Professors Research How to Increase Online Transactions
Christmas is a season of giving — and buying. And whether consumers are shopping online or in malls, three Marriott School professors are keeping a scrupulous eye on purchasing trends.
While a new report suggests that online shopping in November 2004 is up 27 percent from the same period last year, the professors say it still accounts for only two percent of all general merchandise sales. Marriott School Professor of Business Management William Swinyard says, “Despite the worries sales people had when consumers started buying online, brick-and-mortar stores still draw a crowd.”
Maybe you’ve experienced these crowds. Swinyard and two other faculty, Chad Allred, assistant professor of business management, and Scott Smith professor of marketing, are researching ways to reduce Christmas congestion by helping online sellers lure new customers.
The professors’ have categorized online shoppers into three groups: e-value seekers (those who like the quality, selection and value of Internet deals), e-shopping leaders (those who like the convenience of shopping at home) and socializers (those who occasionally purchase items online but enjoy the social opportunities malls provide).
To encourage online purchasing by those already comfortable with the process, Allred, Smith and Swinyard suggest that web retailers:
Offer social interactions with online forums, message boards, chat rooms, how-to demonstrations, etc.
Personalize service through virtual models, phone confirmations of orders and online chats with service personnel
Enhance the ambiance of web sites with music or video
Encourage opinion leaders to shop online — 57 percent of e-shopping opinion leaders at least somewhat agree with the statement, “None of my friends shop on the Internet”
In addition to Internet shoppers, Allred, Smith and Swinyard have identified three groups that for one reason or another just prefer an in-store experience.
The online shopping avoiders are: tech muddlers (those who don’t know how to shop online), evaders (those who choose not to) and fearful conservatives (those concerned with credit numbers being stolen).
To break the ice with these groups, the researchers recommend that web retailers:
Help non-shoppers take the plunge by offering trial checkouts or checkout tutorials
Provide greater safeguards and reassurances for credit card payments
Improve technical literacy through tutoring prospective customers
Energize the market through offering promotional strategies and loyalty programs
“If web retailers understand how to minimize consumers’ concerns and maximize their options, they can turn apprehensive shoppers into online buyers,” Swinyard says.
Allred, Smith and Swinyard’s research is part of an ongoing study, which began in 2001 and is funded from an IBM corporation and JCPenney endowment.
The Marriott School is located at Brigham Young University, the largest privately owned, church-sponsored university in the United States. The school has nationally recognized programs in accounting, business management, public management, information systems, organizational behavior and entrepreneurship. The school’s mission is to prepare men and women of faith, character and professional ability for positions of leadership throughout the world. Approximately 3,000 students are enrolled in the Marriott School’s graduate and undergraduate programs.
Writer: Emily Smurthwaite, (801) 422-5083
