India
Lisa Grayston, General Manager of Commerce, Coveo
What do consumers want from their online shopping experience? What are retailers doing right? What are they doing wrong? For the fourth year in a row, Coveo conducted research to understand the industry. In our 2024 Commerce Industry Report, “With Too Many Choices, What Really Drives Shoppers’ Purchase Decisions?”, we outline our findings. Some of what we find might surprise you. Hint: it has to do with a lack of digital patience.
Just a decade ago, digital impatience didn’t exist. We didn’t mind waiting a few minutes for our computer to boot up, and we loved being able to search online (no matter how clunky the search was). But today, everyone has a smartphone. Want something? It literally fits in the palm of your hand, delivered to your doorstep the same day. Wondering what movie to stream this weekend? Netflix offers personalized recommendations just for you, based on movies you’ve previously watched.
That’s what consumers expect today: not just to have their needs met immediately, but for their needs and wants to be met in advance. What if they don’t get this personalized experience? The result is digital impatience.
For retailers, this is important because without a personalized, tailored experience that delivers fast, relevant results, consumers may go elsewhere with a click of a mouse or a tap of a finger.
With that in mind, here are the top four shopper issues and trends found in the 2024 Commerce Industry Report, along with lessons for retailers.
Consumers have high expectations for their online experiences, but they’re not satisfied. Nearly all consumers (91%) expect their online shopping experience to be the same or better than their in-store experience, yet almost half (49%) say they still encounter problems online. They find sites slow, have too many options, and find it hard to search or narrow down what they’re looking for. In short, they’re frustrated.
Key takeaway: Shoppers want retailers to use AI in moderation to rethink how they discover products and streamline their path to purchase. That means integrating a layer of intelligence into sites that provides personalized search suggestions, dynamic filters that adjust to each request, and generative AI that offers advice like a good salesperson.
72% of people expect generative AI to improve their online shopping experience. People want to learn about products and their attributes before buying, and many expect virtual assistants to guide them through the product selection process. They want and expect technology like ChatGPT to be their personal shopper.
Key takeaway: Customers want retailers to demonstrate their expertise and summarize and explain the products they’re looking for. One way to achieve this is to apply a generative answer solution to all of a retailer’s rich content (blogs, articles, how-to guides, etc.) to provide expertise and gain trust at the beginning of a shopper’s shopping journey. Questions like “What type of paint should I use for my child’s outdoor play area?” can be easily answered by a well-trained and well-founded generative AI solution. This results in a more efficient shopping journey, improved shopper satisfaction, and reduced bounce rates and returns.
Shoppers are willing to share data for a more personalized experience… but only to a point. The survey found that 54% of respondents would be willing to share personal information if it would improve their experience. Additionally, 65% said they would share their personal information for brands they trust or if they received better deals or perks as a result. That’s a 20-point increase in willingness to share information from last year’s results. But this year is a bit of a paradox, as more people are concerned about how their data is used by online retailers. It’s clear that a balance needs to be struck.
Key takeaway: Retailers should focus on collecting only the data that improves the consumer experience. Advanced AI personalization techniques that can detect shoppers’ intent as they interact with your site, and don’t require a profile or login to be effective, are a way to achieve that delicate balance between personalized shopping and data sharing.
Post-purchase experience remains an issue and a huge opportunity to gain customer loyalty and prevent digital impatience. If you buy something online and don’t like it, do you return it or avoid the hassle and incur the cost? You’re not alone. Nearly half of respondents have experienced customer service issues when interacting with businesses, especially online, including navigation or search issues that prevented them from resolving their issues or questions.
The key takeaway: It’s all about creating a better experience for customers before, during and after the sale. By using the same AI platform to unify the customer and identify key commerce touchpoints, retailers can engage with their customers at every stage of the buying journey to create a seamless experience.
In summary, retailers must step up their use of AI to meet customer expectations – their brands and customer loyalty depend on it.
