Doing your Ecommerce Marketing Research: What do Consumers Need?

[mandy]

There are so many marketing tools for ecommerce websites, but if you didn't start with market research you may be spinning your wheels. When you bring a product to the online market you need to be very sure it is something that the consumer wants.

It is possible to bring a new product to the marketplace without a consumer mandate, but in this case you will need to work at helping your customers and prospects understand why this product is something they need. Without a felt need on the part of your customers you will likely find few sales...

Once a consumer understand they don't have something that they believe they really need there is a built-in motivation for a purchase...

full article: http://www.webpronews.com/expertarticles...sNeed.html

[BellisimaJ.]

"Whoever said money can't buy happiness simply didn't know where to go shopping." - Bo Derek

"Thirty-five percent of consumers surveyed said added costs, such as shipping and handling, or lengthy delivery times resulted in their abandoning an online purchase. Sites requesting too much information is another annoyance that drives away 35 percent of buyers surveyed." - Net IQ Web Trends

Beyond selling a product consumers want there may be other issues to consider. 2005 internet usage studies showed that just over 1 billion Internet users were logged on with about 20% of those sales based in the US. Savvy ecommerce sites are finding ways to offset shipping and handling expenses as a means of boosting sales.

I think it is wise, where possible, to simply add the S&H costs into your price and offer free shipping. I know that when I purchase the supplies I use to manufacture my products online, this greatly affects my decision as to where to purchase. Very few products are unique to one or two vendors (OL and RL), so they need to be able to offer that "something extra" in order to be competitive.


Good article, Mandy--thanks.