Future Now Inc.'s 2003 Online Retail Study for Customer Focused Excellence

Future Now, Inc. sent out independent mystery shoppers as well their own website conversion specialists to over 60 top retailers’ websites. Their mission was to analyze how customer-focused the retailers’ websites were once a customer identified the product they wanted to purchase.

The mystery shoppers searched for 42 different data points across 13 categories to find out which retailers’ website was the most focused on meeting their customer’s needs once they had identified the product to be purchased. Each data point was assigned a weighted score, totaling 100 points.

The data points covered several facets that make or break shopping experiences. For example, could the shopper zoom in on details in images or see products from multiple angles? Did a retailer offer gift wrapping, messaging or gift certificates? Was checkout easy, how many pages did it take, and did the retailer provide a progress indicator? How well did they do at solving customer problems and addressing concerns with return policies, guarantees, third-party seals and security assurances?

Future now, Inc. chose a sample of retailers across multiple categories, fashion, electronics, jewelry, gifts, housewares, toys and sporting goods. No one scored 100%, but the top 12 of 60 were:

Landsend.com 81%
Amazon.com 77%
LLBean.com 73%
Bluenile.com 72%
QVC.com 71%
Nordstrom.com 70%
BestBuy.com 69%
Newport-News.com 68%
Sears.com 68%
Mondera.com 67%
Macys.com 65%
Neimanmarcus.com 65%

Selected Highlights Learned From the Customer Focused Excellence Study:

15 of the 60 (25%) retailer’s choice of default font size were too small for our mystery shoppers to read.
39 of the 60 retailers (65%) offered gift certificates.
23 of the 60 retailers (38%) offered multiple image views of products.
22 of the 60 retailers (37%) offered free shipping.
27 of the 60 retailers’ (45%) offered any information regarding in-stock availability on the product offering page.
44 of the 60 retailers (73%) offer estimated delivery times.
42 of the 60 retailers (70%) provide shipping cost early in the checkout process.
26 of the 60 retailers (43%) did not offer the option to telephone in payment for your online orders.

The study reflects significant factors that customers have come to expect. Bryan Eisenberg, one of the founders of Future Now, Inc said “we have spent the last five years working with online retailers and observing how customers buy at retailers’ websites that customers notice the little things. In the long run customers vote with their dollars for companies that have an intense focus on satisfying their customer’s needs.”