Retail web sites need to improve usability, Organic president says
For all the success that online retailing has chalked up until now, there’s still room for improvement, especially in usability, Mark Kingdon, president of Organic Inc., a web site design and marketing company, says. "Many sites don’t think about what people are trying to do at their sites," says Kingdon, who will be part of a panel discussion on selling apparel online at the eTail Conference next week in Palm Springs, CA. The panel, at 5:20 p.m., Tuesday, will also feature Sam Taylor, vice president of e-commerce for Lands’ End, John Hayes, president of J. Jill Direct, and Ken Seiff, CEO of Bluefly. "Companies don’t step back enough to ask what people are trying to do on their sites," Kingdon says.
Especially apparel sites have a great opportunity to engage customers and re-create the offline experience online, Kingdon says. For instance, he urges the use of virtual models and product recommendations. "People are looking for how a piece of clothing fits the body, what goes together and how one item relates to other items in a wardrobe," he says. Not only could those tactics create satisfied shoppers, he says, they also can reduce returns.
Further, he says product search is one of the most important initiatives an apparel site can undertake, "but it’s not being exploited," Kingdon says. Simply returning results is not good enough, he says. Rather, apparel retailers should return results that actively merchandise their goods, with suggestions for companion products or entire ensembles. "They should return very customized search results pages," he says.
But in addition to issues related to direct sales, apparel retailers can use the web in other ways that benefit the company. He cites the case of Tommy Hilfiger Corp., a client, that uses its web site to engage customers in the brand and to encourage customers to interact with the brand through a membership program. "The web plays an important role in engaging customers in a brand’s lifestyle," Kingdon says.
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