- A new study by the Electronic Retailing Association (ERA) suggests that “electronic retailing give consumers the ability to research and become informed about a product before purchasing, Thus, they are more inclined to use such outlets for repeat shopping,” and are turning to e-tailing options chiefly as a matter of convenience.
According to the study:
• The average number of purchases among online buyers rose substantially since 2004, from 8.5 to 12.0 per person.
• Eighty-six percent of online purchases were planned and researched.
• Three out of four buyers had seen a product promoted on average three times before buying it.
• Nine out of 10 online buyers said they made multiple visits to the same web site before buying the product.
• Two-thirds of TV shoppers had bought from the same company before their most recent purchase.
• There is a 70 percent likelihood of multiple channel purchases, meaning shoppers purchase from one or more electronic mediums. For example, seven out of 10 radio buyers, TV shopping buyers, and TV infomercial buyers have bought through more than one channel.
- Procter & Gamble is shutting down its Reflect.com website, which specialized in consumer direct marketing of customized beauty products that women were able to create from some 50,000 hair care, skin care, cosmetics and fragrance products.
P&G sent an email to the site’s customers saying, in part, that "as a subsidiary of Procter & Gamble, the company has decided it is not currently in its long term strategic goals to continue the Reflect business and brand."
All is not lost, however. P&G said in the email that the brand's "presence online and in the retail world has provided P&G with invaluable information and insight on custom beauty. In the not so distant future, you will see the custom innovations developed at Reflect in some of P&G's other beauty brands.”
- KC's View:
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This decision doesn’t mean that mass customization is dead or dying. It just means that Reflect.com didn’t fit P&G’s current business strategy.
And that’s all.
