December 2000   

If, like many e-tailers large and small, you've made costly mistakes in holiday seasons past, take heart -- learning from those mistakes has probably made you stronger and more aware of what it takes to succeed in the competitive online marketplace.

Shopping 'til Their Fingers Drop

The good news is that the highly publicized glitches of holidays past have not turned people away from online shopping. According to the 15th annual Consumer and Retailer Mood Survey: Retail Holiday Outlook, conducted in October by Deloitte & Touche in affiliation with the National Retail Federation (NRF), U.S. shoppers are prepared to spend nearly 25 percent of their shopping budget online this year. That could equal well over $200 per person, as 82 percent of consumers say they expect to spend as much or more than they did last year, when total sales averaged $836 per person.

To gain your share of the online holiday sales pie, understanding your customers is essential. Over 90 percent of shoppers who have purchased items online during the past year plan to buy holiday gifts online, a repeat rate that can only be viewed as positive. Knowing why customers are shopping online gives e-tailers a good indication of what is expected in a successful cyber-shopping trip.

According to the Mood Survey, the top reasons consumers shop online include:

• Avoidance of sales tax
• Ability to browse at leisure without intrusive sales help
• Easily obtainable product information
• Promise of quick delivery
• 24/7 access, the ultimate in convenience

Avoiding the Grinch Syndrome

To thoroughly understand what drives a consumer's holiday expectations, it's not enough to look at the positives. The Deloitte & Touche survey also examines the top reasons for customer dissatisfaction with the online shopping experience, and at the top of that list is receiving merchandise that was not as expected, items being delivered late, or not at all.

Customer service is also a make-or-break component of the shopping experience. All retail arenas, whether online or off, need to continually strive for the highest level of customer service possible. That's what customers will remember, and that's what will draw them back -- or keep them away.

To avoid being seen as the Grinch of Holidays 2000, here are hints to keep your site in tip-top shopping shape:

• Don't make promises you can't keep. Make sure your inventory is available or can be replenished, and keep your shipping schedule with a rapid turnaround to meet or beat deadlines. If you can't deliver the goods, be sure to inform customers right away. It's better to have the customers find their desired items elsewhere and be thankful they were able to get them in time than have customers angry with you for ruining their gift-giving plans. Retailers such as Toys 'R' Us faced lawsuits from online shoppers last year over just such shipping issues.

• Keep customers informed. Provide easily accessible order status information, and answer correspondence as quickly as possible. Have a toll-free number available to customers, if you can; if not, provide a toll number with clearly defined hours of business. In either case make sure the phone is answered promptly during the specified times by a qualified customer service representative.

• Maintain site efficiency. Make sure your site is easy to navigate and works with different browsers and speeds. It should load quickly, the links should connect easily, and navigating throughout the site shouldn't require wading back through several pages.

• Offer perks. Gift wrapping services, free shipping, and free-with-purchase offers are all benefits that please customers and give them additional incentives to shop with you.

• Offer a variety of payment options. Do you accept all major credit cards? Have you considered a payment option such as Paypal? Can credit card information be phoned in? Do you provide secure credit card transactions and privacy protection? The needs of your customers can vary widely when it comes to payment options, so cover as many bases as possible. If you can't handle their payment needs, they'll click past you and find someone who will.

The After-Holiday Season

The holidays don't end on December 31. E-tailers need to be vigilant about ongoing customer support. Do you offer a good return policy? Are goods covered by warranty and, in the case of larger items, extended warranties? Do you offer after sale support in the form of easy communications, recommendations, and product information and help?

If your business is too small to offer in-house support, consider outsourcing to one of the many business-to-business sites designed to help e-tailers and manufacturers with online customer support through extended warranties and after-sale services. One site is Revbox, associated with such retailers as Dealtime and Globalmart. Creating these partnerships provides customers with a reason to return, and this continued customer care will ensure loyalty between the you and the consumer.

Just remember: an unhappy customer is not only likely to stay away from your online business throughout the year, but will also warn others about a bad experience. A happy customer is more likely to return and, perhaps more important, more likely to spread good tidings about your site, paving the way for a happy holiday season in 2002.