Great Product Tips

Shopping online is unquestionably the future of vast segments of the retail trade, even established high street stores are already forced to make the investment of an effective web presence because of the anxiety about 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 offer the consumer a retail experience that the online store can not. The knowledge of visiting a retail location where the business has almost complete control over the buying environment is quite powerful. It subtly sells not simply the products on sale, but additionally the ethos and values of the brand - a great example of this really is the focus on detail an important store places on every element of their customer interaction.

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

Thought must also get to the sometimes random path the user wishes to take around the store. One example is the 'basket' page, many sites do not allow the user to click on the items within their basket to navigate to the person product pages. This, although partially understandable as a result of the retailer trying to 'guide' the user to the checkout, may be very frustrating to the user that simply want to review a find product reviews description before purchasing.

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