Recording growth of 453% over the past five years versus 104% for the total online retail market, the accessories sector continues to outperform the rest of the etail market. Hats off to the retailers operating in this space, with 46% year-on-year growth in 2014 (+16% over 2013).

But what’s their secret? The key driver is that high-end accessory suppliers – including jewellers to watch retailers – have finally started to explore the potential of more sophisticated websites, user-friendly shopping apps and well-produced informative video content, as well as daring to embrace social media platforms.

Here are three tips to help retailers maintain this momentum:

1. Deliver a consistent online and offline experience

Your online presence should project the same vision and values as its physical store. This means that user experience is key. For example, in the luxury category customers would be looking for intuitive navigation and elegant execution.

For the larger retailers, the best way to reflect these experiences across their site for individual brands is through the use of individually branded landing pages. For example, when a person is searching for jewellery on luxury designer fashion retailer MyTheresa.com they know that they have come to the right products or offers. These can also carry prominent calls to action to directly drive sales. On top of that, visitors will perceive that the retailer is catering much more to their needs, which can engender a greater sense of trust and loyalty.

2. Inspire to buy with advisory campaigns

Many people buy accessories as gifts, so presenting a relevant range of options can help them make the perfect choice in terms of price, style, target age group and more, boosting conversion rates. This strategy can work particularly well for seasonal products. Take watches, for example, where a good advisory campaign will help people find the right size, colour and strap style quickly and easily and stop them from shopping elsewhere.

When a customer chooses a product, advisory technology asks key questions to help guide their choice: “Please select your preferred colour”, “What would you like to pay?”, etc. Based on their answers, further questions appear, drilling down to final selection of suitable accessories. Unlike any other ecommerce tool, advisory campaigns address customers directly and reassure them they are making the right decision.

Just like a good sales person in a bricks and mortar store, advisory campaigns act as the online shopper’s personal shopping assistant, creating a more personal and tailored experience.

3. Embrace multi-channel and present informative content

Accessory retailers can leverage return on investment through a multi-channel approach. Pulling in data from bricks and mortar retail sites and measuring online click values can help sort online searches effectively. Customer reviews and a brand blog to drive traffic to key products should also be considered, an approach which works well for Swarovski.

But this then raises the issue of effectively handling the levels of data that come with these channels. It is particularly relevant for retailers who may carry a range of products from different retailers and sell to different countries, as they need to make sure that everything from sizing, finish or design through to different product attributes is consistent across all brands.

Up until recently most retailers – particularly those in the luxury sector – have gone through this process manually. Every time a new catalogue comes in they have to proof it and input the data, which is an incredibly resource-hungry process. But developments in data handling technology now mean that this process can be automated. This not only makes it less resource heavy, but also means different attributes can be found and therefore additional merchandising opportunities uncovered. Improve data quality and retailers improve recommendations, resulting in increased conversion rates.

Fact-Finder helps customers to find and buy the right products in online-shops. As Europe’s leading on-site search and navigation platform, Fact-Finder analyses and optimises the customer journey for a better customer experience and higher conversion rates.

Originally posted Retail Jeweller 4 June 2015

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