Home Appliance Website Experience Impacts Store Traffic and Purchases

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif., Sept. 22, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Home appliance shoppers who find brand and retailer websites less complicated than expected are more likely to consider additional purchases and to visit a store location, according to the J.D. Power 2015 Appliance Shopper Website Evaluation Study^SM released today.

Now in its third year, the study evaluates the usefulness of appliance brand and retailer websites based on four factors that comprise the overall service experience (in order of importance): information/content; navigation; appearance; and speed. Satisfaction is calculated on a 1,000-point scale.

To learn more about the 2015 Appliance Shopper Website Evaluation Study, visit
http://www.jdpower.com/resource/us-appliance-shopper-website-evaluation-study

The complexity of an appliance website—how well organized and easy to use it is—is crucial for brands and retailers, as it affects the purchase intent of appliance shoppers as well as the likelihood they will visit a store location. Appliance brand websites that are less complicated than shoppers expect are nearly three times more likely to drive showroom traffic than those that are more complicated than expected (62% vs. 22%, respectively).

Additionally, among appliance shoppers who visit a retailer website and the experience is less complicated than expected, 66 percent say they "definitely will" consider purchasing other products by the brand, while 51 percent say the same for brand websites.

"The ability to easily navigate through information on a website can motivate shoppers to view the appliance of interest in person," said Christina Cooley, director of home improvement industries at J.D. Power. "Also, by establishing a rapport with appliance shoppers through their website, brands and retailers can help drive consideration of additional purchases by those customers."

According to the study, a growing percentage of appliance shoppers are using a mobile device for their research in 2015 (26% vs. 20% in 2013). However, satisfaction is higher across all study factors among shoppers who use desktop/laptop than among those who use mobile to access brand and retailer websites. The biggest gap is in the speed factor. There is a 21-point gap in satisfaction with speed between shoppers who use desktop vs. mobile to access a brand website (821 vs. 800, respectively) and a 20-point gap between those who use desktop vs. mobile to access a retailer website (839 vs. 819). Notably, overall satisfaction with retailer websites is higher than with brand websites regardless of the device used for access.

"The rising use of mobile is changing the appliance shopping experience. With a smartphone or tablet, shoppers can access and compare pricing while at a store and even locate another store," said Cooley. "Since satisfaction with websites via mobile lags satisfaction via desktop, in addition to considering content and ease of use, it is important brands and retailers consider how the appliance shopping experience is evolving and work to improve such aspects of the experience as speed."

KEY FINDINGS

• Product reviews (69%) and pricing (64%) are the most important content on appliance brand and retailer websites.
• Retailer websites continue to be the most useful to shoppers researching a major appliance (77%), followed by brand (57%), search engines or portals (42%), third-party (30%) and other (1%) websites.
• Shoppers are more likely to use a mobile website than a mobile app when researching an appliance on either a brand or retailer website by performing such activities as finding price information (72% vs. 57%, respectively), reading appliance reviews (66% vs. 53%) and finding a retailer/store location (70% vs. 57%).

Study Rankings

GE Appliances (825) ranks highest among appliance brand websites in 2015, followed by KitchenAid (823) and Amana (819), which have improved by 19 points and 14 points, respectively, from 2014.

Lowe's ranks highest among appliance retailer websites, with a score of 848, up by 9 points from 2014. Following Lowe's in the rankings are Best Buy and The Home Depot in a tie (840).

The J.D. Power 2015 Appliance Shopper Website Evaluation Study is based on responses from more than 4,000 major appliance purchase intenders who evaluated both brand and retailer websites. The study was fielded from June 29, 2015, through July 12, 2015.

Power Circle Ratings Legend
5 – Among the best
4 – Better than most
3 – About average
2 – The rest

Media Relations Contacts
John Tews; Troy, Mich. 248-680-6218; [email protected]

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SOURCE J.D. Power