The Irish website of clothing retailer Next has come top in a major survey of Irish eCommerce sites. But some of Ireland’s best-known traditional retailers, such as book sellers Hughes & Hughes and electrical retailer DID, had the worst scores among the 50 sites surveyed.
Next’s Irish site nextdirectory.ie scored 90 marks out of a possible 100, beating many well-known sites selling clothing, groceries, electronics, telecoms services, books, travel and insurance online. The site was followed by Meteor, Perfume Ireland, Leinster Rugby and Moviestar.
The survey is published in the latest quarterly bulletin State of the Net, produced by online consultancy AMAS in association with the Irish Internet Association.
The 50 eCommerce sites were compared and scored for convenience, efficiency, transparency and compliance. This included how clear and simple they make their online checkout processes, and whether customers have to “opt out” to avoid extra charges or signing up to marketing newsletters.
Ryanair, the website that consumers love to hate, was in mid-table this year with a score of 60. The airline has made some improvements in its site since coming last in the 2007 State of the Net online shopping survey.
“Website usability makes good business sense, as it ensures higher online sales, more repeat visits and brand loyalty,” says Aileen O’Toole, Managing Director of AMAS. “Yet one in four of the sites in the survey scored badly in terms of checkout usability – the ease with which customers can complete a purchase.
“Putting barriers in the way of customers doesn’t make sense in the current market. If a shop on the high street put physical barriers around its check-outs, customers would leave without spending money with them, and take their custom elsewhere. Yet that’s exactly what some of these websites are doing,” O’Toole says.
“Usability can be a key factor in boosting online sales,” says AMAS director Fiachra Ó Marcaigh. “Studies show that shopping sites can boost their sales by as much as 100% if the sites themselves are well-structured, have efficient checkouts and become a lot more customer-centric.”
The survey also found that many of the 50 sites haven’t taken sufficient steps to protect themselves from pricing mistakes, despite the Aer Lingus underpricing episode last April. The airline found itself in hot water after attempting to cancel online bookings by customers of €5 seats to the US.
The Winter 2008 edition of State of the Net also reports on:
- Social networks – Irish membership on Facebook has doubled within a year
- Web 2.0 – companies should reach out online rather than waiting for customers to come to them
- Broadband – the debate is beginning to shift from availability to speed and cost
- Advertising – more Irish businesses are experimenting with new online formats
Download the latest edition of State of the Net [PDF, 883 KB]
View the full results of the AMAS survey of eCommerce websites and the survey methodology
