Stores Magazine - October 2007 - (Page F12) SERVICES ONLINE SHOPPERS WANT ompetition is forcing retailers to focus intensely on customer service, and the online channel is no exception. In this survey, online shoppers were asked to rate the importance of six services: a flexible return policy; free shipping; low prices; the ability to pick up or return merchandise at a store; “live” toll-free customer service; and website ease of use. Respondents were asked to rate each service on a scale from 1 (not at all important) to 5 (very important). C Low prices were considered to be most important, followed by free shipping, flexible returns, website ease of use, toll-free customer service and in-store pickup/return. The survey tracked the way respondents in various demographic categories rated these services, and turned up some interesting differences based on age, gender and household income. Generally speaking, however, all of the services are more important to women than to men and to less affluent households than to those at the higher end of the income spectrum. When it comes to differences among and between age groups, a natural inclination would be to look at the extremes — comparing the preferences of the youngest respondents with those in the 65-plus group. More interesting, perhaps, is the fact that the perceived importance of all six service areas appears to increase very early — between the first two age groups. On a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 meaning “not at all important” and 5 meaning “very important,” how important are the following services when shopping online? FREE SHIPPING 3.0% 2.8% 14.6% 54.2% 25.4% 51.9% FLEXIBLE RETURN POLICY 2.9% 3.4% 15.1% 26.7% LOW PRICES 1.8% 1.2% 8.6% 22.0% 66.4% Free shipping ranked second in overall importance; here, too, there was a wide gap between women (61.2 percent) and men (46.8 percent) who rated it “very important.” (The figures cited in this section, unless otherwise noted, refer to the percentage of “very important” responses). There was also a significant gap between the 18-to-24 age group (44.5 percent) and 25- to 34year-olds (54.7 percent). This feature/service ranked third in overall importance and was ranked fairly high across the board. But with a gap of more than 16 points, flexible returns were much more important to women (59.8 percent) than men (43.6 percent) — the largest gender variant of any of the services. The importance of this service increases as consumers get older, being least important for 18- to 24-year-olds (42.1 percent) and most important (58.4 percent) for those 65-up. 1 2 3 4 5 Not at all important It’s hardly surprising that low prices ranked highest in importance in every demographic segment. Relatively speaking, it scored lowest — but still very high — with men (62.6 percent) and households with income greater than $50,000 (62.5 percent). Highest — 71.2 percent — was households with incomes below $50,000, followed by people in the 25-to-34 age group (71 percent). Interestingly, people 65 and older had the largest percentage rating low prices “not at all important” – albeit a mere 3.1 percent — and the smallest percentage rating it very important (61.5 percent). Very important WWW.STORES.ORG F12 STORES / OCTOBER 2007 http://WWW.STORES.ORG
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