HispanicBusiness

SAN MATEO, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 02/27/13 -- MyBuys, Inc. and the e-tailing group today announced results of primary research across more than 1,100 consumers that examined how personalized marketing across channels impacts shopper attitudes and buying behavior. Survey results reveal that customer-centric marketing -- the ability for retailers to engage consumers in one-to-one conversations across the customer lifecycle and all touch points -- increases buyer readiness, engagement and sales activity, with a record 40% of respondents now stating that they buy more from retailers who comprehensively personalize the shopping experience across channels.

Consumers Increasingly Reward Customer-Obsessed Retailers
Consumer expectations of the retailer relationship have evolved significantly over the past eight months and most reward retailers who make the shopping experience customer-centric. Survey results showed that buyer "readiness" requires finding the right product (67%) at the right price (55%). In addition, personalized promotional emails (57%) and personalized online advertising (35%) are top vehicles to prompt consumers to purchase.

Since MyBuys and the e-tailing group last surveyed consumers on this issue in April 2012, consumer awareness of personalization taking place jumped 25%. The impact of personalization on purchases also increased: 21% from personalized emails, 11% from website recommendations and eight percent when experienced across channels. Nearly 60% of consumers now indicate that personalized product recommendations make it easier to find the products they are most interested in (59%) and provide a valuable service (53%). More than half state that website recommendations (55%) and emails (54%) personalized based on their past browsing and shopping behavior are "desirable to receive."

"We've followed consumer attitudes and behavior regarding personalization for over a decade and the latest surge in awareness, value and purchase intent shows that consumers' desire for customer-centric marketing has hit the mainstream," said Lauren Freedman, president of the e-tailing group, who conducted the study. "Understanding the influences on buyer readiness will help retailers build winning online strategies."

Why Consumers Abandon and What Happens Next
Given the right product at the right price, consumers become "confident and ready" to buy. However, they report that when they leave websites without purchasing it is most often because they were "still in the research process" (44%) or found it "hard to browse for the products" they were interested in (33%). When they do abandon, Amazon and Google are typically the next visits shoppers make, with 60% going to Amazon and 42% going to a search engine such as Google (and Amazon is often the top ranked result on Google.)

"The number of consumers show-rooming on Amazon is a top concern for retailers, highlighting the importance of keeping and re-acquiring a potential customer's focus during their purchase process. With the added challenge of breaking down silos across channels, retailers have a very hard time satisfying consumer expectations for a truly customer-centric experience," said Robert Cell, CEO of MyBuys. "Since Amazon is 'book-ending' the purchase path, there's a real urgency for retailers to address these challenges with the technology and data insights necessary to tie an ongoing, personalized cross-channel shopping experience together for every consumer."