Consumers Return to Online Shopping Sites That Embrace Web 2.0

With consumers continuing to spend briskly online, and social websites aggregating ever-larger numbers of participants, the twain - online shopping and social networking - may finally be meeting, according to a nationwide survey from Guidance and Synovate, writes MarketingCharts.

In the new survey, more than 60 percent of respondents report being drawn to online retailers that employ Web 2.0 tools and techniques.

The Guidance/Synovate eNation study of some 1,000 online consumers, conducted in March, asked: “When thinking about shopping online, what is most likely to make you return to a given shopping website?” (See pie chart breakdown of their answers.)

Among the findings:

• 35 percent of respondents say they’re most likely to return to a shopping website if it makes recommendations on products or services for sale.
• 26 percent say they want “a unique experience each time” they shop.
• 18 percent say they’re more likely to return “if the site solicits their feedback” on its products and services.
• 16 percent say “a welcome when they arrive” at the site is the factor most likely to make them return
• 6 percent say they’re most likely to return “if the site makes them feel part of a community” with other shoppers/site visitors.

(MarketingCharts has more findings, including demographic data.)

“The economy is fragile and the competition for the consumer dollar is fierce, but as these findings make abundantly clear, online commerce is now a two-way street - and retailers need to embrace that reality, ” said Jason Meugniot, Guidance president and CEO.

“Online consumers and merchants are in dialogue as never before, and consumers are counting on each other for insights in making purchase decisions. Recommendations have become the new currency of online commerce, along with their corollary, the opportunity to give feedback to the e-Commerce site.”