Are Retailers Losing Touch With Their Online Customer’s Experience?
The US News 2009 Retail Chain Winners & Losers are in, drum roll please… topping the list of winners was Aeropostale with a sales increase of 10% and coming in dead last, Abercrombie & Fitch with a sales decrease of 19% for the year. Others in the winners category were Ross Stores, Costco and surprisingly Saks and Nordstrom’s. Losers sharing the bench with A&F included American Apparel, Hot Topic and Wet Seal.
Many of the retailers on the list who are losers in 2009 were cleaning house a few years ago, the question arises: Are some retailers not focusing enough on the customer experience?
Aeropostale: has a much better grasp of their customer’s experience on their site. It’s very easy to navigate, the marketing messaging to the user is clear and they have a generic merchandising approach that generally works for each item viewed. One lacking functionality on the site is ratings & reviews and also any form of personalization.
A&F: I have to admit that I worked at A&F for a year and value their store experience and atmosphere they create, but their online experience leaves much to be desired. The site is cluttered with branded marketing messages, their detail page, search and checkout pages are very basic, lacking reviews, previously viewed, any form of merchandising and also personalization.
While this is only a basic sample of the retailers who were involved in the report, it becomes evident that a lack of focus on the customer experience on your website can lead to diminishing sales and unhappy customers. Stay tuned for our weekly blog postings on ways to get your website in top shape for 2010, starting next week!
What are your thoughts? Are retailers losing touch with the customer experience? Who are some other retailers who need to step up their game? Post your comments here or tweet at us @strandsrecs.
