Online direct marketers have abandoned bells and whistles to invest in traditional customer service techniques during the fourth quarter of 2002, said the report by the e-commerce consulting firm the E-tailing Group.
For instance, 78% of those surveyed used gift certificates and cards to drive purchases, versus 72% during 2001. And, 61% of Web site customers were given holiday shipping deadlines, compared with 47% last year.
Some 56% of e-merchants played up their top sellers on their sites, while last year, only 40% did. And sales and specials were present on 95% of sites, versus 86% last year.
More e-commerce sites listed customer service hours of operation (81% in 2002, compared with 74% in 2001). Co-branded credit cards were used by 44% of sites—an increase of 10% over the previous year.
Multi-channel marketing was more prevalent this year than last. There was more emphasis on promoting the Web site in the catalog. Such use of catalogs as Web traffic builders went up from 16% to 32%.
One hundred e-commerce sites were studied for this report. They represent a cross-section of merchants selling online in 15 categories. The study has been conducted since 1998.
