This year, the Magento eCommerce consumer preferences 2020 has been released with insights as to what people expect from an eCommerce website.

Having looked at the insights in the document, we are going to take a look at what they say and how eCommerce websites can use this to their advantage to help increase sales.

40% spent more time comparing prices and offers with other websites

Now that the internet at always at our fingertips, it is much easier for us to compare prices anytime and anywhere. The point is that it is super easy for anyone to look at a product on your website, then go and compare this across your competitors and then decide.

There are multiple solutions that can help push customers, some that will be specific to what you are selling, so we are going to look at ones that are more general, but can be just as effective.

Price better than your competitors – a simple solution, if the prices for the products are lower than your competitors, it will be more appealing for customers, which should drive them to you as you are offering the better deal. Be sure not to underprice products, as this can make it look like the cheaper one is a cheaper and inferior product. There are no specific guidelines and rules, as the amount for any type of product can vary widely, but looking at how much your competitors sell a specific item to get an idea on where you should price yours.

Provide a better service than competitors – this could any number of things such as a better returns policy, better delivery options, etc. These can all be effective, especially if the customer is unsure as to where to purchase from, this can tip them over the edge.

Bundle with others items for a better deal – if the product in question is frequently bought with another, you could cross-sell and provide a deal if they are both purchased together. This then adds a higher perceived value due to the savings and getting all the products they need in a single place.

Price match can go a long way – on product pages and around the website, make it clear that you provide a price match on like for like products. You would be surprised how many people will call or email asking if you will match prices, especially from existing customers.

There are always way to make yourself more appealing to shop with than your competitors, it’s just a matter of finding what your customers they value most, and then using that to your advantage.

48% are keen to return to in-store, offline shopping as soon as possible

This won’t apply so much to eCommerce only stores, but is a big deal for those that have a physical brick and mortar store. With places starting to open back up after the lockdowns, there are ways to help entice customers back to your store as well as buying online.

Offering special discounts or best prices when they buy in-store. This means that they can look at what you have to offer online first, then when they go shopping, they will be more likely to browse through your store at the items they were interested in, as well as them seeing the other ones you have available, potentially increasing the number of items pruchased.

However, this is not to say that you should slack off on the efforts you’ve made to get customers online. This is only half of people looking to return to in-store shopping, which means the other half will still be looking online, on your eCommerce website for what they want.

There will also be customers who won’t physically be able to visit your stores or any number of reasons such as distance, whose only avenue for buying your products will be through your website.

You’ve likely worked hard to build an online audience and it would be a shame to take away from that, as your eCommerce website is never closed and always be open for business.

44% make at least one unplanned purchase with every online order

Impulse buying is something we’ve likely all come into contact with, whether it’s when doing the weekly food shop and impulse buying something because it’s on offer, or even in a clothing shop, picking up a particular piece of clothing in the spur of the moment.

But this isn’t just relegated to a spur of the moment thinking, sometimes, there are additional products that we also need to go along with the main purchase that we didn’t think of until it came to the point of purchase. There is a reason that many of the successful eCommerce websites have cross-sells on their product pages.

What do we mean by cross-sell? A cross-sell product is one that is often purchased alongside another, for example, when buying a pen, you might see a notebook offered alongside, when buying a computer, you will likely see the peripherals like a mouse, keyboard and monitor offered alongside it.

According to Forrester Research, product recommendations like cross-sells are thought to make up around 10-30% of eCommerce site revenues.

So where do you start with cross-sells, first off, their positioning, you have 2 main areas with the best visibility for them. The firs is on the product page itself, here you can show the other products bought alongside the one they are looking at. The product page cross-sell can help let customers know there are items that go well with what they are looking at and that you offer them as well. On Amazon, for example, you can a ‘Frequently bought together’ section with a bundle of items purchased together.

The second place is in the basket, just before a customer goes to checkout. Here you can show cross-sells based off the products they have in the basket. A good last place to remind them and get them to add them to basket, before they proceed with completing the purchase.

What you can do is start looking at your most popular products and seeing what items they are normally sold with, then start adding these as cross-sells to those products. Remember to not add too many, as you don’t want to overwhelm your customers with too much choice, start with 3-6 for your most popular products and then work from there.