Amazon leads the way for personalisation, say 82% of consumers
Four out of five (82 per cent) UK consumers said that no company offers the same levels of web-personalisation as Amazon, according to a new study by big-data marketing company BloomReach.
The 2014 Consumer and Marketer Personalisation Study, conducted by RedShift Research, highlights the growing technology gap between the retailing giant and the rest of the e-commerce landscape.
The study, which sampled 1,000 UK consumers and 122 UK online retailers, found that 34 per cent of retailers thought brand reputation was the most important factor when consumers choose a retailer and just 2 percent thought that a personalised shopping experience was an important factor.
However, 31 per cent of consumers said they would be more likely to make purchases if they were offered personalised experiences such as product recommendations or tailored content and 85 per cent said brand reputation was not an important factor.
Raj De Datta, co-founder and chief executive of BloomReach, which launched in the UK today, said there is a gap between what UK consumers are looking for in an online experience and what UK retail brands think they are looking for.
“Amazon has raised the bar in customer experience and the challenge is for retailers across the world to try to match that. The good news is that consumers are more open to competitor brands, placing little value in brand reputation but a lot of importance in the experience.
“Marketers need to recognise that brand reputation is not as important as they think it is and more on improving customer experience.”
The study also revealed that 59 per cent of consumers believe that online experiences are more unique to their needs; however, 80 per cent of retail marketers disagreed with this, saying that online could not offer a more personal experience.