Online Shopping is the Future, it Just Needs Some Polish

Online shopping is without doubt the future of vast segments of the retail trade, even established high street stores have been forced to make the investment of a strong web presence due to the fear of being left behind. The names of once famous retailers who failed to spot the seismic change in consumer spending habits makes for sobering reading.

Yet the high-street retailer still has an edge in some ways, it manages to give the consumer a retail experience that the online store cannot. The experience of visiting a retail location where the business has almost complete control over the buying environment is very powerful. It subtly sells not only the products on sale, but also the ethos and values of the brand - a good example of this is the attention to detail a major store places on every element of their customer interaction.

If it sounds like the new online shops have their work cut-out, well that's only one side of the story. For all the ways in which they can't compete with a physical retail outlet they have one very powerful advantage - convenience. However, the online presence of a highly styled and sculpted brand can't control the surroundings and atmosphere of the location where the consumer is browsing their products - it could be a quiet office or busy internet caf�. So careful attention has to be paid to try and immerse the website user in as much of a retail experience as is possible, as you can imagine, this isn't the easiest of tasks. As much detail as is lavished on embellishments such as music and animated elements it's actually the small obstructions to the retail experience that cause most disruption to that coveted immersion. Any hiccups in the path from browsing to basket to checkout need to be ironed out.

Thought must also be given to the sometimes random path the user wants to take around the store. One example is the 'basket' page, many sites don't allow the user to click on the items in their basket to navigate to the individual product pages. This, although partially understandable due to the retailer trying to 'guide' the user to the checkout, can be very frustrating to the user that simply want to review a product description before purchasing.

So the online shop has some way to go, it has inherent strengths and yet suffers some easily avoidable weaknesses. There is no stopping the future of retail and with some care and attention it can be the effortless experience that both retailer and consumers want.

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Is the Mobile Shopper the Future?

If the average person was to name one technical change that has had an impact in their lives then the mobile phone would be right up with the top answers. Even in comparison to the massive change that the internet has brought, the mobile phone has had a fundamental change to the way in which people around the world communicate. This article will look at whether the mobile phone will also be the future of shopping.

Websites are now the cornerstones of many businesses, they don't have a high-street location like many more traditional companies, they rely on a relatively new medium in which to not only contact their customers, but also to conduct the entirety of their interactions.

The mobile phone has recently strayed into this new online eCommerce arena. New mobile data networks have allowed faster access to wireless communication, but also the processing power and accessibility of the phones have recently come of age. Handsets have been able to go online for many years now, but the limited nature of the display screens and processing power has limited the online experience. This has meant that the sites available to the mobile phone have traditionally had to be purposely written for them. This severely limited the number of sites available to the mobile phone internet user, it tended to be only the larger websites with the resources to apportion time to construct a similar slimmed down site. The sites themselves tended to be a shadow of their original selves, limited graphics and layout tended to leave a mass of text - fine for a news site only interested in information, but restricting for most other types of website.

For every eCommerce site, whether they are selling to mobile consumers or not, to have a decent payment service provider. Excellent payment gateways will also allow the retailer to use their eCommerce site effectively.

The new generation of phones are far more able to supply a normal web experience. Featuring technologies such as JavaScript and Flash, modern mobile browsers are capable of rendering 'full' normal webpages. For online retailers, this wave of new phones should signal a potential new type of consumer - the mobile shopper. This new shopper needs to be talked to and interacted with very quickly, the opening with in which they visit your site may only be the length of a bus or short train journey. If you are attempting to sell to these consumers then obviously these unique attributes need to taken into account when designing your site. Categories and products need to be very quickly available, the ability to 'save' your current position could also stop consumers becoming frustrated with your website. They may only be using your site for fleeting minutes, it would be best if they picked up where they left off each time.

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