subject: Understanding Internet Shopping Behavior [print this page] Understanding Internet Shopping Behavior Understanding Internet Shopping Behavior
The easiest way to understand internet shopping behavior is to be an internet shopper yourself. This is the most literal way of putting yourself in your customers' shoes. Knowing how consumers react to a particular element in the website will give you advantage in terms of designing your site, attracting the right kind of visitors and improving conversions.
Before you start setting up your shopping website, try purchasing items online for yourself. Going through the process can also help you evaluate potential suppliers, especially if intend to go with a dropshipper.
Don't just do it once, try shopping online from different sources. Try major online shopping websites like Amazon or Best Buy to understand how they do the layout, what kind of checkout process they have, when and where they up-sell or cross-sell products and more. You should also purchase from channels like eBay, an auction site that could be a potential sales channel for you in the future. They, buy from the smaller shopping websites - those that are also new in the business. Sometime these ones have a more innovative approach to selling online given their limited budgets. Last but not the least, if you already know what market niche you want to cover, shop from your potential competitors.
Once you're done with all the purchasing and you're ready to put the knowledge you've gained to good use, start designing your shopping website. Use what you've learned for navigation, website usability and even down to writing the copy and fixing the categories of online shopping sites.
Do read up on the different phases of internet shopping behavior - from those that are just looking to those that are ready to buy. Intentions dictate how potential buyers react to your advertising efforts. For instance, those that are still looking around for product ideas are more likely to search for broad keywords related to your niche. A person in this phase, for example, would type in "red rubber shoes" to find out what the different brands are and how they compare to each other. Those that are ready to buy, on the other hand, would use keywords that are more particular like "Red Nike Basketball Shoes for Men". Here, the different brands are searched. Knowing how each buyer segment behaves would enable you to plan your keyword mapping and content development better. With the stark difference in search behavior, you may want to consider mapping both broad and specific terms for each page. Having reviews and content that talk about different brands on your shopping sites can also help those who are still looking make a better purchase decision.
Finally, you need to look at the actual data for your online shopping sites. You will easily see how users behave online with your conversion funnel, bounce rates and time on site metrics. This will give you the best insight on what to fix and what to test in your shopping websites.
