Findings from a new survey suggest that rich applications will be popular in encouraging online trading in 2007.

Around 90 per cent of retailers, catalogers and commerce sites surveyed by Scene7, the rich application provider, planned to enhance their customer's experiences by implementing rich internet applications.

Around 78 per cent of respondents wanted consumers to be able to zoom in on product pictures, 76 per cent required visual configurators and 75 per cent of companies planned colour swatching and colouring.

These new features were most effectively added to shop by room pages, shop by collection pages, Web to print or gift registry.

There are many competing rich internet application technologies around at the moment, such as Ajax, Adobe Flash, Java applets and it can be difficult for businesses to decide which is most suitable for their needs.

Doug Mack, CEO and founder of Scene7, said: "Rich internet features and applications are critical for companies to differentiate themselves and drive incremental revenue by offering users unique online experiences."

With online retail now the fastest growing retail sector, new online business solutions should further increase the quality of customer service.