On a recent shopping trip, I noticed a very clever hanging system in the changing rooms. There were three hooks, where the shopper could categories their items into “definitely”, “maybe”, and “my stuff”.
There was no hook for “no”. But I guess that wouldn’t fit with the goal of selling you more clothes.
Why’s it clever?
Because with piles of clothes around it makes the shopper’s job easier. They can quickly identify what they want and what they still need to think about.
From personal experience, sometimes, I don’t complete a purchase because I’m too lazy, and the store makes it too difficult for me rather than giving me a helping hand to the tils.
Barriers to purchase
If the shop has long queues- unless I’m in love with what I have in my hands, I’ll drop it and head out the door.
If I’m in a shop where I’m likely to pick up multiple items, I welcome the chance to put everything in my hands into a basket. However, if I’ve got too many things, I’ll edit out some of the items in my arms so that I don’t have to haul them around the shop.
If the changing room queues are too long, I may give up also.
If they only allow a few items in the changing room at one time, I may also edit out and never return the items I had to leave at the entrance.
Once I’m in the changing room, chances are I’ll try on everything that I’ve brought in and decide which I would like to purchase.
What can we learn from this online?
That it’s essential to make the whole experience as easy as possible. Impulse purchases can only add to revenue if the customer can quickly and easily complete their purchases.
Save for later
E-Commerce shops can give their customers a helping hand to the “til” by allowing the users to save an item for later, as ASOS and amazon do.
They can also remind customers of items they have looked at throughout the shopping process. Or remind them about it in an email if they don’t complete the purchase.
Follow up for incomplete purchases
If they have a sale, or discount coming up, they can remind the customer – hey, you looked at xxxxx and we have a 10% discount until xxxxxxxx. So why don’t you come back and complete your purchase”.