Destiny Solutions Helps Schools Succeed in Non-Traditional Higher Education with Series of Investigative Reports

TORONTO, July 2, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Destiny Solutions today released the first in a series of reports looking at the business needs of modern higher education institutions. This report, titled "Enhancing E-Commerce to Reach Market Potential," determined that in order to optimize success, postsecondary institutions must provide students with the advanced e-commerce experience they have come to expect as consumers.

The report examined existing literature on the current state of e-commerce and applied it to the higher education industry in order to determine that by expanding e-commerce capabilities, higher education institutions are able to improve student and prospective student satisfaction and increase market penetration.

"Today's non-traditional student behaves much like a consumer, searching for education options and comparing them side-by-side," said Shaul Kuper, president and CEO of Destiny Solutions. "The Internet provides one of the most important touch points between the student and the school—and an advanced e-commerce solution allows the school to make the most of this medium."

Destiny Solutions is issuing this series of reports in response to the drastic changes recently faced by the higher education industry. Each report tackles one pertinent business challenge and provides perspective on how to meet each challenge. This report looked at the high expectations non-traditional students bring to their e-commerce and course selection process as well as how institutions can meet these expectations in order to increase revenue in the face of an increasingly competitive market landscape.

The report found that an e-commerce system must include the following four main capabilities:

• Search engine optimization, allowing students to conveniently access information that is often buried deep within ERP and SIS systems. Site visits generated through organic search have a 17 percent higher conversion rate than visits generated through advertisements.
• A rich and intuitive experience, allowing students to easily find the information they need in order to enroll.  Students will not tolerate a confusing or laborious experience, in fact, 30 percent of consumers who leave a website without making a purchase do so because they are unable to successfully navigate through the site.
• A personalized and contextualized shopping experience, allowing the institution to create a profile for the student and catering to the 70 percent of online shoppers who indicate that a personalized shopping experience would encourage them to make more purchases.
• A secure e-commerce portal, allowing the institution to build trust with the student and avoid a potential data breach.

The report indicates that recent market shifts have created a wealth of opportunity for institutions to reimagine how they conduct business and how they achieve success.  In order to capitalize, schools must provide their students with a searchable, intuitive, personalized and secure shopping experience.

To view the full report, please visit: http://www.destinysolutions.com/white-paper1-e-commerce/

About Destiny Solutions

Destiny Solutions is the leading innovator of lifelong learning business solutions. The company's flagship product, Destiny One™, is a software platform that manages business processes for non-traditional higher education units in order to enable them to reimagine their market potential, in­crease their business agility and enhance their operational integrity.

CONTACT
Rachel Kuper
Email
416 480 0500 x 214

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SOURCE Destiny Solutions