- Introduction
The main problems include:
- Customers are unsure whether they will be faced with additional add on charges as they make their way to the end of the checkout, adding to their total at the end of checkout.
- The checkout process proves too complicated for customers, and they are unsure of how safe their debit card / credit card details are as they move through the checkout process. There may be too many steps involved, which can put off customers and deter them from completing their purchase.
- Issues with proper functioning of the shopping cart, again causing customers to leave the site before end of purchase. When a site starts to act up and not perform its function properly, customers tend to get fed up and abandon their purchase.
- Customers not having enough time to complete their purchase. If the site has a timer on the purchase, similar to the style of tickermaster.ie, it may cause the customer to run out of time on their purchase and abandon it all together after that.
- Background
“ ‘ We strive to design good quality commercial pieces at affordable price points,’ Abbas says”. iClothing always aim to stay on trend and keep up with the demands of all their customers, as well as provide high quality goods, at affordable prices and to be as convenient as possible. iClothing pride themselves on their knowledge of the Irish market, such as our needs, social lives and so on. They also understand that social media is so important for the industry that they are in, and to target their customers they must use all online resources such as Facebook, Google Ads and so on.
SWOT
Strenghts Weaknesses
Online market – current Poor website
Affordable Lack of uniqueness to other sites
Accessible – mobile etc. Lack of clarity for customers (checkout)
Trend following A lot of UK & US competition
Irish – local jobs
Next day delivery in Ireland
Opportunities Threats
Trends change – chance to get ahead Competition from overseas & up and coming sites of the same nature
Wider reach always available Finances – are they available?
Collaboration – eg Pamela Anderson Campaign Loss of customers
Economy on the rise Loss of time
Possibility of complete rebrand – logo, site etc.
More use of social media.
- Alternatives
One of the main issues iClothing face regularly is customers leaving their cart before their purchase is completed. To try and get those customers back to the site, iClothing should look into remarketing. Remarketing basically means you can reconnect with visitors, or in this case, customers of the site, and allows you to target ads at them to lead them back to your site. While they are browsing other sites, including social medias, they will be faced with ads for your company and subconsciously drawn back to the site. Google AdWords has a re-marketing section, which allows for a standard remarketing campaign. Ads for iClothing will be planted on related sites and social medias, and specifically targeted to these users, as part of Google Display Network. Keywords will be specifically used to achieve contextual targeting, which means the sites the ads will be featured on would be of similar theme and contextual relevance.
- Proposed Solution
However, when the customers return, they should not encounter the same problems they had before. Therefore, iClothing should look into remodelling their checkout page, and make it easier and friendlier for customers to use. Redesigning the shopping cart and checkout experience, and reducing the amount of clicks it takes a customer to complete their purchase would entice people to stay on the site and hopefully return for future purchases. A secure purchase page should also be introduced, where bank password details are requested, to put the customers at ease about the safety and privacy of their card details.
When the remarketing ads are being placed, the content of the ads should be endearing enough for the customer to click onto the site. Special offers, free delivery and student discounts are all ideas of what iClothing could possibly advertise to lead new and old customers to the sire. Images are also necessary in capturing the attention of customers, especially in the fashion industry, so images of some different pieces of clothing, or even a short video clip of the TV ad would be effective in drawing customers to the site.
Once you have them on the site, capturing data from the customer is highly valuable for the company for a variety of reasons. The best way to do this is to enforce a signup policy, where customers must enter their email address to continue with their purchase. It allows for ease of future purchases for the customer, but more so for the company, as it allows for cookies to capture the sites this person is viewing, supplies them with an email address to send any newsletters to if they so wish, and allows for emailing customers when their delivery is out etc, allowing for better customer experience all round.
One more thing iClothing could possibly look into to make their site more appealing to the fashion audiences, is to collaborate with a celebrity or model or some kind, to increase the luxury and prestige of their site. Possibly working with an Irish celebrity or blogger like Suzanne Jackson or Amy Huberman for example, could drastically increase the following of the site and work very well in their favour regarding purchase.
- Recommendations
Special offers, celebrity endorsement, rebranding and an easier shopping cart / checkout system should also be looked into, to try and make the customer experience more enjoyable and relaxed when the customers returns to the site, and in an effort to draw them back to the site again and again.
- References & Appendices