Telecommuting, meetings with friends, e-commerce... You know what they all have in common? Bingo, they're all 3 done online!
As imagined in science-fiction films, the future could only be on the Internet. As confinement has proved, all our daily activities can now be carried out from home. Working, shopping and even cycling with friends!
With the COVID pandemic, the Internet has been used primarily for online shopping, as evidenced by the boom in e-commerce in 2020. 112 billion euros in 2020, i.e. 10 billion more than the previous year!
But despite a steady increase in e-commerce, there are still some people who are reluctant to buy online. But what actually stops them?
# Fear of bank fraud.
Buying online means revealing our bank details. This raises concerns about data storage. Not knowing who might have access means users are afraid of having their accounts hacked. Surprisingly, there are still 50% of consumers reveal that they fear bank fraud and 11% that their banking data has been leaked.
# Physical stores remain attractive.
Physical commerce will always have a key advantage over e-commerce: theexperience. When making a purchase, the consumer is looking for a customer experience.. The stronger the customer's experience of a product, the more likely they will be to buy it, and the more they will like the brand. In a store, the customer benefits from the advice of sales staff, a special design and music. All these elements help to provoke emotions that will make the customer inclined to buy, and may even encourage impulse buying. But online, on an e-Commerce site, the consumer finds himself in front of his phone with no related experience, apart from good ergonomics. On their smartphones, Internet users don't have the sound environment of a physical store. They may also not have enough product photos to form an opinion. All they have to go on are product descriptions and customer reviews, not always truthful.
# The importance of authentic customer reviews
When preparing for a purchase, the first step is research. Which product, why, but above all, what have those who have already bought it thought? For almost 9 out of 10 customers, reviews influence their online purchasing decisions. And yes, because without a product in sight, they become a real reference. When we're looking for an item, the main sense we use is touch. We take the article in hand, examine the texture, which is decisive for the purchase.
Unfortunately, even if the items have a good rating, the reviews don't allow us to form a real opinion about the item. Often the comments can be summed up as "top", "really great" which doesn't allow us to understand why they really liked the product.
What's more, we don't always know if the reviews are true. The sites don't check whether the commenter has actually made a purchase. As a result, some people may post comments with the aim of raising or lowering the brand's rating.
# Unattractive e-commerce sites for consumers.
Even if a site is only functional, it's still important to have good ergonomics.
When a site is not readable or easy to understand, the consumer will go to a competitor's site for his purchases. The consumer may not feel comfortable on a site for a number of reasons: too much text for a product description, too few photos of the item, too small a font...
Unfortunately, when creating an e-commerce site, some users are left out in the cold. The sites are not designed with the elderly, visually impaired or blind in mind. This makes them difficult to use, when it's perfectly possible!
# How can brands stand out from other e-commerce sites?
E-commerce sites must overcome these obstacles if they are to remain attractive to consumers. But how can they do this?
The first thing to do is to recreate the affective feeling that is generated by the atmosphere and ambience of the store. Online, these 2 notions are difficult to create: there's no background music, no sales assistants ready to describe the entire product to you, and if your friends haven't bought it, they can't tell you about it either. And yet!
Thanks to Ekoo, it will now be possible for the professional to tell the story of the products, the favorites of sellers and buyers.
When you see a product online, you'll be able to listen to the professional describe his or her product; why they chose it, how they created it, and so on. The same goes for customer reviews, where you can hear them talk about their purchase and why they liked it. Audio reviews have many qualities: a new shopping experience, authentic reviews from real customers, accessible to all. Audio has become such an important part of our lives that everyone uses it, and it could even dethrone the written word. Hearing passionate people talk about the product will recreate that missing emotion and affective bias.
So, are you ready to combat these obstacles and create a unique shopping experience?
