Internet sale is a business with an annual 20% growth rate, and in 2015 it is expected to be globally worth more than 1.5 trillions (1500 billion) dollars. Even though Serbian market is at the bottom of such lists, trends that apply on more developed markets can be applied on ours. But first, let’s face some unpleasant truth, for we respect your time seeing as you don’t have much of it to waste.

Around 80% of internet users have made an online purchase at least once in their lifetime, while 50% of them did it more than once. That’s because 71% of them believe that Internet shops will offer them more affordable prices and better terms in general. The specific segment that shows most promise is internet shopping via mobile devices – smartphones and tablets. These mobile shopping sessions make up around 18.5% of overall purchases, which makes an annual growth of around 30%. Around 1/3 of shoppers will spend more than half an hour exploring alternative products and other web shops before deciding to buy something, and as much as 65% will be doing the same for 15+ minutes.

Shipping Expenses Kill Conversions

You may not think of it as something of big importance, but stats show that 28% of shoppers give up potential shopping if you present them with unexpected shipping costs. This is the leading reason for why people are aborting their purchase at the last stage of online shopping. Even 47% of online orders come with free of charge shipping, and stats show that when users are aware that they don’t have to pay for shipping costs, they are willing to spend 30% more money.

From this we may conclude that users do not want to pay for shipping expenses. It is evident to most of them that they have to pay extra so that the desired product could come knocking, but they are not prone to surprises. Because if they get negatively surprised, plenty of them might feel bad, even cheated.

So the thing to do is: always make yourself clear from the very start when it comes to shipping costs. If you can’t determine the exact amount and free shipping is not an option, at least emphasize your cost range and let the user choose between multiple options.

Creating Accounts Also Kills Conversions

Second on the “giving up shopping” list is creating user accounts. We get it – your members are vital to you, you want to have their e-mails which is a perfect opportunity to gather your newsletter base, but are you really willing to lose a significant number of potential money spenders for a few e-mails? There is this poor practice in which numerous websites wait until the last step to let the buyer know he/she needs to create an account in order to proceed. Logic implies that, having gone that far with shopping, the buyer will not quit now. However, things are different in reality.

That’s why you should offer them a chance to complete their purchase as a guest!

Discounts Will Get Your Shoppers Back

Research show that 54% of shoppers might opt for buying the product they may have given up on if you offer it under more affordable terms. The final product price is something you may entice your users to spend. If mark-up allows, offer them better terms and quite a bit of shoppers will buy impulsively, believing they made a great deal. This particularly refers to web shops aimed at younger buyers. They are, in general, much more willing to change their opinion, while older buyers are more skeptical.

So, to those users who you might have lost in round one, offer better terms…Which brings us to our next point:

Retargeting Is Highly Important

As each day passes, more and more professionals grasp the vitality and value of retargeting. Marketing gurus are always looking for ways to increase ROI, to keep the existing and acquire new users, to get people to spend more. Retargeting is their most powerful tool, as it does exactly what they need: it shows to people the exact thing or product they already showed interest for. Even with all its perks, retargeting is not used enough and, quite often, not in the right way. Make sure you use all the advanced options you’ve got, make an extra effort as you begin with it and it will repay tenfold. Users’ opinions on retargeting are, as always, divided, but in 20-35 years of age demographic, as much as 72% of buyers see it as something overly positive.

The idea behind it is simple – show the ad to a user after he leaves your website. Not any user, though, but the buyer whose habits are well-known to you. Do not hesitate, prepare your advertising campaigns for them and you will motivate them to take action.

A Satisfied User is the Best Recommendation

Even kids know that nothing beats word of mouth method. When someone recommends you to somebody else, beside the information on you, he or she shared another valuable thing – his or her positive impressions and a fine experience. This is why sections with user comments and impressions are becoming a more frequent thing on companies’ websites, whilst user ratings and their written impressions are one of the most crucial aspects for successful sale on internet webshops. 55% of buyers consider other buyers’ impressions extremely important when making their shopping based decision.

Try to motivate users to send their opinions and impressions and share them with others. Thus gained written material should be placed somewhere visible on the website and exposed in the right way, because it really is something that matters. In many cases, users will share a photo or a video. A potential buyer looking into this trusts these kind of things much more than promo material you have set. Consider using social networks for further expanding such content – people are always on the prowl for honest and reliable piece of info.

Treat Your Mobile Device Users Fairly

Let’s not forget what we’ve already said at the beginning of the article – Online shopping over mobile devices – smartphones and tablets – make up for 18.5 of total online shopping. Last year, the number of internet users coming from mobile devices has surpassed desktop computer users. What is curious is that 2/3 of users prefer shopping via mobile website versions, rather than shopping via apps. Even so, around 40% of potential shoppers who attempted to make a purchase have quit at some point because user experience was not convenient enough. It wasn’t clear enough or adjusted to their needs and expectations. That’s something to look out for, because research show that 41% of shoppers who have had one bad user experience will turn to your competitors.

Also, 51% of users have quit because they weren’t sure if it’s safe to enter the credit card number. In that sense, mobile device users are far more skeptical than computer users. In terms of internet shopping in general, tablet users are more willing to buy products than mobile phone users, and the reason for this is that tablet is much more suitable for this type of activity. Interestingly, 52% of users will pick tablet over computer for the purpose of online shopping, when presented with choice between the two. More than 95% of tablet users are buying things from home, and in case of mobile phones, the figure stands at 72%.

Mobile devices are already of big importance for online trade, and they can only get more important in future. Be timely, prepare yourself accordingly and follow the trends!

Conclusion

Follow the trends and get to know your buyers really well. Make their shopping experience enjoyable. Present them with best possible terms. Do all that is in your power to make them feel satisfied and you can’t go wrong. Listen to what they have to say and learn from them. Make them feel important, because they are. Follow metrics and devise tests occasionally.