Sorry about your retirement savings plan, America.
You might think that you exercise complete and total control over the money you spend. In today’s e-commerce world, however, the simple fact is that technology has made shopping almost too easy. Now, consumers buy things online without thinking very much about it.
The Harvard Business Review has a new analysis out on the subject, and their findings are revealing:
“Lots of retailers, which were already highly skilled at separating people from their hard-earned money, have been able to make transactions on everything from shampoo to high-end clothing items as easy as inhaling oxygen. The paper points to everything from the rise of app-based buying on mobile devices to the Amazon Dash button, which lets you re-order everything from razor blades to whey protein at the touch of a button.”
Consumers have become well-trained in the marketplace. Successful businesses now tap into your assumed daily needs through improvements in technology. As a result, they’ve shortened the time between our realizing we need something and actually purchasing that need. They’ve turned shopping from something that we do at a specific time in a specific place (Saturday afternoons at the mall, for example) into something that we can do anytime, anywhere with the simple click of a button. They’ll even keep all of your payment methods on file so that you don’t even have to physically pull out that credit card and feel the transaction taking place!
As a result, are consumers spending more via this technological convenience than in the olden days of driving to the corner store or local grocery outlet? That remains to be seen. One thing is certain. As it gets easier and quicker to get what we need delivered right to our door with less thought, businesses are betting big that consumers will be prone to spending much more as a result.
Are you maximizing your online marketing strategy to capture new customers? Do you understand customer behaviors on your e-commerce site to reduce cart abandonment? Is your checkout process properly streamlined to reduce decision time, reduce buyer hesitation and increase quick, decisive sales of your products?
If you answered no to any of those questions, you need to talk to Gavin P. Smith Consulting today and stop leaving money on the table!
Relevant Links:
We’re Never Not Shopping Now, According to Smart People at Harvard
