Online sales equate to nearly 20% of all retail spending today, highlighting the importance of a strong eCommerce experience to obtain and retain customers and convert carts. There are many factors that go into making an eCommerce site successful, three of the leading ones being its ease of use, search functionality and intuitive checkout process.
Harnessing Search AI
Product search is the easiest way to gain, or lose, an online customer. Data shows that 94% of U.S. consumers abandoned a shopping session because they received irrelevant search results.
As a result, search AI tools should be considered the most powerful tool in a retailer’s tech stack. By removing the human element from the equation, AI technology better optimizes search results to display the most relevant recommendations while factoring in criteria such as inventory and cold-start products, typically delegated to the bottom of the list.
GroupBy’s data shows that, with the right search AI technology, retailers see an average 72% decrease in null search results and an 81% increase in revenue from online search, underlining the importance of having the right tool in a retailer’s tech stack.
“In a short time after implementing GroupBy’s personalization technology, our conversion rates have grown 2x to 3x,” shared Antonino Guichard, chief digital officer of Liverpool, the leading department store chain in Mexico and a GroupBy customer, during a recent interview on the TotalRetail podcast. “In addition to enhancing personalization functionality on our websites, we’re also implementing it across the omnichannel as we aim to eliminate online vs. offline customers and focus on one customer, one channel.”
The 175-year-old company is updating legacy systems to meet the changing needs of today’s customers, including moving to Google Cloud and GroupBy’s Product Discovery Platform powered by Google Cloud Vertex AI Search for Retail.
Delivering on Experience
Similar to the in-store experience, online shoppers want a frictionless journey from the moment they visit a website to purchase completion. Ultimately, it comes down to how a website looks and performs. It’s imperative every eCommerce site offers an easy, intuitive website with an aesthetically pleasing design optimized to offer a personalized experience.
As mobile continues to be a preferred channel for shopping, a website’s mobile-friendliness is also essential in today’s retail environment. By 2025, retail mobile commerce (mCommerce) sales are expected to more than double, reaching $728.28 billion and accounting for 44.2% of retail eCommerce sales in the U.S
In addition, the lines between the online and in-person shopping experience blurred during the pandemic in ways that consumers have now come to expect. Customers are looking for ease-of-shopping and want to have different convenience features such as same-day delivery, buy online pick up in store (BOPIS) and curbside pickup. Choices like these allow the customer to feel they have more choices and make the shopping experience more accessible for their personal lifestyle.
Intuitive check-out experience
Amazon has redefined the online shopping experience. Consumers want to buy what they want, when they want it, how they want to and then get it conveniently and efficiently. With more purchasing options than ever before – credit card, PayPal, Apple Pay, Amazon Pay, Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), among others – and just as many shipping options, including two-day, same-day delivery, curbside pickup, and BOPIS, the term “convenient shopping” has been taken to new levels.
With the number of available options today, the checkout process is a critical step of the buyers journey. All of the efforts until this point could be deemed useless if the buyer can’t complete the purchase how they want to.
At the end of the day, whatever the customer’s preferred method of payment, you want to provide access to utilize it.
Summary
It’s more competitive than ever for retailers today. Investing in technology and tools to deliver an exceptional user experience has never been more critical. To listen to Antonino’s full interview on the investments Liverpool has made to personalize the experience for their consumers, visit https://www.mytotalretail.com/video/single/how-mexican-department-store-chain-liverpool-is-growing-its-digital-business.