Grocery retailers have been warned that the recession has created a new generation of internet-savvy consumers who are using the web to chase bargains and buy an ever-widening range of products.
Steve Goodheart, director of online retail consultants Transaction Partnership, said the trend meant retailers would have to work harder to keep customers by making their sites more consumer friendly.
Goodheart said a sign of the new breed of bargain-hunting consumers was that 89% of online grocery shoppers now expect special offers as a standard part of their shopping experience.
“The thirst for value which the recession has created among consumers from all age ranges and backgrounds means they are shopping in a fickle manner, using the power of the web to constantly track value from retailers,” Goodheart said.
“The current economic climate is exactly the right time to evolve your site to focus more on your customers and, for existing online stores, focus on getting it right and improving service.”
Online loyalty
Goodheart warned that once people leave a brand or stop going to an online store after a bad experience, they will develop an online loyalty elsewhere and will not return.
“Now that online shopping has made it easier for customers to become even more price sensitive, it is likely that some of them will continue to shop this way when they have more money in their pockets again, once the economy starts to recover,” he said.
“Investing the time and money to make your site as user friendly and accessible as possible now, when the recession is driving people to form new shopping habits, gives retailers the chance to grow and maintain sales.”
