Consumers embrace personalised shopping experiences

Tuesday, March 3, 2015 - 10:57 by Graham Miller

People who regularly make purchases online are becoming more attuned to the idea of receiving product recommendations from retailers, that are tailored to suit their needs and tastes, according to a study from Barilliance.

Analysts found that almost a third of all sales being created online can come from the fact that people are being engaged through a more bespoke e-commerce experience. Customers get products and services recommended to them based on their previous buying habits, as well as their web browsing history, all of which encourages more people to actually go through with a transaction.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the report found that personalised product recommendations and adverts that are customised for individual users are five and a half times more likely to get consumers to click through to the e-commerce site, when they are encountered.

Many people who use sites like Amazon will be familiar with receiving emails or seeing display ads on other sites that recommend products they have either expressed an interest in before, or are related to other purchases they have made.

This is all part of retailers attempting to tap into the vast sea of data which is available to them, now that more and more people enjoy safe shopping online in large numbers. Because people leave a trail of breadcrumbs every time they visit a website, personalisation is much easier to achieve and, more importantly, can be completely automated so that retailers can just sit back and watch sales increase.

Of course for consumers, it is important to be aware of the marketing tactics that are being deployed and recognise where retailers are looking to engage with you. But, equally, if the online shopping experience is becoming more personalised and convenient, then it is difficult to complain.