Comments for Retail: Shaken Not Stirred

Comment on Beyond the Buy Button: The Huge Additional Value of Retail Websites by Stephen Cobb

Stephen Cobb — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:35:46 +0000

Thanks for taking your initial thoughts on this topic to the next level (I’m sorry I missed the session). Your overall point is well taken, although I can’t decide if it’s the multi-channel retailers or the web pure plays that are better placed to attain this holistic perspective.

One factor I would throw into the mix is mobile, where we are seeing some interesting strategies emerge. A retailer with brick-and-mortar stores could decide, based on the web site visitor’s location, that the best use of that visit is to drive traffic to a nearby physical store rather than try to close a sale through the mobile device.

Making the right “call” obviously requires a lot of testing and analysis but also an appreciation of the ideas you’ve so helpfully outlined here.

Comment on Beyond the Buy Button: The Huge Additional Value of Retail Websites by Andy (Ansar) Syed

Andy (Ansar) Syed — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 05:08:40 +0000

Kevin, again a nice post from you. I agree with you 100% that sole purpose website can’t be sales. In reality, most of the people visit websites to understand the products company offers, their online price compared to ohers, research etc.. Understanding this different angle of customers is crucial to enhance the customer experience for purposes beyond sales to build long term relationship. I think Website is the only channel that provides perfect way to understand what customer is doing through web analytics compared to brick and mortar. The output of the web analytics should be used for functions beyond increasing sales…

Comment on Beyond the Buy Button: The Huge Additional Value of Retail Websites by David Fishman

David Fishman — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:04:15 +0000

Point well taken ….. look at what Macys just launched!

http://social.macys.com/fashiondirector/?cm_re=63.0.06-_-HOMEPAGE_INCLUDE_1-_-CATEGORY%20–%205125%20–%20:fashiondirector#/home

Comment on Beyond the Buy Button: The Huge Additional Value of Retail Websites by Kevin Ertell

Kevin Ertell — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:36:05 +0000

Thanks Dan, Scott and Danny for your comments.

Dan: It’s interesting to hear how your site is being valued differently by your customers than was the original intent of your organization. In the end, we’re all in business to serve our customers, so it’s good to know what they want so we can deliver it to them. I’m curious to know, now that you’ve found this different desire from your membership, how your organization is responding.

Scott: Thanks again for you comment and the inspiration to write this post. I believe that sites not only can serve multiple purposes, but also that they must serve multiple purposes. The reality is customers are using our sites for wildly different reasons. Many of ForeSee Results’ retailer clients ask customers why they’ve come to the site on their current visit, and we see many different reasons. However, as I mentioned in the post, those reasons are not necessarily mutually exclusive. I believe we retailers need to understand all those reasons well in order to come up with the right mix of experience to best suit our customers’ needs.

Maybe it’s like the process that goes into creating an excellent stew. (I love goofy analogies). We need to consider the right mix of ingredients to produce the best possible taste. Seriously, all the different purposes of a site do work together to create a great overall experience that can meet many needs. We cannot maximize that experience, though, if we don’t look at all the value points our sites provide and understand their effectiveness in our customers’ eyes.

Danny: Good point about social media. Another value point there is the ability to learn more about customers. And in many cases, these are the best customers for the brand.

Comment on Beyond the Buy Button: The Huge Additional Value of Retail Websites by Danny

Danny — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:07:14 +0000

Excellent post Kevin!
I think you make a good point by saying,” This is a bit of a double entendre, refering to the use and purposes of the site.” This is often the case with retailer’s use of social media; in the most general sense. Slowly retailers are adopting some of these practices or at least realizing the inevitability of embracing their website or getting left behind in the dust.