Case studies

Capturing the digital customer

Simplify the shopping maze to win more sales

Despite investing millions of dollars in enhancements to its mobile and web presence, a major retailer was having an increasingly difficult time converting online customer visits into sales. How could the retailer improve its digital shopping experience, convert online browsing into increased sales, and hit its performance goals?

“If a site visitor adds items to the cart and then abandons it, analytics can help us figure out why. Did they have to answer too many questions before checking out? Were there too many filters to get to the product? We need to know why they left so we can improve the customer journey.”


— Director of Marketing, Leading Global Retailer

Simplifying the digital shopping maze

For one major retailer, the gap between visitors to the site and completed purchases was widening. A growing number of consumers were losing interest in following the digital maze required to locate and purchase the products they were seeking. As a result, the retailer was having an increasingly difficult time converting online customer visits into sales.

“We were constantly making changes to our website and offering special online promotions, but we found that some changes were having an opposite impact on sales than we were expecting,” the company’s director of marketing explained. “It seemed like one step forward often meant taking two steps backward.”

With Deloitte’s help, the retailer analyzed its customer data against industry benchmarks to identify where customers were leaving the funnel and to pinpoint reasons for the fracture. As the retailer soon discovered, most of its online customers were looking for a direct route to the products they want to buy; in most cases, they would spend no more than one minute trying to locate a particular item.

Impacts from transformation:

  • Higher conversion rates
  • Increased mobile sales
  • Greater return on digital investment

“With a mobile marketplace that represents almost $600 billion in business a year—and growing—every incremental increase in conversion rates represents significant sales growth. By relying on Deloitte to help us get inside eCommerce data to streamline the customer journey, we can build a more dynamic, engaging digital experience for our customers. And allocating resources more effectively means earning a higher return on our digital investment and increasing sales.”


— Director of Marketing, Leading Global Retailer

Recognizing the value of a streamlined shopping experience

In recognizing the value of a streamlined shopping experience the retailer was able to simplify the customer’s digital experience, reduce points of fracture, and increase conversions. The company learned that fewer clicks resulted in more sales — that the easier it is for customers to find a particular product, the more likely they will make a purchase.

Repairing the fractures in the digital shopping experience and guiding the customer through the purchasing funnel more effectively has resulted in improved results for this major retailer.

As further enhancements to the retailer’s digital site are proposed, analytics will be used to determine whether or not certain enhancements will have the desired effect on the customer’s digital journey before they are implemented, helping to increase investment and improve returns quickly.

Learn more about how this retailer used analytics to improve its digital shopping experience
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