So What Makes A Retail Electronics Site A Top Performer?

Consumer electronics are a significant and growing category of online commerce

. Leading specialty retailers Best Buy and Circuit City have made significant investments in their online storefronts and it shows, both in their sales and customer experience ratings. Hybrid retailers like Best Buy and Circuit City offer consumers the advantage of buying online and picking up the purchases in the store, as well as returning items to the store. But the pure-play online retailers such as Amazon and Dell still exert leadership, with greater depth of online experience and all of their energies dedicated to the online channel.

Theres a big difference between a consumer shopping for a new coat or a book and one shopping for a flat panel TV or the latest computer. The consumer who is shopping for often-expensive electronic equipment tends to be more technologically savvy and sophisticated than the average online shopper. As a result, their expectations of a Web site are higher in terms of both performance and overall experience.

So what makes a retail electronics site a top performer? It would seem that consumers are looking for the same thing in an electronics site as they are in a mate: Looks and money.

Visual Appeal.

Best Buy tops the rankings for home page appeal and overall site looks, following by Dell, Amazon, and Circuit City. Strong product photography, clear organization of the elements on the page, and strategic use of color are important factors contributing to consumers overall visual reaction to the sites.

Purchase Process.

How easy is it, how long does it take, how much information do I have to give, and whats the real total price with shipping and taxes? Consumers want it easy, fast, simple, and accurate. Shoppers were most likely to cite availability of shipping costs without a required log-in as a most important factor in the purchase process. Ease of determining shipping costs helped Circuit City and Best Buy to place number one and two, respectively, in the purchase process rankings, as did the ability to pick up a purchase at a store. Conversely, poor performance in the shipping calculation process contributed to pushing Amazon down to third place in purchase process.

Search Satisfaction.

Amazon and Wal-Mart lead the field in search satisfaction. On Amazon, consumers liked the detailed heading information for each item, the reviews, and the multiple means to narrow the search. On the Wal-Mart site, consumers noted the speed, the narrowing features, and the accurate prioritization of results. However, when prospects were asked to rate the search feature compared to other sites they have used, Amazon and Best Buy came out on top, and Wal-Mart dropped significantly.

Customer Support.

The rankings were shuffled still again for customer support, with Best Buy finishing first, followed by Sears and Staples. Best Buy offers multiple support channels, including the option to have a rep call you back. Customers also cited the ability to return purchases to a Best Buy store as a valuable feature. On the Sears site, customers liked the detailed FAQs and the multiplicity of phone numbers to directly dial various departments.

Negative Reactions.

One of the biggest stumbling blocks prospects noted was site registration requirements; no one wants to have to enter personal information in order to find out shipping and handling charges or a total price. Other areas that fell short for prospects were the product comparison function and consumer reviews.

by:Chris samuels

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