Understanding the preferences, behavior and attitudes of online shoppers is the holy grail of e-business. Geno Prussakov has proven that nearly 3,000 respondents (all of whom are actual consumers) teach you much more than a handful of industry experts. He does that in a book that encompasses the entire online shopping experience from research to purchase to retention.

Some of the results will reinforce what you already suspected while other parts will probably raise a few eyebrows. Did you know that fewer than one out of 20 consumers shop at the store first visited? And even when pleased with a store, more than 70 percent would consider other stores the next time they make a purchase?

Another interesting finding is that despite the rapid growth of online video, much thanks to YouTube and copycat sites, seven out of ten consumers state that video introductions by company officials do not influence their purchasing behavior.

The term customer-centric is used frequently by marketers, yet how often do businesses really take the time to try to understand the customer experience?

ShareThis