Today’s InternetRetailing newsletter focuses on some of the steps that leading retailers are taking in order to improve their customers’ shopping journey and wider experience. We report on five key ways that Amazon will make it easier for customers to buy from it on Amazon Prime Day, later this month. Abercrombie & Fitch, likewise, is making it easier for customers to buy by spreading their payments, while Alibaba Group has launched an English language portal for Tmall, opening up its marketplace to more brands from the UK and beyond as a result. These are very different approaches, but are all examples of how leading retailers from the UK and beyond are working to improve their own customers’ experience.
It’s an area that market leaders such as Amazon are working on constantly – because when customers find shopping a simple and enjoyable experience they’re more likely to complete their transaction this time and to return to buy in the future. It’s also important to have the best experience in a market in which retailers are competing hard, while shoppers may be holding back on spending in the light of Brexit uncertainty.
We stay with the customer experience theme as we consider research that offers some useful insights into how shoppers in the UK and in Europe want to buy, and how they want to combine stores and the internet in that customer journey. And today’s guest comment comes from Richard Downs of Applause, who considers how retailers can use voice to stay competitive – and find another way to improve that all-important customer experience. We offer all of this in the hope of providing inspiration for IRUK and IREU Top500 retailers as well as those Growth 2000 retailers who are working to expand their businesses in often testing times.
Today we also report as L’Oréal says it’s in talks to buy two iconic perfume brands from Clarins Group, reflecting themes from the latest RetailX analyst report, on the beauty and cosmetics market.
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