Shopping online – from your couch, while eating pizza – works very well. It is a much easier way to compare prices than by driving from shop to shop. You have more information at your fingertips than the usually inexperienced and uninterested salesperson can share, if any of them care enough to look up from their cellphone to do their job.
Even so, bad websites and glitches see many shoppers ‘walk out the door’ without buying anything. The latest SA Digital Customer Experience report says that eCommerce sales could increase by 100% for eCommerce websites in South Africa if the problems with the glitches and other problems are resolved. This would move eCommerce to 5.6% of the officially retail value in South Africa. Collectively, glitches in online merchants’ trustworthiness, ease-of-use, security, delivery and after-sales support are estimated to cost etailers nearly R12 billion in lost sales, the survey by the online polling community ovatoyou and digital marketing agency Rogerwilco found. In addition, ovatoyou calculated that frequent cart abandonment – when shoppers do not complete their transactions – amounts to more than R20 billion. “Over R30 billion is being left on the table, which is coincidentally the current market value of ecommerce in SA,” says ovatoyou’s Amanda Reekie. Thus, consumer ecommerce could easily double if things just worked as they should. “A staggering 96% of respondents said they would spend more online if online retailers’ customer experience was better,” says Reekie. The study specifically asked respondents to indicate how often they do not complete purchases, and why. It used the data to calculate the weighted average of lost sales with the result that sales would be R20 billion higher if shoppers actually got to the checkout.
1. Too slow, too long and too quiet
A third of the online shoppers complained that there are too many steps in the purchase process, as well as listing slow websites and a lack of support reasons for cart abandonment. Having your website designed is in most people's minds an aesthetic thing. Does my website look good? That is the main questions most website owners ask themselves. Here is a truth that most people will not believe. It doesn't matter if your website is good looking. Your shoppers don't care if the colors are bright or not. They care about their experience. And yes it is smart to have a good looking website, but that is a subjective view and each shopper views the design differently and decides if they like it or not What mostly affects their view of your website is how good it works. Is it easy to use. How fast does it load. Are your product images of good quality. Is it secure and they feel safe buying on your store. Is the payment system from someone they trust. Do you deliver their order as you promised These are the thing that more than 87% of shoppers online said what helps them decide if they are going to buy from a website. This is what you should focus on. BeNimble addresses these issues. Our team has decades of experience and knowledge of what shoppers are looking for. With our streamlined one page checkout system, templates that are focussed on speed and customer experience , multiple ways to offer online support via chats, payment system for your site from the leaders in their field in South Africa and courier companies that everyone knows and trust, having a BeNimble eCommerce store increases your chances to get that sale.
2. Amazon and Takealot are trend setters, good or bad
If you want to run an eCommerce store anywhere in the world, you have to look at what Amazon is doing. In South Africa you have to look at what Takealot is doing. The majority of online sales in South Africa are from the Takealot group and Amazon. Most shoppers are used to what they offer. How the structure and flow of their website is managed. Fast loading, trusted payment providers and delivery options that suits their shoppers. If you keep this in mind, and structure your offering to cater to shoppers of these companies, you are more than 80% more likely to get that sale. Leverage on the trust that these brands have built in their processes and use it to your advantage.
3. Trust is something you can buy
The research points to three factors that build trust with shoppers. The first is the experience itself. Large stores like Amazon and Takealot have gotten this part of journey right, according to Rogerwilco. Stewart says that good customer experience minimises frustration, reduces second-guessing and stops customers switching across to a rival site. The second factor is brand resonance, with 32% of respondents claiming they buy at familiar category and branded stores. Nike, Samsung and Apple were just a few of the names mentioned, as were Clicks and Superbalist. Now although most online store in South Africa does not sell these brands, having "partners" on your website does improve the trust your shoppers have. Use the brands you use and flaunt them. Tell your shoppers who they are working with. BeNimble offers online payment integrations for your eCommerce store to: Payfast , South Africa's leading online payment provider trusted by big stores like Takealot and YOCO - the leading payment service and fastest growing payment provider in South Africa, with more than 60000 clients in South Africa. We ship your parcel to you with South Africa's premier Smart Drop Box courier PUDO. We can drop it off to you at the closest drop box to you, or even better, straight to your door! As you can see from the example above, leverage on the brands you use to buy trust from your shoppers. And this is free, no need to pay for that trust. BeNimble stores are pre integrated with all the leading Payment Providers in South Africa:
- Payfast
- Paystack
- YOCO
- Snapscan
- and PayJustNow
BeNimble stores are also integrated with the leading eCommerce Courier providers in South Africa. In fact we are the only eCommerce platform that have all of these in one place!
- PUDO
- eParcel.co.za
- uAfrica
- and Skynet
