UK retailers are failing online shoppers study reveals

2,000 consumers were surveyed, looking at four areas, overall web experience, browsing, buying and after-sales, with 63 per cent the average score for the online retailers.

88 per cent said that user reviews were vital or important to their online shopping experience, while only 42 per cent of retailers provided them.

However the study found the retailers performed well with their accessibility functions, with 97 per cent having a site that were easy to navigate and 96 per cent having effective search functions.

Retailers performed well against the two elements that were ranked top by UK consumers, with 97% having a site that was easy to navigate and 96% having an effective search function. Retailers also scored well in other areas such as providing high quality images (96%), immediate email confirmations (96%) and swift product delivery (96%).

Maria Wasing, vice president of marketing Europe at EPiServer, said that the research demonstrated that consumers were not receiving the experience they expect from online shopping.

“UK retailers need to develop their websites to provide more engaging, social features and content that will keep consumers on a site until a point of conversion or entice them to return if they leave the site. There are major challenges ahead for retailers in this fast-evolving digital age. The ones that tap into the power of the ‘social-web and social commerce’ to gain traffic, loyalty and revenue will be the ones that succeed,” she added.

The websites viewed in the survey came from the Hitwise Top 50 Hot Shops List and included Amazon, Argos, Play.com and Apple.