Visitors to retail e-commerce sites are most likely to be heading to online stores in order to learn, rather than to shop or buy. iPerceptions’ “Retail/E-Commerce Industry Report Q2 2009” found that 38.6% of e-commerce visitors were at the initial information-gathering phase at the top of the purchase funnel. 去網路零售通路的訪客通常是為了找資料而去，不是想要購買。根據iPerceptions 2009年第二季的產業報告，發現有28.6%的電子商務顧客在購買決策中處於初步找資料階段。According to the report, visitors in the learning phase have a high level of satisfaction with the retail sites studied and more than 85% are able to complete their task. Lower down the funnel, however, sites are less likely to meet the needs of visitors. 根據這份報告，在找資訊階段的訪客對於零售通路網路有很高的滿意度，超過85%的訪客有順利完成其任務。然而，在往決策流程繼續走，網站比較不能滿足消費者的需求。
Task completion rates dropped to 76.9% among respondents who were aiming to shop, and declined further to just 61.5% among those looking to make a purchase at the retail e-commerce sites studied. 對於想要瀏覽購物的受訪者，任務完成率就降到76.9%；對於想要做出購買決定的人來說，任務完成率更下降至61.5%。
The most common reason shoppers did not buy was the failure to find what they needed, cited by 34%. Pricing and problems with navigation or usability tied for second place, with 13% of respondents. 瀏覽購物者不買最常見的原因是無法找到他們要的東西，約有34%。價格問題跟網站導覽或使用方便性問題，位於第二個原因，約有13%。
Considering navigation problems could prevent shoppers from finding what they are looking for, e-tailers should not ignore site design as a barrier to increased sales. 考慮到網路導覽問題可以讓購物者找不到想要買的東西，線上零售商應該不要輕視網站設計，以增加銷售。
“By structuring their sites to facilitate the ability of visitors to look for (and find) crucial decision-making information, companies can remove a major hurdle responsible for causing initially determined purchasers to eventually abandon the process altogether,” according to the report.
I have no shame in proclaiming my absolute adoration ofGroupon. I love everything about them, from their business model, to their branding, marketing and everything in between. In my opinion I think they’re right up there with the big 3 in social media – Facebook, Twitter & Foursquare. Having a presence on groupon will be making its way into more and more social media marketing plans and it’s easy to see why. They’re responsible for some great case studies,such as Gap, which we covered last week. I want to go a little deeper into the actual business of Groupon and see what lessons can be learned for new businesses setting up.
Make social your business model
The business value of social media has been well and truly proven now, particularly with the rise in social commerce that we’re now witnessing. One of the smartest things you can do right now is to find a way to make social fit at the very centre of your business model. While established brands are forced to adopt social technologies to enhance their existing way of doing business, new brands have the benefit of making their business function around social completely. This is exactly what Groupon did with their group buying concept. They tied into the aspect of community so simplistically. If you want to get a great offer yourself, increase your chances by sharing the offer (and the brand) through your own social channels. It’s absolute genius.
Make it simple, forget about the buttons
One of the most common downfalls of new businesses is to invest months and months in building a website, redesigning it, optimising it and adding more buttons. There is such a temptation to add on a load of functionality and widgets in the hope that this will increase your business. Groupon is so simple, and it proves the case that you don’t need a load of extra technology to create a product that people will buy into. On their site they just provide a few actions – receive deals by email, connect through Facebook, view latest deals and the option join their friend referral scheme. It’s an eyecatching site but it’s a tight user experience that importantly doesn’t require too much from the consumer to take part in the scheme.
Be ambitious with your marketing
This may not be the same outside of Ireland, but if my own Facebook profile is anything to go by, Groupon are investing a lot in Facebook ads. I’m constantly seeing their ad for ‘one huge coupon emailed daily’ and it always gets my attention. By being such a visible brand I’m instantly interested in their site and inevitably trust them more as a business. They’re also not afraid to work with big brands, which in turn creates significant marketing value and coverage for them, as these case studies get featured on tech and business sites around the world. What Groupon consistently do is to invest in the channels that are immediately tied to their business strategy of sharing. At the time of the Gap promotion, they purchased an ad spot on Digg to promote it, where the user is just one click away from sharing the coupon and obviously helping groupon get one step closer to the deal reaching the right amount of users to validate.
Grow fast, grow big
While some may argue that Groupon’s concept isn’t all that new, you certainly can’t argue with the fact that they’re not afraid of growing quick and expanding into new markets. From July to August the site saw an increase in traffic of 23%, making it the fourth fastest growing web company. With this growth in traffic they’re grabbing on fast to the opportunities and growing out their office space. In May this year they opened an office in Silicon Valley, purchased the mobile development company mob.ly and hired Mark Johnson, former ad exec at Netflix. Ambitious moves for what was still a relatively new company and it shows they recognise the moves they need to grow into the market, when their concept is so easily to replicate.
They’ve also rapidly expanded the cities in which they operate, which is so central to their business success. They bought up Citydeal for their European operation and recently expanded into the Russian and Japanese markets, buying up Qpod and Darberry. This brings them up to 29 cities worldwide and they show no sign of slowing down. Such ambition is admirable and shows the speed with which you need to move in business today, particularly online, if you are to beat off competitors and actually sustain a profitable business.
Take something and make it cool again
The fundamental reason why Groupon is so successful is because they took advantage of an untapped market need. The simple fact is that we all love a great deal. Coupons will always work but they hadn’t really expanded that much beyond being cut out of a magazine, with the odd exception of a Pizza Express email voucher. Groupon have taken advantage of a simple idea such as a coupon and found a way to make it cool, by making it social. This is the challenge for so many new businesses now, when you face stiff competition in an overloaded market. You have to find a way of making your product or service relevant to the market and turn something simple completely on its head with the use of social media.
These are just a few of the lessons that can be learned from Groupon, and they’re an excellent example of how social media is giving rise to completely new business models and concepts.
