Consumer Sentiment with Online Holiday Shopping Experience Improves but Retailers Have Long Road Ahead with Mobile and Social, Reports Baynote

San Jose, Calif., Jan. 12, 2012— Baynote, a leading provider of eCommerce personalization solutions, today revealed the results from its2^nd Annual Holiday Online Shopping Experience Survey. The independent study, which surveyed more than 1,000 U.S. online holiday shoppers between Cyber Monday and Christmas Eve 2011, examined consumer sentiment related to their shopping experience across different retail channels, including eCommerce websites, social networks, tablets and mobile devices.

An infographic of the study’s primary findings is available at http://bit.ly/wrt3tO. To see the survey results in full, please visit http://bit.ly/vZKItZ.

Overall, more than 84 percent of consumers said their online shopping experience this season was “good” or “excellent,” up from 78 percent last year.  The attributes consumers said were most important to ensuring a positive online shopping experience included a smooth checkout process, effective on-site navigation and search, informative user reviews and comments, and personalized product recommendations, although consumers indicated there is room for improvement across the board. Furthermore, consumers were generally satisfied with privacy controls across eCommerce channels this year, except on Facebook, which has publically struggled to quell the privacy concerns of its users; more than one out of five people said it did not meet their expectations on privacy.

“With so much hype around emerging channels this holiday season, our survey shows online retailers which of them actually delivered the best online experience according to the shoppers themselves,” said Anurag Wadehra, chief marketing officer for Baynote. “While social, mobile and tablet all have tremendous potential, retailers need to improve the customer shopping experience across these new channels. This holds particularly true for the tablet, which we expect will dominate all other emerging channels in the coming year.”

Key findings of the Baynote Holiday Online Shopping Experience Survey include:

-        The future of mobile commerce is the tablet:

• Nearly half of tablet owners (49 percent) used their tablets to make purchases.
• Respondents indicated that tablets would become a larger part of mobile commerce than other platforms; nearly 60 percent of tablet owners said they expect to use their tablet to research or purchase products in the next year, compared with only 21 percent of mobile phone users.
• Despite opportunities around the tablet, consumers gave the overall shopping experience on this channel a B- grade.

-        Despite the hype, social commerce has yet to deliver on its promise:

• Nearly 80 percent said social networks had no influence on their holiday shopping decisions yet 55 percent said getting advice on products from friends was important, indicating retailers are missing an opportunity to exploit the social graph.
• Less than nine percent of consumers purchased something from a retailer’s Facebook fan page yet 20 percent admitted to making a purchase on an eCommerce website based on a promotion seen on Facebook.
• Consumers gave the overall shopping experience on Facebook a C+ grade.

-        Personalized recommendations are driving sales:

• The majority of shoppers (57 percent) purchased items recommended to them, indicating this channel is paying off for online retailers. Shoppers were most satisfied with how retailers personalized the shopping experience on retail websites, compared with Facebook, mobile phones and tablets, with 93 percent saying it met or exceeded their expectations.
• Email and search delivered the most relevant personalized product recommendations, outperforming those of eCommerce sites and in-store sales associates.
• Consumers found coupons and promotions delivered via email, direct mail and search more useful than those received via emerging channels such as daily deal sites and social networks.

About Baynote

Baynote is the leading provider of intent-based personalization solutions for multi-channel retailers. Using Baynote’s patented approach, retailers are able to understand buyer intent “in the moment” across the shopping experience to deliver compelling offers, content and product recommendations that increase engagement, conversion and average order value. Baynote quickly integrates with existing websites, onsite search, chat or email systems to increase ROI without deep IT involvement or expensive system upgrades. Based in San Jose, Calif., with offices in the U.K. and Germany, Baynote’s personalization solutions are trusted by more than 300 of the world’s most well-known brands, including AT&T, Altrec.com, Anthropologie, Bluefly, BT, Campbell’s, Dell, Expedia, Intuit, J-Crew, Jockey and Urban Outfitters. For more information about Baynote, visit http://www.baynote.com.

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Methodology:

The survey was conducted online between Cyber Monday and Christmas Eve 2011. The survey pool was comprised of 1,032 U.S.-based individuals who shopped online during the holiday season. Margin of error: +/- 2.9 percent.

 

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