Report highlights ways online retailers ‘trick’ consumers

A new report from user experience (UX) agency Sigma, has revealed the extent to which major UK retailers will go to boost website sales, especially around major shopping events such as Black Friday, Christmas and the January sales.

With an estimated £25 billion in sales by UK retailers taken over the 2016 Christmas period alone, nearly half of which were completed on a mobile device, the report explains how brands such Amazon, Pretty Little Thing, Boohoo and Etsy are using ‘Dark UX’ methods to trick consumers into making an additional spend.

Although a number of tricks were being used by retailers, such as using tick boxes with vague and convoluted language and the addition of pop up boxes for car insurance and breakdown cover, one of the most widely used tricks used was the ‘fear of missing out’ or the scare tactic.
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The research showed that fashion e-commerce sites such as Pretty Little Thing and Boohoo were urging customers to complete their purchases before a ‘limited’ delivery offer was no longer available. It was unclear whether the offer was genuinely limited, or simply a countdown to a regular, daily occurrence.

Similarly, marketplace Etsy was also found to be using scare tactics to encourage shoppers to purchase through the illusion of limited stock and competition for a particular product.

Commenting on the findings, Hilary Stephenson, managing director at Sigma, said: “We had hoped to see an improvement on the use of Dark UX patterns since completing a similar analysis last year.

“However, it seems that these unethical practices are still very much in place – not just in retail, but in the leisure, travel and third sectors, too.”