Conversion is King

Abandoned shopping carts are an important phenomenon for ecommerce sites to deal with. It's easy to forget to compare internet commerce with real world commerce. But, this tweet from Bill Gross was stark in its comparison.

Online conversion rates .3 to 3%. Amazon 8%. Retail fashion 20%. Electronics 50%. Grocery 95%. Fast food 99%. ShopKick CEO #FortuneTech
— Bill Gross (@Bill_Gross) July 18, 2012

That's a big big difference. It's amazing for a number of reasons. Showrooming is a trend that does not look to be stopping, but in store conversion is 10-100x higher than online. There is clearly an opportunity for online stores to improve conversion. The main question is: how do you increase conversion when you very limited control over the shopping experience?


Amazon, which people are now very familiar and comfortable with has only 8% conversion, and that's demolishing the competition. But, for the competition, how can they compete when they don't have a strong brand. Online you can control the sight of your site. In physical stores you can control the sounds, smell, feel and taste (if necessary). That's a big advantage. To make a truly disruptive change, someone needs to bring showrooms to people.


How could someone do that? I'd love to hear your thoughts.