It's a game changer

Online shopping requires your best efforts on the Web

By: Mike Bruce

In the not too distant future, the online shopper will become the dominant force in the retail world. I could make a strong case that day is already here.

The Pew Research Center reported in April 2009 that 79% of all American adults are now active online. More specific to us in the tire business, Google Inc. reported that in July 2009, there were 11 million searches performed on the keyword “tires.” That is 11 million times, just in one month, that someone was looking for tire information. The largest segment within that group? Consumers looking to purchase.

So, take a second, go to Google and type in the word “tires.” That page you are now looking at is the largest marketplace for tires we have ever seen. And just as important, these are “in market” consumers. Most are looking to buy in the very near future.

Now, let’s take it a step further. Let’s assume that your business is either advertising online or appears on the “Results” page of a Web search. The consumer clicks on your link and is taken to your Web site. What next? What do these online consumers want to see? What do they want to do?

Consumer shopping behavior is changing

For the online consumer, shopping has moved from your showroom to his home or workplace. The busiest shopping period online is weekday lunch. The shopping process of research, selection, and often the purchase decision happens before that consumer physically enters your store.

The standard, time-honored strategy of placing advertising, having consumers read that ad and then having them call or drive to your store is still viable today for your off-line consumers.

But online consumers take a different path. They search online to see what stores and what products are available in their areas. They choose which store fits their needs, and then they visit that store’s Web site. As part of the search, there may be multiple stores from which to choose.

At this point, the consumer is at the same place mentally as the consumer that has just walked through your front door. He wants to shop. He wants all the same information he would receive if he were physically in your store. In fact, he expects more.

Web site evolution

The first Web sites were coined “brochure-ware” sites because most retailers displayed their company brochures online.

In the late 1990s, they began to tell consumers about themselves, what they did and what they offered. Their attitude was, “Here is the information we want you to see, and this is how we want you to see it. And now, we want you to get off your computer and call us or stop by so we can give you the information that you wanted but we would not give you online.”

Not the best experience for the online consumer.

By the middle of this decade, the industry evolved again to what is referred to as Web 2.0, or the “customer-centric” Web design.

We started to listen to the consumer and focus on the consumer. What does the consumer want to see? What does the consumer want to do?

To truly be successful, you must be fanatical about the consumer’s online experience.

You did it before — in your showroom by adding comfy chairs, maybe coffee, maybe even a television set to help your customers pass the time. It’s time to take the same approach with your online tire store and give online consumers all the things that they want to see and do.