E-tailer web sites lack multiple delivery options, contact details and customer testimonial features, according to research into UK online retailers by NetExtract.
Findings show that 60 per cent of UK online retailers have no telephone number on their web site, 43 per cent have no address indicating where the business is located and 39 per cent have no contact email address. Some 30 per cent of sites profiled provided no telephone number or email address.
In terms of delivery, 11 per cent of online retailers provided a free postage or delivery service, while only 15 per cent mentioned offering a next day or Special Delivery service. Of the delivery companies named on the web sites, Royal Mail services (including Special Delivery) were identified in 17 per cent of cases.
With 71 per cent of online shoppers seeking out ratings and reviews (source: Forrester) it is fairly surprising that only 38 per cent of online retailers have a testimonial or comments part on their web site. A FAQ page was identified on 10 per cent of sites.
NetExtract's managing director, Thomas Roberts, said: "Consumers require reassurance before purchasing from online retailers. This analysis has highlighted that many online retailers can help further reduce the fears of potential customers by offering multiple contact channels and delivery options, and by adding testimonials from current customers to their sites."
This is backed by recent findings from E-consultancy and Bazaarvoice that more than half of online customers say reviews are important in making a purchase. This research also found that 57 per cent of online retailers are considering adding customer ratings and reviews to their sites.
From the 1.5 million UK web sites on NetExtract's database, 30,000 sites have shopping cart facilities and sell online. The report was compiled by profiling a sample of 10,000 of these UK online retailers' sites. Site-crawling technology searched for contact details, including address, phone, fax and email, within each of the sites in the sample. The keyword and phrase extractor searched for particular terms to identify any customer testimonials, comments or FAQ pages on the web sites.
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