Ecommerce: Wary Or Weary?
NYT Headline: As Some Grow Weary of Web, On-Line Sales Lag
I can practically hear some of the old-school marketers crowing, “See? See? We told you it was all a fad!”
My Take: Web shopping isn’t a fad. And, I love the Web for business, when that business is done right! The real problem is all those godawful web sites! One has to be really, really, really committed to giving a company money to jump through many of the sites’ shopping hoops. Makes me exhausted just thinking about it. In fact, I’m surprised when I have a positive experience in Web shopping!
Then there was the prospective client who told me, “I don’t want to spend much on my ecommerce site…since I don’t make much from it now.” Oy!
Related Posts:
Why You Didn’t Get My Business - The Web List
Your Web Site Doesn’t Replace Selling
Read More: New York Times: Online Sales Losing Steam. Anthony Garcia’s take on it at The Future Now’s grokdotcom. (If you don’t already subscribe to the grokdotcom eletter - you should.)
If you’d like to leave a comment, please do so. It may take a bit to show up since I hate making people type in little letters (I can’t read most of them myself) - so I moderate all comments. Feel free to disagree - debate is healthy. However, I’ve blacklisted the worst obscenities, including the “f” word, as part of the troll wall.
Tags: ecommerce, web development, web marketing, marketing troubleshooting, entrepreneur sanity check
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June 18th, 2007 at 4:32 pm
Whenever you’re starting from a relatively low base, and have a period of hyper-growth in anything, your rate of growth will invariably slow down. So despite the crappy sites, ecommerce will continue to grow - it’s just too darned convenient not to - but not at the same upper double digit rates.
To me, the one and only downside to shopping on line is the delivery. I live in a small condo building on a major thoroughfare in a large city. No concierge. A locked lobby. And no guarantee that anyone’s home to receive a package. Fortunately, both my sisters have homes where UPS can just leave the box safely, so I continue to order away.
June 19th, 2007 at 6:09 am
[…] Mary Schmidt also posted on this topic this morning, and she gets right to the point: My Take: Web shopping isn’t a fad. And, I love the Web for business, when that business is done right! The real problem is all those godawful web sites! One has to be really, really, really committed to giving a company money to jump through many of the sites’ shopping hoops. Makes me exhausted just thinking about it. In fact, I’m surprised when I have a positive experience in Web shopping! […]
June 19th, 2007 at 6:58 am
My points on why we’re seeing a slowdown (from the above trackback)
1. Users have changed, but the online ordering process hasn’t - We’ve reached the point that the Internet is just another ordering means to customers. Thus they don’t see the novelty in ordering online anymore, so they order in the most convenient manner. Online ordering isn’t always the most convenient way. Perhaps this is due to Amazon owning the one click purchase patent. Of course, now we’re not so sure we want companies to hold our data.
2. TJX, credit card theft, identity theft and phishing - each of these problems has eroded consumer confidence in the online ordering process. In the late 90’s, we worried that our credit card data wasn’t safe. In 2007, we know it isn’t safe online, thanks to the morons at TJX lost control of 47 million credit/debit cards.
3. Online purchasing may be a softer market, hence this may be a first indicator of a general retail slowdown. Perhaps online spending tends to be more discretionary in nature, hence the items you’d order online may be the first you slash from your budget.
June 19th, 2007 at 7:33 am
Mark,
Excellent points, particularly #3. Personally, I find online purchasing to be: 1. an easy way (?!) to reorder something I like without having to slog through IVR hell and/or deal with a gum-chomping service person; 2. buy on a whim (Amazon almost makes it too easy!) - “Ohhh! WKRP is out on DVD!” $75.00 later I leave Amazon and it’s magic! Two days later all that impulse shows up on my doorstep.)
Maureen, Your point re delivery illustrates the challenge of mapping virtual shopping to physical reality. No matter how great the site, they are still limited (and their perceived service affected) by the on-the-ground delivery.
And, then there are all those pfishers. A friend of mine is afraid to use Paypal for sales because she “keeps getting email from them that my account has been compromised, and I don’t even have an account!”
Lastlly, there will always be the “moron factor” regardless of the business! (Sigh)
June 19th, 2007 at 8:19 am
Seems the numbers don’t take into account all of the business that develops when the internet connects people.
I buy almost all of the components for my quilted mortuary cot covers from people I met on the internet. And while I don’t spend the money online, I send my orders by email and get my confirmation the same way.
Besides, who has time to navigate all the REALLY bad online shopping carts?
The most confusing part of my recent overseas vacation was figuring out how pubs and stores worked in London.
In the U.S., walking into a restaurant or “pub” would prompt a server to greet you within the first few minutes. In many U.K. pubs, you’re expected to figure out what you want and order it from the bar.
But if you don’t know that, you spend ten minutes fuming that no one has taken your order.
Is the system broken? No - it works as designed. Communication of the design is broken.
The same is true for online shopping.
June 19th, 2007 at 11:34 am
Good point - I buy a lot of stuff at stores that I’ll pre-shop online. Saves me time and keeps me from having to do the comparisons while driving around.