Google Merchandise Store
-Introduction
Currently, technology has revolutionized trading activities whereby e-commerce websites have been designed to facilitate the buying and selling process. One of the main companies that have benefited from e-commerce is Google Company, the founder of the Google Merchandise Store. The store operates in every part of the world, and therefore buyers are only needed to key in their details and place an order where it is delivered to them. This paper analyses the website’s performance based on its strengths and weaknesses. Further, the paper provides several recommendations that could help solve some of the key challenges affecting the website. Currently, buyers do not just buy from any store; their buying behaviors are influenced by several factors, including the website’s efficiency and the general customer service of a particular store. Therefore, any business that endeavors to increase its sales revenue and maintain its customer’s loyalty must be cautious of the ‘small things’ that really care to their customers.
-Review of the website store
The store deals with a variety of products ranging from the basic products to the complex ones, some of which are differentiated. Further, some products are categorized into three broad categories: men’s products, women’s products, and babies’ products. The products dealt with include; clothing, writing and reading materials, bags, drink wares to name just a few. The website is well designed such that new users can easily navigate through and explore the products’ menu. This has been achieved by the appropriate grouping of items in a way that similar items are grouped together. Therefore, it is easy for the user to compare different products, although most of them seem to have little or no differentiation. This creates a user-friendly environment since most customers need to compare different products before making the final purchase decision. There are insignificant differences between the mobile and the desktop version of the website. The only notable difference appears when the user is signing on the website. From the mobile version, the user is only allowed to make two choices: whether they are from the United States or international customers. However, when using the desktop, several other options are displayed, including the continents subdivisions.
-Overview of the Google Analytics of the website
Google Analytics collects a wide range of data from a particular website, which can be used to boost the website’s performance. This can be achieved by the company’s management working on some of the website’s challenges depicted by the analytics. Some of the data may include the customers’ traffic in the store, the top sales products based on the customers‘ searches, a benchmark of the website with other similar websites, to name just a few.
-A report of the data
From the Google Analytics report, two main cohorts regularly visit the store. The first category comprises people between 18 and 34 years, while the second one comprises people aged between 35 and 49 years. Out of the 543000 sessions that the report was generated from, the first cohort raised revenue amounting to 3.9%, while the second cohort raised revenue amounting to 4.5%. This indicates that people aged between 35 to 49 years make the most purchases from the store. From the category, men are the main buyers. From the 543,000 sessions, the total amount of revenue raised amounted to 2.4 million USD. Therefore, the store’s conversion probability is 2.68%. Further, customers can access the store in two main ways, namely; direct visits and referrals. From the collected data, most customers are direct while a small group comprises the referred customers. This shows that the store’s advertisements are worth it since they attract most of the customers. Additionally, from the data, most of the customers are dropping off at the payment stage. Most of which are returning customers. The analytics indicates a high possibility of new customers making the final purchase decision. Most of the customers use Facebook and other Google platforms to access the store. On the benchmarking aspect, most of the customers are loyal to the store, although some avoid the review section. However, most of them are not comfortable with the store’s few payment modes, which discourages them from shopping in the store.
-the strengths of the website’s data
From the data, the store offers a wide range of products through branded differently, which gives the consumers a pool of options to choose from. The analytics show that most of the sales realized are from YouTube brands. Secondly, the website is accessible in every part of the day, therefore, allowing customers to make purchases at their most convenient periods. Thirdly, the store’s pricing strategy favors most of its customers, which frees them a lot of money, and thus they can spend less and buy more. Finally, most of the customers originate from the advertisements done on Facebook and YouTube platforms. This makes the firm to acquire a competitive advantage ahead of their business rivals.
-weaknesses of the website’s data
One of the major weaknesses that the store is facing is the high rate of customers dropping off, especially at the payment stage. This is because the payment options might be very few, and the process might be long and thus tedious to most of the customers. Secondly, from the analytics data, most customers avoid the reviews section, so they do not rate the company. This makes it almost impossible for the store to address customers’ concerns since they are unavailable.
-Recommendations
To start with, the company should consider increasing the customers’ payment options to include those used in remote areas. Further, the process should be made short, which increases convenience and efficiency. Secondly, the store should invest more in advertisement, which helps create brand awareness and increase overall sales. From the analysis, most of the new customers get the information about the store from the Facebook platform. Therefore, the firm should advertise more on Facebook to attract more customers. Thirdly, most of the customers do not rate the store’s services. To address this challenge, the company should include an incentive at the end of the review section to compel more people to rate the store to get the incentive.
–Conclusion
In a nutshell, digital marketing is a major breakthrough in the world of trade. However, it comes with significant challenges that can significantly affect the company’s sales and thus negatively impact on its profitability. Therefore, any e-commerce firm that endeavors to increase its sales must be conscious of the web’s performance and be ready to address any challenge that might occur. This will positively impact the customers’ loyalty leading to higher retention rates. Moreover, if a website is user friendly, new customers will be attracted, which will increase the overall company’s sales.