As online users are now using more different types of internet browsers than ever before, it is more important than ever that your ecommerce site performs consistently throughout all browsers.

The good news is that the vast majority of online shoppers – over 80% – use either Internet Explorer or Firefox. The bad news is that there are over 100 different browsers and countless flavors of the Internet Explorer & Firefox.

The common argument used to avoid dealing with compatibility issues is that as the percentage of people using for example Chrome is relatively low, around the 3% mark globally, it isn’t worthwhile taking those users into account. This is probably not a wise way to approach the issue, especially for an ecommerce based site. 3% can make a big difference to your bottom line, as it’s not only Internet Explorer users who buy goods and services online.

The truth is, that tailoring an ecommerce site for cross browser compatibility is a pain. But the benefits can pay off in the long run by allowing you to secure sales from a wider customer base.

The main difficulties when it comes to browsers

1. Variety of Web Browsers:

As Windows Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Google Chrome, Opera and many more.

2. Different Web Browser Versions

The major difference between two versions of the same browser is their support for newer portions of the HTML language. Internet users though tend to upgrade their browser based on the addition of new features, like email integration and instant messaging. However, not all users switch immediately to the newest versions. A good rule of thumb is to design your pages to work for the last two versions of the major browsers.

3. Older Browsers

As web technology advances web browsers are falling behind. These lagging browsers put ecommerce businesses in something of a quandary. How do you offer customers the best possible user experience without leaving some of those customers behind?

How to become Multiple Web Browser Compatible

1. Set a Goal

The first step toward solving old browser or noncompliant browser problems is to apply the 80/20 rule also known as the Pareto principle. Basically, 80% of your online store’s business comes from 20% of potential customers. When applying this principle loosely we’ll focus on the top browsers only.

2. End User Web Experience

Ensuring that your Website looks and performs well in a multiple browser world starts with measurement and testing. The overall goal is to provide a quality Web experience for the end user and to accomplish this consistently. Cross browser testing can be divided into four main categories:

• The Visual – The easiest measure is to simply take a look. Visual verification is a straightforward process. However, verifying five or six major browser vendors and the multiple versions of each can become tedious.
• The Functional – Do your critical business functions work successfully? Or will you leave someone with a full shopping cart waiting or unable to check-out?
• The Performance – Three benchmarks can be used to assess end- user web application performance: 
         o Availability: Shows that a Web page or full end-to-end transaction requested by a user is executed successfully without errors.
         o Response Time: Shows the speed at which every end-to-end transaction, page, image or third party content downloads.
         o Consistency: shows the site’s ability to achieve a quality customer experience across multiple visits.
         o Perceived Performance: It measures how long it took for the page to appear like it finished moving and how long it took for all visible “above the fold” components to load.

3. World Wide Web Consortium

Another thing you should make a habit of is to validate your pages through the World Wide Web Consortium. Founded in 1994 the W3C has made it its obligation to guide the development of the Web and create a common basis to build upon. W3C offers free validation tolls.These useful tools are trying to ensure that your visitors will get roughly the same experience when they visit your site.

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While students enjoy their summer, parents get ready for one of the biggest shopping seasons of the year, the Back to School shopping season beginning next month.  Every year between the months of July and September families spend hundreds of dollars on everything from apparel to electronics which accounts for the second largest amount of shopping dollars spent during the year, the first being the winter Holiday season.  The retail industry is now preparing for what could be a test of consumer demand and could also determine whether the economy has recovered since the recession.

Shopping Figures

1.    It is estimated that around 45% of families will spend close to $250 per child.
2.    The majority of this shopping season will be done in July & August.
3.    Over 38% of dollars spent will be during this time.
4.    Approximately 25% of consumers will spend more this year than the previous year.
5.    In 2008, The U.S. spent $54 billion on back to school shopping .

Google Insights for Search: Back to school shopping trends

The above graph represents that the month of August is the peak for back to school on an annual basis which is predicted for the upcoming shopping season in 2009.

When back to school shoppers start looking to their lists for supplies they’ll also be looking for great deals.  Like most consumers, the majority of them begin their search online.  There has been a definite rise in the percentage of people shopping online in the last two years.   An analysis of online shopping trends predicts that retail e-commerce sales will increase around 4% from last year.  Those looking for deals on apparel and electronics should find them on Bing shopping, Google Advertisements and Twitter search when looking for the latest products and deals.  This has been a great boost for online retailers.  Since the recession, price conscious consumers have also found price comparison websites to be very beneficial and due to this response they will likely see a rise in use.

For e-tailers to capitalize on the upcoming shopping season advertising will be the most important factor.  Search engine marketing and keywords will play a large role in reaching consumers. Using seasonal keywords in addition to product specific keywords will be beneficial.  Creating package deals for multiple related items associated with school shopping would also drive consumers.  Researching new and popular items of the season will be an advantage when attracting online shoppers.

Sources
1.    Kristina Knight (Big Report) “Study: Back to School Could Help Etailers”
a.    Study by Burst Media
2.    Jessica Wohl (Reuters) “Back to School Shopping to Test Retail Resilience”

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As eMarketer reported earlier in the month mothers are one of larger user groups online and are among the most internet savvy.  In the US alone approximately 34 million moms are online per month, as reported by eMarketer, and they are influencing those purchase decisions.

So how can ecommerce sites understand how to gear their offerings towards mothers who not only by for themselves, but also their children.

Before making a purchasing decision moms will use general websites, referrals from friends and family, search engines and mobile web browsing as the top four resources for product information. Your product has to be where the consumer is searching.

Tips for targeting tech savvy mothers:

1.    Ecommerce sites should be offering all available information per product and where the consumer can find additional information, possibly third party information, on lines of products you carry.
2.    Utilize search engine marketing with an emphasis on the shopper. You can create specific campaigns just targeting women between the ages of 24 to 35 for example.
3.    Once a purchase is complete get the consumer to fill out a review of the product a few weeks later or their experience shopping on your site.

So what sites need to pay attention to the increasing role of tech savvy mothers online? The top three categories for which moms research are clothing, food/cooking and baby/parenting, however the next three categories are banking services, electronics and travel. Gearing websites and advertisements towards mothers within these categories will require companies to make sure the site is user friendly towards various potential shoppers.

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A recent NRF and Shop.org study indicates that price is the number one factor to persuade consumers to shop at your online retail store. Price was designated by 67% of women and 58% of men all over the age of 18. After the actual price of the product the 2nd leading factor was shipping costs with assortment of merchandise in 4th.

Online retailers, according to the report, are encouraged to present a well rounded collection of items to help steer off competition. Retail websites with fewer products will lose market share and will not be able to maintain a steady stream of consumers required for long term growth. Assortment becomes even more important for consumers in the upper income bracket, who will hopefully spend more as well, where assortment and quality of merchandise is ranked higher.

While the results are not out of the ordinary an important issue to take from the report is that online retailers should maintain a steady value based pricing structure. Fluctuations in pricing should be kept to a minimum so consumers know your pricing points are fair, within market value and sales will occur at scheduled intervals.

How to achieve consumer growth and retention:

1. Maintain a value based pricing structure.
2. Stock quality brands and products.
3. Maintain an assortment of merchandise, a thorough catalog of products.
4. Compete on pricing (different to number 1).
5. Offer discounted or free shipping where possible.

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