Saturday, October 20, 2007
Your electronic shopping queue could be costing you money
Shoppers at Tesco have been promised that if there is one person in front of them and there are available tills, all they have to do is ask and a new checkout will be opened. The idea is that you should never have to queue - there will never be "one in front".
Tesco also knows that car park access is fundamental to its overall success. Queues to get in and out of the car park put off shoppers and they go elsewhere, to reduce the "hassle" of shopping. Of course, in the 21st Century the "hassle" of shopping is considerably less than the difficulties faced by our grandparents, when war time rationing took place. But, to us the mere sight of a queue is enough to put us off; these days we want "instant" shopping.
It's the same online. Vast numbers of online stores still require you to register before you can buy. Guess what, it puts off vast legions of shoppers who go elsewhere so they can buy more quickly. Then, other online shops put in place shopping baskets that take three or four steps to complete. Guess what - these businesses lose most of their potential customers halfway through the checkout process. People who had already made the decision to buy, simply give up because of the hassle of the "online queue".
What you need is an online store that has no queue - the same idea as Tesco's "one in front" campaign. That means the careful selection of shopping carts so that people can whizz through your buying process. But how do you know which of the myriad of shopping carts is the best? Easy. Select a shopping cart you like the look of and that works with your set up. Then ask for examples of sites that use the shopping cart and then buy something from them. You will then experience how the shopping cart works and whether or not it is causing any kind of queue. You'd be surprised how many businesses have never bought anything in their own shop, let alone using their own online shopping cart. In standard retail outlets and online, people give up if they have to wait. The selection of the right shopping cart is therefore essential.
Labels: internet marketing, shopping
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Whole heartedly agree. And let's not forget the frustration of trying receive customer service through a lot of company websites, such as trying to contact Apple through their website. You want the phone number of the White House? It's there under the contact us link at the bottom of their home page. You want the phone number to contact Apple about a technical problem? Just click round in circles coming back to the same page and eventually you might find the number. For a technology company it's unforgiveable.