4 Ideas for more Personalisation in E-Commerce

The trend towards personalisation in e-commerce is picking up speed. It isn’t just been about location anymore. Customer address, as well as prices and products shown in the shop are increasingly being adjusted according to the situation and preferences of the customer. For instance, shops are optimised for the gender shopping there most often, prices change according to time, day, and wallet size, and the weather is taken into account on electronic billboard advertising.

Tailoring to the individual and the temporary situation of the customer unconsciously serves to reach them on an emotional level. Four possible levers, which are partly already in use are:

Gender Commerce

It is not just the authorities, universities, and newspapers which are having thoughts about the topic gender. One of the exciting questions in trade is whether or not men and women shop differently – and if yes, show online shops should be designed to serve both genders.

Weather

French fashion retailer “La Redoute” takes advantage of personalisation outside of the internet as well. The temperature and weather of the area is constantly displayed on digital billboards, made possible by integrated sensors and thermometers. With these functions, the billboard always displays relevant clothing and the full breadth of the collection, because a different outfit is prepared for each kind of weather. When it rains, the model even holds an umbrella, bringing the adaption to passers-by to a whole new level.

Time of Day

Through adaption of digital elements and photos, it is possible for online shops to constantly reflect the time of day or year which the customer is currently experiencing. In this way, an evening atmosphere can be created through more muted colours, pictures in fashion stores show models in night-time scenarios, and in online home and garden stores, the start site changes from the gardening assortment to “fireplaces and stoves”.

Dynamic Pricing

This form of personalisation – dynamic pricing- is not always in the customer’s best interest. The price differences can be determined according to operating system, as well as time of day and day of the week.

Apple users are known as the customers with the full tablet shopping cart, when compared with Android users. Even with PCs, Mac users stand out from other operating system users when it comes to the willingness to pay. There is supposedly a difference of up to one third in hotel bookings. This was reason enough for US travel portal Orbitz.com to fundamentally display more expensive hotel rooms for Apple users than to those who visit the portal via PC.