Expensive brand goods sell slowly on the Internet

Three-quarters of online shoppers buy brand products worth less than € 100
Realistic shopping experience increases trust

Luxury items are harder to sell via the Internet.

Internet shopping baskets are low-value  
Most Internet customers avoid high-priced goods. Three-quarters of online users spent no more than 100 euros last time they shopped. But bargain hunters value brand products. Seven out of ten Web customers look out specifically for items made by companies they know. The reason is that the brand gives buyers the confidence that the product will meet their expectations. The persuasive power of brand products reaches right into the e-shops. All this was the result of a study entitled “Communication costs in sales and after-sales at e-shops”, which was carried out by novomind in conjunction with the industry magazine Der Versandhausberater. 
  
The websites run by expensive luxury brands are too complex  
More and more sellers of highly priced products are trying to use their brand awareness to expand their online business. But it is not enough to try to imitate the real-world shop experience online using lavish, but slow and complicated websites. Encouraging the sale of luxury items on the Internet depends more on the service you provide and the advantages particular to online shopping. Above all, Internet customers want to save time when searching for and ordering products and services, and they are prepared to look at many different channels online to find them. 
  
The more real the shopping experience, the better the prospects of a sale  
The way the product is presented and the way users are guided play a key part in the decision to buy. Buyers must be absolutely sure that the quality, design and colour of the actual product are the same as what is shown in the online catalogue, especially when it comes to costly branded goods. If they do, then online shops can build up trust.
That is why e-commerce firms are increasingly keen on three-dimensional views and high-resolution product images, in order to offer customers as realistic a shopping experience as possible. 
  
In comparison with books, cars are real slow movers on the Web  
The big sellers in virtual shops are books and magazines, as well as music and films. 29 per cent of respondents chose products in those categories when buying online. Fashion and electronics, mostly from big-name sellers, were found in 20 per cent of Internet shopping baskets. But to buy expensive furniture or cars, customers preferred to visit a real-life shop. Only 2.1 per cent of those asked ordered furniture on their most recent Internet shopping spree, and the proportion of them that most recently bought a car online was less than one per cent. For those product groups, the Internet is used more for information, while the sale takes place later in physical retail. 
  
Background information  
The survey entitled "Communication costs in sales and after-sales at e-shops" presents the results of a panel questionnaire performed online on behalf of novomind AG in conjunction with the industry magazine Der Versandhausberater. It examined the types of cases in which customers query their online retailers, and what communication costs are incurred for the e-shops in that process. The data was gathered between 2 and 7 April 2008, and 428 online shoppers took part in the survey. 
  
novomind AG: innovative software for professional customer communication and Internet systems    
The novomind Services division specialises in modern software solutions for electronic telecommerce (e-commerce). Consulting, implementation and operational support in the fields of e-shopping, PIM and marketplace integration together lead to tailor-made e-commerce solutions for novomind customers - manufacturer-independent, individual and successful.
Integratability, scalability and availability of systems are as much a prime focus, therefore, as pragmatic project management and fast software-development cycles.
novomind’s technological partners include: Intershop, IBM, Oracle and hybris.
The novomind clientele includes: Der Club Bertelsmann, buecher.de, Otto-Group, Mexx, Ernsting’s family, Media-Saturn, s.Oliver and Weltbild.
The Products division portfolio features, among other things, the novomind Self Service Suite™. This software package contains all the necessary communication modules a customer service centre needs, based on a central knowledge database.

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