Traditional retail sales are fairly limited in analytical capabilities. There’s not always a way to know who bought what; many customers choose not to provide personal information at checkout and make payments in cash. Yes, retail store owners can evaluate things like inventory trends, but there’s a lot more to be gleaned with web analytics.
Using online tools, online retailers can learn all kinds of valuable data, including:
Page views. How many times does a customer visit a particular page on your website?
Average time spent shopping. How much time does a customer spend shopping on your site?
Clicks on particular products or offers. How many times does a customer click on a specific product or offer?