User Experience

In November and December, U.S. retail industry sales rose 3.8 percent compared to the year before. Economists seemed surprised by retail results defying expectations throughout much of 2023. Unfortunately, 2024 didn’t start quite as well. Since then, retail sales have shrunk by 0.8 percent (worse than market forecasts of a 0.1 percent decline). U.S. retail…

Acquiring new customers can cost up to 5x more than retaining existing ones. This puts more responsibility on retailers to find a sustainable way to create a positive, personalized relationship that maintains engagement and inspires repeat purchases. One way to do that? Gamify the customer experience. Put simply, gamification adds gaming elements to non-gaming scenarios.…

As the war for customer attention rages on, the average consumer’s online browsing experience is starting to feel more like a battlefield than a comfortable and inviting place to seek out information. Imagine trying to navigate a website only to be bombarded with flashy visuals, confusing layouts, and no way to hear what's going on.…

Online experiences matter to shoppers. While in the past it may have been enough to simply offer consumers a breadth of merchandise and free shipping to attract them, today the stakes are much higher. In 2023, costs per visit climbed by almost 10 percent. This issue, combined with a significant decrease in traffic and site…

In the era of digitalization, today's consumers are better informed and have more choices than ever before. In fact, if just a single digital experience goes awry, consumers are one click away from switching sides and becoming your competitor’s next new customer. How can organizations provide a great digital experience across their websites and applications…

One might think that after multiple years of inflation and a scarcity mindset that consumers would have adjusted their expectations of retailers to allow for more leniency and to ensure they’re just able to get the products they want. CI&T’s 2024 Connected Retail Report told a very different story. In our fourth year collecting consumer…

In the relentless world of e-commerce, speed stands as the linchpin to success. Modern times are defined by the “need-it-now” attitude, shorter attention spans, and a surge in TikTok and Instagram shopping experiences. As consumers demand faster interactions, the urgency for swift e-commerce transactions has never been clearer. A core challenge for e-commerce merchants is…

Consumers are generally dissatisfied with their retail experiences, at least according to a global study from the IBM Institute for Business Value called "Revolutionize retail with AI everywhere: Customers won't wait." The report points out that only 9 percent of consumers said they were content with their in-store shopping experiences and 14 percent content with…

Following a record-breaking “Cyber Five,” retailers are crossing their fingers for robust sales to continue throughout the holiday season. But as online spending rises, so does online shopper frustration — and this has the potential to harm both immediate and long-term sales. Retail data from FullStory shows that online shoppers experienced a 16.3 percent year-over-year…

The holiday season is the Super Bowl for retailers, with November and December accounting for 19 percent of total retail sales — even higher for some retailers — in the last five years. Since online purchasing comprises nearly 40 percent of holiday shopping, retailers can't afford to lose sales and frustrate consumers through website outages. Unfortunately,…