Customers who shop in the retail store is very different than online. The online store offers a wide range of products since there is no need for a physical display of products. Sellers need product image, product details, and price. However, in a retail store, things are different. Customer buys the product by physical verification. In an online market, the choice is very broad, in amazon if you search a product there will be hundreds or thousands of product list will appear. In a retail store, the infrastructure required to display thousands of items is huge. Fundamentally, both the marketplace is very much different so the customer behaviour. Here are some of the important points that help in understanding customers mind;
Keyword
Understanding the mind of shoppers is very important while writing the product title. Customers always search the generic keyword and glance at the results. Generally, everyone clicks the “Best Seller”, “Fulfilled by Amazon”, or “Prime” products. Hence the title of the product plays an important role in the search result. Amazon search engine will find the most relevant product by matching with the title of the product. Customers begin there hunt by starting with the broader keyword.
For example, if you are looking for a face wash, what would you search for? “Face wash for men” or “Face wash for women”. So one needs to think with respect to customer mindset. However, “Face wash for men” is too generic. It is better to mention the volume, or base material as well. There are many tools available which will help generate the title based on the customer mindset.
Of course, for many products there are so many generic keywords, one cannot put everything in the title. There is where software and search history data helps.
Reviews and rating
Once customer search for products by generic keywords, they will focus on the feedback by previous buyers. What previous buyers commented on the product? There may be a comment on the product, service and delivery. Products may be very good, by if the service received by the seller is poor, then the customers might turn around and look for other sellers who sell a similar item.
On the other hand, Service offered by sellers is excellent but the product didn’t meet the expectation of customers. In this case, customers will look at the other products. Nowadays, many blackhat sellers use tactics to build positive review and destroy competitors by feeding with negative reviews. This is the threat for ethical sellers and amazon is doing everything to stop these practices. However, customers are getting smarter every day, in some cases few smart customers can identify the fake reviews.
Audience
Identifying the demography of your audience will help to boost sales. For the age group, 10-14 years once cannot make advertise like the age group of 30 years old. Therefore, it is very important to understand your audience age group. Some items will fulfil the large group and some of them are very narrow. For example, technical book related to civil engineering like “RCC Design – Part 1” might suitable for only students of civil engineering who are currently in 2nd or 3rd year of the college. Similarly, a bathing soap is necessary for everyone which has a wide range of age group.
Business Model
The retail business model is very different than the online marketplace. In old times, Retail store has loyal customers, and they generally won’t change the store where they buy products as well. This is because the store owner used to offer discounts to regular customers. Nowadays similar technique applied in online as well. However, the customer base keeps on changing because of access and options available. There is no concept of loyal customers, if a new seller with sound capital starts an eCommerce business with a huge discount to everyone, all the customers will jump to the buy. Online marketplaces or retail stores, both are primarily driven by price, service and quality of the product. One needs to understand and reinforce the tools necessary for their business model. Tools are very much necessary to manage customers efficiently.
Customer mind is not important if you offer something unique and rare products. Ultimately, eCommerce business has so much to offer. For example, Amazon and eBay are ocean and one can sell anything. Physical store of such capabilities demands huge investment for infrastructure. Understanding customer behaviour is the key to designing the store, whether it is an online or store. From product title to listing, service and delivery, sellers need to consider customer mind as a blueprint for the business model.
