Near the end of 2013, a new report said that, despite being populated by some of the most connected internet users in the world, Canada was far behind other companies when it came to online retail. A Chasm Digital study of 21 different eCommerce sites ranked just one Canadian company — Lululemon Athletica Inc. — in the top five. An ever-increasing number of consumers is looking to use their debit cards and credit cards online, and retailers looking to give themselves a boost should focus their efforts online.
One of the main reasons why Canadian companies were falling behind their global counterparts, particularly the U.S., was failing to build a complete online profile. The four metrics that the companies were evaluated on were mobile, social, web, and email. So while some businesses might score well in the social media category, others might not have responsive web designs that allow them to attract mobile shoppers. The lack of balance means that it can be difficult for consumers to know where to use their credit and debit cards to make purchases online.
“When you think about all of the things that retailers have to do to just support one channel, like social media — for them to do it well, they have to be in constant hyperdrive,” said Ashish Anand, a partner at Chasm. “They can spend a lot of money improving the number of [merchandise units] they make available for sale online, yet invest very little on their search function. Or the product details and reviews aren’t there.”
In addition to creating a robust and balanced online presence, retailers also need to make sure that they have the systems in place to accept credit cards easily. If they do not, consumers might get frustrated when their card information is not read quickly and transactions are too slow. On the flip side, businesses could lose money if transactions are not completed accurately. So any company who wants to make online sales a part of their business model needs to have systems for credit and debit cards in place.
Making it easy for consumers to use credit and debit cards is vital for online retailers. While other areas are vital for making sure online shoppers are able to find the items that they are looking for, if they are unable to make a transaction, other efforts will be rendered largely useless. In Canada, that might be just another problem to lad to the long list of issues for struggling online retailers. To see more, read this.
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