School Supplies Specialist Does Its Homework Ahead of Online Shop Re-launch
(PRWEB UK) 24 September 2014 -- School science supplies specialist, Better Equipped, has been learning lessons to find out what makes the best web-based buying experience for its customers.
“We're continually looking to improve the way we do things in order to make our service better for our customers. So when we set out to improve our on-line shopping experience we started by learning lessons already available online,” said a company spokesperson.
We reviewed key learnings from global research into what shoppers want from an online shopping experience and then used these insights to design a better website. The result is our new science equipment and school supplies site http://www.betterequipped.co.uk. The site now comprises a host of new features including quick repeat ordering, order tracking and the ability to save a shopping basket for later checkout, all of which have been proven to be important to online shoppers.
For example, over 50% of people use shopping carts to save items to buy at a later date* so our new site automatically saves shopping baskets. FREE shipping is still really important; in a recent study 81% of shoppers stated this as a priority, with 58% having added items to their basket to qualify for free delivery** . Shoppers also state early visibility of delivery costs as being really important so our £75 free delivery threshold is prominent throughout the site.
Mobile shopping is increasingly popular access to the internet using a mobile phone more than doubled between 2010 and 2013, from 24% to 53% (source O.N.S) with one estimate saying that global penetration of mobile internet devices will overtake fixed broadband by 2017***. As a result we've made our new website with responsive technology, so it's user-friendly whether accessed via a desktop computer or mobile device.
Our research reinforced our view that it’s not just the more innovative features that matter, but the basics too. Stanford University research**** showed that 42% of people don’t trust poorly designed sites. ComScores 2014 study showed 39% of shoppers looked at a company’s returns policy before deciding whether to purchase and that 22% of shopping cart abandonments were due to unreachable customer service contact details. All these findings have been taken on board with the design of our new site.
With over 2,000 new food technology products now available, the new site also includes improved search functionality and easier navigation to help customers find the products they require - we know shoppers get frustrated quickly with poor performing search features or sites which are difficult to navigate.
“The website has a key role to play in helping us to maintain our strong reputation for high quality products and customer service among schools, colleges and industry,” said a spokesperson. “Although the new site is now live, we will continue to maintain and develop it to ensure customers can always research and buy the products they need with ease and efficiency.”
*source Bronto Software and Magento 2013
** source comScore
*** source PWC Global entertainment & media outlook 2013 – 2017
****source Stanford University
Michael Lyons, Better Equipped, http://www.betterequipped.co.uk, +44 800 970 7142, [email protected]
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