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Retailers!  Did you know that the majority of people who came to your website yesterday left without buying a thing.  Were they just browsing?  Looking for information?  Surfing the web? Maybe, possible, could be. But some others were plain old frustrated.  They came looking for products to buy but nothing caught their attention.

One of the reasons for the frustration is that browsing a website is like looking through a straw. Unlike walking into a store where you can rely on peripheral vision to view hundreds of products, that-particular-store.com requires you to put a little more effort into it. Instead of walking leisurely through the shopping isle, the web requires you to actually know what you want and have to type it in.  For some people, that’s a lot of work.  Not good.  Retailers know perfectly well that a sizeable chunk of sales comes from browsers who just like the shopping experience (not withstanding those annoying salespeople).  It might be difficult to replicate that experience onto your website, but there are some things you can do to make it a more enjoyable experience and maybe even increase your sales.  Here are a few tips that can make your online store more attractive:

Best Sellers
Easy to do and customers love it.  Categorize the best sellers section and make it clear so people can find it easily.

User Product Ratings
Make use of your traffic.  People like to know what other people think.

User Reviews
And let them voice their opinions.  Again, people like to know what other people think.

User Recommendations
And while they are voicing their opinions, ask them to recommend other products they like.

Product Recommendations
There are several companies who sell software that can automatically recommend products. Technologies and costs are different so make sure you do your homework.  This might not be possible for smaller retailers due to a lack of resources and data.  However, product recommendations can be entered manually for best sellers (which might account for the majority of revenues anyway).  The same goes for a Product Recommendation Center that offers suggestions based on different factors such as purchase history and current purchasing scenario (looking for a gift, for whom, etc.)

Navigation Made Easy
Product recommendations can boost your sales and help customers locate the products they need.  The trick is to create navigation structures that make sense and allows customers to get from products they’ve bought (or are interested in) to another product that they would buy at that instance or keep in mind for a later purchase.