Unseen lessons from a chair

Unseen lessons from a chair

Chairs are mostly perfect right? We don’t think about them much as we sit down. Comfortable, uncomfortable, but mostly they’re all the same height. The next time you are at a public seating area, (I know there’s a pandemic but it will happen eventually), look at how men and women sit. Most men sit with feet flat because chairs are designed for someone 5’9″ height. Most women sit a little forward and just their toes touch the ground. It isn’t as comfortable, but women are used to it, so they don’t notice anymore and besides, they don’t have other options.

Chairs can teach us a lot about e-commerce too. The web is designed for the people who built it—mostly men. Men buy, women shop. And so the web is designed to make buying easy, but it isn’t designed for shopping. We’re so used to it that we don’t even notice. Women have learned to adapt and keep multiple tabs open when they shop because, even though they do the most purchasing, they don’t have the tools they need to shop the way they want to.

Is this a big deal? It depends on if you are a man or a woman. Like all life experiences, our perspective is altered by how we see the world and how our unique personal attributes frame and contribute to that experience. We all adapt, and after a while, we don’t really notice the accommodation. But when we have a choice of experiences, we will choose the one that fits us best. That’s why we all have a favorite chair. That’s why creating an online shopping experience that caters to women will make more women shop with you. Because it’s better, because it’s more comfortable, because we all have favorites.

If you’d like to see what an online shopping experience that is designed for women would look like check out the Stylaquin demo site or visit Stylaquin.com. Once you see it, you’ll understand how big the opportunity is to make online shopping work for women.   

“Men Buy, Women Shop”

"Men Buy, Women Shop"

Back in the time before Covid-19, more men shopped online than women, 84.3% versus 77%. The online experience is designed for the way men shop, or more correctly, the way men buy. Retailers have spent a lot of time and money looking at how women shopped in stores. According to Robert Price, former CMO of CVS, “Women tend to be more invested in the shopping experience on many dimensions.” Take a moment to consider that. Women are more invested in the shopping experience. Women like to shop and they value the experience. Because the web is designed to make it easy to buy, not fun to shop, there is a big gap in the online experience for women.

What do your customers love about your stores, and how can you bring that online is going to be one of the key questions for 2020. No-one is shopping in stores at the moment, and it may be a long time before brick and mortar retail comes back. Since 87% of all purchases are made by women, we need to make online shopping work for the way women shop if we want to make retail more resilient to pandemics.

What does the retail experience have that online doesn’t? I’ve been to a hardware store with a petting zoo, a boutique with a cocktail bar, and a mall with an amusement park. Some things just won’t transition online, but some things work well. Product demos, fashion shows, and how-to classes all work online. The right answer is going to be different for every retailer, but start with your store and what worked for customers there, then think about ways to transition that to the online experience. If you would like to add faster browsing and an Idea Board where customers can see all the items that interest them in one place, take a look at Stylaquin demo site. Women deserve a better online experience, perhaps this will be one of wonderful things to come out of a difficult time.

Is Stylaquin right for your site?

Is Stylaquin Right for Your Site?

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” is one of my favorite sayings. But not trying new things lets your competition get ahead of you. Here’s a handy decision tree to help you see if Stylaquin is a good fit for your customer, and if it will help increase sales and conversion rates on your site.

Decisions tree to help you decide it Stylaquin is the right answer for your site.