customer will choose for searching and then ensure that the company or its product is
featured prominently.4 Consumer: evaluate and select. Supplier: assist purchase decision
One of the most powerful features of web sites is their facility to carry a large amount of
content at relatively low cost. This can be turned to advantage when customers are look-
ing to identify the best product. By providing relevant information in a form that is easy
to find and digest, a company can use its web site to help in persuading the customer. For
example, the Comet site (Figure 2.25) enables customers to readily compare product fea-
tures side-by-side, so the customer can decide on the best products for them. Thanks to
the web, this stage can now overlap with earlier stages. Brand issues are important here,
as proved by research in the branding section of Chapter 5, since a new buyer naturally
prefers to buy from a familiar supplier with a good reputation – it will be difficult for a
company to portray itself in this way if it has a slow, poorly designed or shoddy web site.5 Consumer: purchase. Company: facilitate purchase
Once a customer has decided to purchase, then the company will not want to lose the
custom at this stage! The web site should enable standard credit-card payment mecha-
nisms with the option to place the order by phone or mail. Online retailers pay great
attention to identifying factors that encourage customers to convert once they have
added a product to their ‘shopping basket’. Security guarantees, delivery choices and free
delivery offers, for example, can help increase conversion rates.CHAPTER 2· THE INTERNET MICRO-ENVIRONMENT
Figure 2.24Initial product search showing e-retailers available