Kevin Sparks, Commercial Director at FACT-Finder offers 5 essential tips to ensure your online childrens wear store is in tip-top shape.
The UK childrens wear market is one of the strongest performing sub-sectors of clothing in terms of growth, according to Datamonitor, and furthermore, growth in the infants wear category is tipped be strongest. Here’s a check-list of key functionalities to ensure that your online shop is in tip-top shape to help turn those browsers into buyers:
- Error-tolerant search
According to Google, 56% of new and expectant parents search for baby products on their mobile device. But the smaller the display, the easier it is to make mistakes when typing. People also tend to misspell lesser known brands – keying in ‘Chicco’ rather than ‘Chico’, for example, can create a further source of errors. Make sure you have an error-tolerant search function in place that interprets request intuitively, delivering relevant results even when customers make mistakes.
- Guided selling
Aspiring parents are often not sure which products meet their needs best. Because there are so many different variables to consider – what size baby grow should I get? Which car seat is suitable for which age? Which pushchair will last the longest? With guided selling, your online shop is able to ask visitors the same questions that a sales assistant would. For example, if a visitor were to type in ‘pushchair’ – give them additional options such as twin or single buggy; three or four wheels; for use in the city or countryside, to narrow down the search and allow them to select the most suitable items.
- Pushed products
The first item noticed by online shoppers is bought more often than others. So, take this opportunity to promote house brands, certified products or high margin items. With the right technology, you can set your own ranking-rules to coincide with a particular promotion.
- Flexible navigation
For friends, relatives, or new mums looking for inspiration, ensure the navigation on your site is simple and intuitive; this is essential in encouraging a purchase. Theme worlds are a great way of highlighting a particular range or category, for example ‘First Year Essentials’ or ‘Little Princess’. This is a great way of improving conversion rate and cross selling too.
- Intelligent filtering
Once a customer has found the item they are looking for, useful filter options are a must – whether that’s brand, size or colour. ‘Yes-no’ filters allow products to be selected in terms of important health or ethical factors, including allergy-friendliness, quality and safety standards – something that a new mother will likely be wary of.
If there’s one thing that will put a new mother at ease, it’s by listening and learning from those who have experienced it themselves. Key to success here is offering blog posts or a “buying guide” feature – all of which can be included in the suggest drop down.
If you haven’t already, now is the time to start taking these baby steps to ensure your e-commerce site doesn’t get left behind.
Originally posted Talk Retail 6 July 2015