Is Your Site Killing In-Store Sales?

Here's something to give multichannel (web/online) merchants pause:

Year-over-year there's been nearly a 50% increase in consumers who report that a frustrating online experience would make them less likely to shop at that retailer's physical store.

The source for this is The 2006 Holiday Shopping: Online Customer Experience Survey, conducted by a company called Allurent. The survey also uncovered some wished-for site features:

1. The ability to click on an item to create a popup window with more details about the product including price, size, colors, inventory availability, etc. (74%)
2. The ability to click on an item and add it to your cart without leaving the page you're on (70%)
3. The ability to "feel" merchandise through better imagery, more product descriptions and details (68%)
4. The ability to enter all data related to your purchase on one page, rather than go through several checkout pages (64%)
5. The ability to mix/match product images on one page to determine whether they look good together (47%)

Looks like pretty basic stuff. Get it right, or frustrated shoppers may decide not to shop at your webstore or your physical store.