Chatrooms give retailers "a human touch"

An increasing number of online stores are using live chatrooms on their websites to interact with customers and give them "a human touch", it has been suggested.

People are used to being approached in a shop by a sales assistant to help them choose their purchase and this tactic is now being adopted by businesses on the web, said Helen Leggat writing for BizReport.

By employing tools that allow the retailer to chat virtually with users on their site, they can give them product advice, information and suggestions, she continued.

The interaction can be "based on a customer's location on the website or their browsing behaviour," Ms Leggat added.

Links can also be sent via the online chat to other pages of products that may be of interest to the shopper.

Businesses which are interested in implementing this strategy might want to contact their web hosting provider to see what tools are available to use.

In other online shopping news, new figures from comScore revealed that the health and fitness sector had received an increase of sales over the internet this Christmas.