing a piece of JavaScript code on a product page.
Thus far, no technology has emerged as the go-to tool for merchandising. “A lot of online merchandising is based on having information from the different databases—customer information, product information and inventory margin information,” says Jupiter Research analyst Patti Freeman Evans. “Having that all meld together isn’t so easy.”
But if there’s one thing retailers understand, it’s the importance of merchandising. And so they are testing a variety of approaches to making online shopping as appealing to consumers as an in-store visit.
The North Face:
Where details count
Sometimes a picture is not enough, even if it’s a close-up and in color. That’s the case at The North Face Inc., manufacturer of high-tech outdoor and athletic wear. Much of North Face’s outerwear uses state-of-the-art fabric and zipper technologies designed to meet the unique needs of hardcore and outdoors athletes. “We feel it’s really important to call those features out for the consumer,” says Sarah Gallagher, online manager.
But at the same time, The North Face sells everyday clothing such as socks and t-shirts, “where just a basic zoom and color change work best,” Gallagher says. As such, the manufacturer needs tools that are flexible enough to handle both merchandising requirements.
The North Face found the answer to its merchandising needs with Fluid Inc.’s new Concept Retail online merchandising suite. With Concept Retail, North Face can set up a guided zoom feature, which enables shoppers to zero in on specific features of a jacket with accompanying text explaining the technology. Or it can set up the most basic zoom and color feature.
The results have been impressive—up to a 72% increase in conversion on some products, and for people who make repeat visits, up to a 300% increase in conversions. “Overall, we’ve seen about a 100% increase in conversions across the site,” Gallagher says.
For The North Face, improving shoppers’ online experience means giving them detailed descriptions of higher-priced items. “Because our products are so technical, we have higher price points,” Gallagher says. “Someone who’s going to spend $500 on a jacket wants to know what they’re spending their money on.”
The North Face uses Fluid’s guided zoom technology to create so-called hotspots—small boxes overlaid on the product image that a shopper can click on to get a magnified view and a brief description of a product feature. For example, the retailer might want to highlight a zipper on a jacket, explaining the technology used to make it waterproof.
To set up the hotspot, a member of the merchandising staff clicks on the image of the jacket, clicks on the zipper and then writes a sentence about the technology around that, Gallagher says.
Employees can learn how to use Fluid’s merchandising tools in about a two-hour training session because the technology is web-based and “really intuitive,” she says. “There’s no coding at all. It’s just a lot of drag and drop.”
In addition to the display features, the Fluid Concept Retail suite also includes a custom product configurator and a product selector tool.
Merchants also can integrate analytics and supply chain data into their online merchandising decisions, says Andy Lloyd, Fluid’s director of product management.
AbtElectronics.com:
Guiding the customer to the right product
Consumer electronics retailer Abt Electronics Inc. is using another approach to helping consumers narrow their field of choices at AbtElectronics.com. The Glenview, Ill.-based retailer uses a customized product recommendation tool from Guidester Inc. Abt tested the tool with 13 products and received positive customer response, says Jon Abt, vice president of marketing. “We plan on adding more,” he says.
Guidester is designed to present consumers with a more manageable array of products based on their personal preferences, says Joe Chin, CEO. He cites the example of a shopper looking for a digital camera. “The problem consumers always encounter is that there are just so many choices,” he says. “We call it the wall of products.”
The Guidester tool enables shoppers to narrow those choices by asking them what features they are looking for in a product. To install the tool, retailers simply set up on each category page a “need help deciding” button which links to Guidester’s site. They also provide a data feed that enables Guidester to customize the tool to the retailer’s selection and pricing.
A shopper who clicks on the button is asked to select from multiple choice answers on criteria such as price, brand, and product weight and size. Guidester then returns a list of products meeting those specifications. When the shopper selects a product, he goes back to the retailer’s site where he can read more about the product and complete the purchase.
“The tool is customized to our retailers so it’s very seamless,” Chin says. “From the end-user’s standpoint, they never think they’re leaving the site.”
Guidester acts as a paid search network for manufacturers but is free to retailers.
B&H Photo:
Relying on the manufacturer for up-to-date specs
In a market where obsolescence is a way of life—like consumer electronics—keeping information current is paramount, says Malachy Sherlock, vice president, web business, B&H Photo-Video-Pro Audio.
“The challenge within this space is how we get the information from our vendors and how we deliver that to our customers as quickly as possible,” he says. “Product lifecycles are diminishing, so the faster I can deliver content on my site, the higher the chances I will sell that product.”
B&H staff spends a lot of time and resources on producing content for the web site, including marketing, source guides and catalogs, Sherlock says. And the task is complicated by the increasing number of vendors and product features. “A number of years ago there were 20 or 30 product attributes,” he says. “Today you’re seeing hundreds of attributes associated with a product.”
And with the push to use rich media in merchandising, developing content is more expensive and time consuming, Sherlock says. That’s why New York-based B&H has started using Tentoe Inc.’s Virtual Sales Rep—a package of product descriptions, features, specification and images supplied by the manufacturer.
Retailers access Tentoe content either through setting up a feed or installing a piece of JavaScript code on their product pages. “Once retailers are connected to the data, it’s completely hands-free for them,” says Tom Fristoe, Tentoe CEO.
Content is delivered to shoppers when they click on a link on a product page at the retailer’s site. “What’s great is just to see how quickly the vendors deliver the rich media content through the Tentoe tool,” Sherlock says.
The virtual sales rep is used by about 80 retailers and 100 manufacturers in the U.S., including Best Buy Co. Inc., CompUSA Inc., Circuit City Stores Inc., and Newegg.com.
Since connecting to Tentoe, B&H is experiencing thousands of opens a day on VCRs and hundreds of hours of viewing, Sherlock says.
The Tentoe system also allows both manufacturers and retailers to monitor how content is performing on their sites. “I can go into the reports and see what we’ve done in the last day, the last month, the last quarter,” Sherlock says. “Month over month I’m seeing more use of the tool.”
B&H also can customize the tool to the site’s look and feel, Sherlock says. “If I want to change the wrapper tomorrow, I can do it,” he says.
SmartBargains.com:
Personalization based on tons of data
For off-price retailer SmartBargains.com, getting the right product in front of the right consumer as quickly as possible is key, says CEO Ben Fischman. “That for us is really rocket science,” he says.
SmartBargains turned to ChoiceStream Inc.’s personalization service, which determines which products to market to a consumer based on a database of product information that includes everything from product descriptions to customer reviews.
“When you purchase a product, that tells us a bunch of things about your preferences,” says Steve Johnson, ChoiceStream CEO. “It doesn’t just tell us that you like that product, it tells us something about your preferences for the characteristics of the products. That helps us do a much better job of learning quickly about the kinds of things you like.”
SmartBargains set up a product feed to ChoiceStream, enabling ChoiceStream to monitor customers’ purchases. “We send them historical transactional information and they apply their logic,” Fischman says. “They have an incredible amount of historical data on different products.”
SmartBargains.com has experienced a 15% to 30% increase in conversions on some products since implementing the personalization tool from ChoiceStream, Fischman says.
“In this online world where web sites believe the more products you show at one time to as many customers as possible is a win, we believe making the shopping experience easier for the customer is the way to really breed loyalty,” Fischman says.
The search continues
There’s no doubt that retailers will continue to search for ways to engage customers and improve the customer experience. And not every tool will be right for every retailer. In a recent study of online merchandising efforts, Forrester Research notes that it found retailers integrating technology simply because other retailers who were considered leaders had the tool on their sites. “Often the efforts of even perceived leaders, while well-intentioned, may be misguided,” Forrester said.
It’s one further indication of the distance the online market must travel before e-merchandising has developed best practices.
linda@verticalwebmedia.com
