Online Shoppers Aren't Impulsive 388
Rollie Hawk writes "When it comes to online shoppers, conventional wisdom has long been divided. Some have argued that the instant nature of shopping from home over the Internet leads to quick purchases while others have contended that easy price comparisons on the Web allow buyers to do more research first. For now, it looks like the latter camp is closer to the truth.
According to a press release by ScanAlert, online shoppers are more frugal than many retailers previously thought. According to their testing, 35% take more than 12 hours to make a purchase, 21% take more than three days, and 14% take more than a week. On the average, online shoppers take 19 hours to make a purchase after the initial visit.
This has some important marketing ramifications according to ScanAlert CEO Ken Leonard. "The implication to merchants is that the shopping cart is not just a convenience factor. It must be a comfort zone to shoppers. These results were not expected."
In the press release, Leonard advised online sellers that "consumers abandon shopping carts with an ease that frustrates and often confuses online retailers. Retailers must understand, however, that almost half of all online purchases are from shoppers who leave a site after the first visit, and return -- even days later -- to buy.""
Where can I buy this? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Where can I buy this? (Score:4, Funny)
Stupid Press Releases (Score:4, Interesting)
Setting aside the difficulty of measuring these kinds of things, this study doesn't say anything about whether or not online purchasers are more impulsive than brick-mortar purchasers unless there's some sort of actual, quantitative comparison.
That said, anecdotally, I don't doubt that people are less impulsive online. When I go shopping in a physical store, I generally know what I want already and I've already done my research, but I'm much more tempted to buy something on display on a whim. Worse, because of the physical labor involved, I generally don't walk around the mall comparing prices. Online, on the other hand, I'll take weeks making a purchase in order to get the best deal and even though it's really easy to put other things in my basket, I don't find it to be nearly as tempting.
The exception to this is iTunes. There, I'm much more impulsive. "OOoh, 80's song I haven't heard in 20 years... (click)"
Talk about dedication (Score:2, Funny)
I hope they take bathroom breaks.
Re:Talk about dedication (Score:2)
1. Make it slightly eaisier to get people to make the decision.
2. MAke it take less time...
I'm still curious as to whether these stats include a corection for the people who couldn't get the online sale thing to work or didn't have their pocket geek over their shoulder at the time they were "ready" to buy.
I've had to walk friends, coworkers, family through online sales numberous times. If it'd been a simple matter of them just clicking a button (a
Duh.. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Duh.. (Score:3, Insightful)
The shipping of the product(s) often takes 3-6 days or more.
In this case, a person may be an impulse buyer without a strong sense of instant gratification.
Re:Duh.. (Score:3, Interesting)
Now, I usually let a bunch of items accumulate in my shopping cart at a site and then order so that I can save on shipping costs, and I don't usually bother with the fast shipping options. No more online impulse buying for me - except for songs from the iTunes store.
Re:Duh.. (Score:4, Informative)
I have the paid version of Yahoo Mail which includes AddressGuard; so for every site like that I go to I can make myspamname-whatever@yahoo.com disposable addresses.
I have about 50 active versions; I made a single purchase from outpost.com and made my email "myspamname-outpost@yahoo.com"; within a week only that one began to recieve spam. Yes, I make a concious effort as well to uncheck anything that says "we will sell you out to spammers"
So, don't forget TINSTAAFL; that money has to come from somewhere.
~Rebecca
Re:Duh.. (Score:2)
Heard that before (Score:5, Insightful)
Given that online purchases involve a potential purchaser having to evaluate a virtual product, rather than something tangible, how can they be surprised? I'm dumbfounded that online sellers compare an eCart to a real shopping trolley. Are they off theirs?
Re:Heard that before (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Heard that before (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Heard that before (Score:5, Insightful)
The policy sucks, but blame the manufacturers, not the sellers.
Re:Heard that before (Score:3, Interesting)
The reason? We're not allowed to _advertise_ that our prices are lower. That's means the Froogle feed, as well as any robots, must also see the MAP price. Even if you could get your site to display "$20 or less", all the robots would simply spot $20, and ignore the rest.
And much on-line shopping is search-engine driven.
It would
Actually often not their fault (Score:5, Informative)
Sometimes it's just the stores being stupid, but often they have no choice.
Re:Actually often not their fault (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Heard that before (Score:4, Insightful)
What really annoys me is sites that make it impossible to determine the shipping costs. Many require that you go almost all of the way through the ordering process, often even going past the point where I enter my credit card, before I'm given any clue what the shipping will be.
Here's a free clue for you, online retailers -- when I run into a site that doesn't tell me what shipping will be without making an order, I usually go somewhere else. If you won't tell me the shipping cost up front, my reasoning is that it probably sucks anyways. In reality, it may not, but it's not worth my time, and I'm certainly not going to enter my credit card number before I know how much I'm going to spend.
As for complaining that people abandon shopping carts, well, we do that because we don't think of them as shopping carts. Because they're not. It's a list of items we might want to buy, stuff we're interested in. Not a list of things we are going to buy, at least not until we start checking out. And really, if a real brick and mortar store did some of the annoying tricks that online stores do to `trap' me into buying from them, I'd abandon my real shopping cart there too, though in that case somebody would have to put the stuff back so I might feel a tad guilty about it.
Probably the best thing that an online retailer can do to encourage people to not forget about what they had in their `shopping cart' before is to make sure it persists. If we come back tomorrow or two weeks or two months later, remind us that we'd left some stuff in our `shopping cart'. Since we're not impulse buyers, if we really want something, we'll probably come back later. Don't make us find the stuff again.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Heard that before (Score:5, Interesting)
It's less effort to fill up a virtual shopping cart, and there's no issue with just walking away from it. Nothing says I can't pull a hundred items off the shelf at Safeway and then leave my cart in the isle, but it'll get me looked at funny and I'd feel guilty about making the staff restock everything. I have no qualms with wasting the time of a computer, though. So yeah, surprise surprise, the virtual metaphor ain't like the real thing.
No, it's more comparible for me (Score:2)
If they don't want to restock, they should have had clerks ready to help me.
Re:No, it's more comparible for me (Score:3, Insightful)
Do you really do this? How much more time do you waste to go back and try again? Seriously if you have already invested even 15 minutes and the wait is 20 minutes (a long wait) and your drive was say 10 minutes, you have already wasted 35-40 minutes and accomplished nothing, only to leave and come back. So, you have wasted at least 80 minutes out of the two trips where if you stayed you cou
Re:No, it's more comparible for me (Score:3, Informative)
Re:No, it's more comparible for me (Score:4, Funny)
I've abandonded carts even after checkout. In one case, after I wrote the check to get about $10 back, and the clerk snipped, "Writing over is a privilege we reserve for our regular customers." (regular meant having their check cashing card.)
I replied, as I tore up the check, "Selling groceries is a privilege I reserve for stores that let me write over." She didn't quite know how to react . .
hawk
Re:Heard that before (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Heard that before (Score:3, Interesting)
I think a lot of sellers are discovering that price and professionalism are two of the biggest reasons a buyer buys from t
Re:Heard that before (Score:3, Interesting)
Another part may be, as hinted at in TFA, easier price comparisons. I know I visit several websites looking at prices before I even put serious thought into buying it. ("Do I really need it?", etc)
There also might be a reluctance to buy things online in general, either because they are concerned about hassles of returning items, damage during shipping, or sending their credit card info into cyberspace.
What I would like t
Re:Heard that before (Score:2)
I would much rather head into the store, buy an item, and then return it the same day.
My online shopping (Score:4, Insightful)
My usual process is this:
1. Check major sites' descriptions and prices (i.e. REI, Amazon, etc)
2. Look up product reviews via Google and review sites (Toms Hardware, etc)
3. Check similar items, if any
4. Check prices via Froogle and Pricewatch
5. Pick some sellers and check shipping costs on their sites
6. Actually buy something
Obviously this is a lot more fussing than I'd do in a brick/mortar store. I might spend weeks or months before I actually buy something.
Pricewise shipping costs are the real killer for many online purchases. When you add in the cost of shipping the savings vs. buying it in a store frequently disappear, especially for something heavy like a monitor.
Re:Heard that before (Score:5, Interesting)
Consumers abandon shopping carts? What about when I spend an hour shopping, have to go away for a day or so, and when I come back, my shopping cart has been deleted on the server-side? Now THAT's frustrating!
Obviously... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Obviously... (Score:2)
I should think that for a lot of more expensive purchases, the time spent in the research phase is probably a lot higher.
I typically use the web for doing research into purchases that are either quite expensive, or I'm not 100% sure I'm comitted to buying yet, just entertaining
Re:Obviously... (Score:3, Insightful)
I think that 19 hours is pretty much on the spot for me. I usually browse late in the evening, looking at stuff, what I want, what I need, what I really want but don't need, etc.
But somehow, I don't like spending money late. There might be some strange psychological explanation, or it's just the moonlight, but I don't trust myself when I'm tired and sleepy. Instead, I just sleep on it, and the next day, early afternoon, I might be more inclined to spend the mone
19 hours? (Score:2, Funny)
WOW! they must have really slow connections. maybe they should upgrade the 300 baud modem while they're at it.
eBay (Score:5, Insightful)
With other vendors however, there are so many options for where you can buy things that often you have to spend weeks just comparing prices.
Re:eBay (Score:2)
Anyway, if time never ran out when would bidding be over? When the seller decides? I don't think so.
Re:eBay (Score:2)
Re:eBay (Score:2)
Re:eBay (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:eBay (Score:4, Informative)
I've done this before, just to see if it would work. It isn't at all logical, but many of the folks who frequent ebay often get excited when something like this happens and will get in on the action. I've managed to drive the price up on a selection of random items on several occasions using these tactics, and although at first I was concerned that I'd end up 'winning' something I most certainly didn't want I quickly realized the odds of that were small. If done correctly it's almost certain an over-eager easily excited bidder will hop in to claim the prize even if you drive the price up far beyond what the item would otherwise sell for.
As far as I can tell, the 'rush' of the action seems to encourage people to bid on things they normally wouldn't, and to bid higher on things they might be interested in. Logic tells them to do one thing, but adrenaline short-circuits logic. Not unlike gambling in Vegas, I'd guess.
Caveat: I haven't done this in a couple of years and have no idea if ebay has changed it's bidding system to discourage this sort of price jacking. If not, it's an amusing way to waste a lazy afternoon. "There's one born every minute...."
Max
They're just too worried about the bottom line... (Score:5, Funny)
Absolute rubbish (Score:5, Funny)
my friend in Nigeria, Dr NMBAGO DSUSU assures me i should always proceed quickly with any transactions i make online, the more money the quicker i should proceed.
this article is just FUD to put me off collecting my 25 MILLION DOLLARS
Its true! (Score:5, Funny)
shopping carts (Score:5, Funny)
Makes sense (Score:4, Interesting)
Laziness (Score:2)
Online Comparison (Score:2)
retailers confused? (Score:5, Insightful)
The reson the shoppers abandon easily is probably because of some popular techniques the online retailers use:
- They force you to add item to cart to see the price.
- After you add item to the cart, they tell you that you have to pay sales tax
- After you add item to cart, you are told that there is a $20 shipping and handling fee, and finally...
- The item is back oredered.
Duh!Re:retailers confused? (Score:4, Insightful)
Now lots of online stores that use this concept of a shopping cart get it all wrong. I've found myself adding products to the cart and going 5 steps into the order process just to see what the shipping was or to see if state tax was applicable.
The reason people are taking so long is lack of confidence. Good descriptions, large detailed pictures of the product, comparisons, and finally, exactly what it will cost. Customers don't want to get something from UPS in a week that is different from what they thought they were getting. That's why people essentially pay the risk insurance and order from places that do offer such information but at a higher price.
Sometimes I wonder if the people running these shops have ever purchased anything online. If they have, you'd think they'd have realized this by now.
Re:retailers confused? (Score:4, Insightful)
You missed a few less common reasons:
Why the surprise? (Score:4, Insightful)
"Wow, look at that great deal! Hmm.. I'm here and its a great price, just buy it, save a trip." or "Hmm.. I'm at the store.. what else can I buy that will save me a trip?"
While online, its more like this:
"Wow, look at that great deal! Hmm.. Let me think about it, I can always come back with little effort." <Bookmark URL> <Check deal every 30-60 minutes> "Hmm.. ok I'll buy it."
Online there is no barrier of inconvience to return back to the store, therefore less of an urge to get it NOW!
makes sense (Score:2, Insightful)
A fatal flaw in the study (Score:5, Funny)
but what about online bidders? (Score:2)
the time lag difference between shopping and buying can also be attributed to the comfort of the home--you're not standing in the store ready to make a decision; you have time to think about
Re:but what about online bidders? (Score:2)
Research (Score:4, Interesting)
Lets say I see (hmmm we're on Slashdot so I'll use the computer hardware example) a new component for my rig that I absolutely must have. I'll go through many reviews first to make sure it functions, is compatible, is priced correctly, and will be a good buy.
Now lets say I'm at the supermarket deciding between the S&S brand and a gourmet brand of food. No external input for consumption, so its more likely I'll buy the gourmet on the spot.
I'd say from initial liking to final purchase takes me nearly 36 hours.
Re:Research (Score:2)
Impulse Shopping (Score:4, Interesting)
Its the same for other web. People who search for products on the web are usually looking for something specific. This is, in my opinion, one reason why click through ads don't work. Most clicks I find totally irrelevant. Actually, in 10 years I've never voluntarily followed a banner ad.
Seems I turn to the web more and more these days to find specialty items I know the warehouse BMs won't carry. I buy classical musically exclusively through Amazon because most of the smaller specialty retailers in my city have been put out of business by the WalMart/Costco style mega stores.
A few years back, there were 3 classical music CD shops around. A big megachain opened, and they dedicated an entire floor to classical and lowballed all prices trying to get the volume sale. These 3 independants went under, and shortly after that, the megachain closed down/vented their classical section.
Prolly off topic but it still bugs me.
Shopping carts (Score:2)
It's not like a offline shop where it's a fair amount of hassle to put stuff back on the shelves, and you'd have least half a pang of guilt if you'd spent the last forty minutes quizzing an assistant about a particular electronic widget withou
Re:Shopping carts (Score:2)
We Yanks want to know what's that in real money. Oh, wait. [yahoo.com]
Amazon.com is the closest to impulse (Score:4, Interesting)
Amazon.com makes it so easy to order stuff that it's dangerous to your credit card. Every once in a while I'll get on there and splurge. No filling out name, address, or credit card details. No logging in at all. They have a nice system.
I did 90% of my Christmas shopping there last year. Take that, parking lots! Take that, crowds of shoppers!
No cart retention = no business (Score:5, Insightful)
Amazon does this well. If you put a used book in your cart, if that allotment of books goes away, it comes out of your cart. If an item is sold out or discontinued, it comes out of your cart. I would like even more customization, such as email notifications when things get removed from my cart, but it doesn't have that.
This type of E-commerce sophistication should be called the Ebayzinization of the world. We want auctions, we want resale markets, and we want them organized. Companies like Amazon who do this well can create monopolization effects, such as the resale book market. A lot of book sellers hate Amazon, hate the way that they get a bite of a book transaction, on damaged or used books, and don't give them (the sellers) any concession for postage, etc. When you buy a used book from somebody on Amazon, they have nothing to do with it, except to perform a middleman and something of an indemification of the transaction. i.e. if the reseller takes your money and runs, Amazon will work with you to help you get your book.
The key to all of this, is shopping cart power. I want to make wish lists on things I see - and rank them according to what things I would rather have. I can't remember all the things I see that I might like, my brain is not going to remember this, and I don't want to write it down. I want to walk up to a kiosk at a store at Christmas and pull my, and any of my trusted friends shopping carts up, much like wedding registries work. I want to buy a pal something he wants for Christmas, keep who it was anonymous, and be assured that it gets checked off and nobody else gets him the same thing.
This study should serve as a catalyst for even more customization options for major E-retailers. Places like Amazon can market capture places like Crate & Barrel (just picking one from thin air), as the cost and complexity of maintaining that kind of system begins to spiral upward, these type s of places don't want to do it for themselves anymore.
Now if they would only quit the psych tricks (Score:2)
What I'd like to see is for the crap pschyological tricks to stop. For instance, some items on Amazon won't show you the price until you add them to your cart. This pretty much defeats the whole point of a shopping cart / non shopping cart, and coincidentally, the Amazon shopping cart is not someth
Eat your own dog food, then you'll know (Score:2)
impulsive at first, not now. (Score:5, Informative)
I started out impulsive. Over time I learned more and more, found more resources, found more ways to compare and for me ultimately shopping on-line has become anything BUT impulsive.
There are too many things to consider to allow impulsive buying to dominate:
I suspect the frustration for vendors is akin to the neurosis around "closing the deal", much like a car dealer: "Ken!, That's a Great name....! What do I gotta do to get you to drive off the lot in this car today?" But, that's just not the way it works, or should work for informed buyers. And vendors who get that, win.
Like the article points out, I've many times shelved an item in a shopping cart to come back to it later after more research and a self-confidence in my final decision to buy (Circuit City, et. al., take note: don't cut me off on some arbitrary limit of shopping cart items... it hurts your chances (actually cost you one sale) of the final sale).
Additionally, I've found the on-line info has made me a less impulsive Brick and Mortar shopper. There are some items I refuse (still) to purchase on-line, but that doesn't stop me from using the internet to find out as much as I can about a product before going to the store. And, I've found myself now seeing an interesting item in a Brick and Mortar, and making note of the product name/manufacture and waiting until I've researched it on the internet before buying.
I think in some ways multiple factors are in force. One, shoppers just plain old want to be more informed about their purchase (I know, not ALL shoppers, but more and more). Two, vendors have done little to earn trust (ever try purchasing a tv lately? I couldn't believe the definitions I got from sales people when trying to explain to me: hdtv vs edtv; hdtv 720 vs 1080; hdtv i vs p; sacd vs cd; et. al.). So customers now armed with research capabilities hedge their bets and verify info from multiple sources before entering CC information.
Re:about those ratings (Score:3, Informative)
Here's what I've noticed, and some recommendations therein....
There are a lot of fly-by-night on-line vendors.... while there is no surefire way to pick them out, here are some of the red flags I've found:
Two words: (Score:2)
Newegg alternative? (Score:2)
Make 'em buy more! (Score:2)
Espcially true with all the deal sites: (Score:2)
Fatwallet [fatwallet.com]
Slickdeals [slickdeals.net]
Spoofee [spoofee.com]
Ableshopper [ableshopper.com]
etc. etc.
Compare online, then go downtown (Score:2)
Online vs Offline Shopping... (Score:2)
On the other hand, on the internet is so easy to check prices for several shops (I personally use Dealtime and with Ebay) that you could
I agree (Score:2)
Reason I abandon MY shopping cart (Score:5, Insightful)
2. They just won't tell me shipping costs until it's too late
3. Website hangs, freezes, or something doesn't work with Firefox, or my privacy/security settings.
4. I change my mind.
5. I get scared
6. I lose interest
7. The checkout process just takes way too long
8. They want to "verify" my credit card by calling me.
9. I have to sign an agreement.
10. They need too much personal information.
Re:Reason I abandon MY shopping cart (Score:5, Informative)
That kills me every time too. But what I especially hate is those rare sites that tack on a "handling" charge at the very last minute. Before I click "buy" I want to know exactly what I'm paying.
That's one of the great things about Newegg. They tell you what you're paying for shipping beforehand. It makes the decision so much easier.
Save for later? (Score:4, Interesting)
Honestly, it surprises me that online merchants are surprised with how consumers ditch their shopping cart contents so often, in light of the fact that Amazon has had "save for later" functionality for years now, a feature that was probably added when they realized that their customers didn't always place an order right away.
On a side note, I like to keep one or two paperback books in my saved cart on Amazon so that when I order a DVD that's under $25, I can add the book and get free shipping.
Compulsive? (Score:2)
Jus
Obvious (Score:2)
If merchants are paying money to be told this kind of information, then the state of retail knowledge is worse than expected.
Here are some more nuggets of cough*obvious*cough info for merchants, free.
Make your web site work with all browsers. You are in the business of s
I abandond shopping carts all the time. (Score:5, Insightful)
Because frequently, it's the only way to find out how much something costs! A lot of sites are pretty idiotic about their placement (or not)of their prices, though that's not new or limited to web sites
A second reason is becuse you frequently have to go 90% of the way through the ordering process befiore you can find out what shipping options the company has and what they charge. That'll make or break a lot of deals.
So as long as sites purposely or ignorantly hide the details of their pricing and shipping, I'm sure there will be thousands of people like me that abandon their shopping carts for that particular reason.
I guess a lot of people might think twice when they see the total after shipping and (tax) and decide not to buy as well, It's nice to see a total before you are committed to buying
But for me it's always because of a necessary and annoying fact finding mission that I am forced to go on on a large number of sites.
Why I abadon shopping carts (Score:2, Interesting)
2) I'm trying the site out for convenience
3) I'm trying the site out on behalf of someone else, and will give them a recommendation
4) I'm using the shopping-cart to get information I can't get any other way, such as shipping costs, or to generate a total bill
For big items, I rarely buy the first time I go to an online shop.
If I've never heard of the store before, I typically won't shop there until I get comfortable with it, that includes trying out the shopping cart, reading all
Ah but... (Score:2)
Not all that surprising.. (Score:2, Insightful)
We aren't impulse buying but ... (Score:2)
You expend the 19 hours because you CAN.
Imagine walking 19 hours at the mall looking and looking, comparison shoping, trying to get the best feature set for the best price.
You'd get banned. You'd be mauled at the mall. The security guards would be on you like flies on sh*t.
So what happens?
Now that we've spent the money far more wisely, resulting in the most bang for the buck, we now are faced with the prospect of waiting for the darm thing and we just can't.
USPS Express Delie
Frustration (Score:3, Interesting)
First of all, I think an on-line shopping cart is more analogue to simply shopping; picking something up and putting it back down. Most real stores don't have shopping carts. But if they did, and especially if it wasn't considered rude, I think you'd see much more people putting stuff in their car and abandoning their shopping cart when they left the store.
Then there's the issue of availability of other products. For example, I start of at Jameco and find most of the stuff I need, but then my luck runs out. So I go to DigiKey. They turn out to have everything. If there's a few dollars price difference I don't care, I'd rather order from one shop.
Then there's the payment method. If a site supports PayPal, then I favor them, because I don't have to provide them with my CC details. I like that. Or if none of the candidates supports PayPal, I'd look which one is more reputable. Here's a hint for on-line store owners: provide goddam address information and telephone numbers. If you are trying to hide behind the anonimity of the intarweb, then why the hell would I give you my CC number?
Now, what I get frustrated with is how little you still _can_ buy online. I have needed to order a wild variety of things lately, and as soon as you step out of the blatently obvious products, you sometimes hit a brick wall. I mean, if you don't have the infrastructure to deal with on-line sales, let someone else handle it. There's plenty of companies that are more than happy to do it for you.
I wonder if they have any idea how much business they lose by having the 'call to talk with sales' statement.
They don't quite get it (Score:3, Interesting)
First, note that this says of those who do make a purchase, almost half have gone away and come back to finish the transaction. It doesn't say that half of all people who go away will come back.
Second, they're leaving out the fact that for many sites, putting something in your shopping cart is required in order to shop. You can't check a price at many sites without using their shopping cart.
Contrary to what ScanAlert says ("Digital window-shopping is very popular among online shoppers..."), I think most people don't "window shop" in the traditional sense of taking inventory of what's out there.
A lot of the time online shoppers (Ok, I) do initial investigation, get ready to buy something, and then go check elsewhere. Since many online prices are in a similar range, it's often easier to simply complete the first transaction rather than wade through another online store.
Plus, we all have our favorite, habitual, or default online retailers.
It may be a distinction without a difference, but I think there is a sharp contrast in purchase behavior between someone hunting down a better deal (comparison shopping) and someone seeing what is out there (window shopping).
Out of curiosity... (Score:2)
some sellers simply don't get it (Score:2)
That's how I work (Score:2)
If my cart isn't there when I come back, I don't bother refilling it. Why waste my time?
From the other side (Score:2)
Since when was shopping online "instant"? (Score:2)
Since when is having to wait anywhere from a few days to whole weeks for shipping "instant"? Whoever said the above has either never done any online shopping or is a moron.
Shipping time (Score:2, Interesting)
Price comparison and research is definately a factor as well, but it can also be a real pain. I know there have been many times where I
News flash folks.... (Score:4, Informative)
We decide based on the reputation of the seller and look for the lowest price. for example, when I purchased my digital rebel last year, there was some for a really good price at Broadway Photo in New York, but they have they have a Poor rating [resellerratings.com] and I walked away.
Poor Responce Form Retailers (Score:4, Insightful)
We are already seeing this type of behavior at places like priceline.com and LendingTree.com. As well as the numerous shopping engins already in on the web.
I think that retails thought of the web as the "Home shopping network on steriods" and are having trouble swallowing the idea of the internet as the "Global Mall."
JFMILLER
A few more thoughts for on-line vendors: (Score:5, Interesting)
Personally, if I can't determine the exact shipping cost before I give my name and address (and maybe even my credit card number), then I go elsewhere.
If the site sets an over priced shipping cost for each item and just adds the shipping costs together if multiple items are bought (greatly inflating prices from the actual shipping cost), I'm inclined to not buy from them at all, but certainly I will not be buying a lot.
Because buyers do shop, it is extremely helpful for both buyer and seller to have real time inventory information posted on the website and actually show the buyer how many of an item are available. More than once a vendor has lost a complete sale when I saw an item I wanted but waited until I could order some other items also, had put several items in my "cart", and then gone to add the item that I really wanted and that had induced me to buy from them, only to find that it was no longer in stock. Had I been able to see inventory numbers I might have known it was selling out and bought faster, instead I just dropped my entire combined order. Even worse are vendors who you can't tell if the item is in stock or not from an on-line website in this computer age.
The seller who charges actual shipping costs, or even actual shipping costs plus a buck or two for costs like the box, if far more likely to gey my business and repeat business than the seller who looks at shipping as a profit center.
Sellers who play games with shipping costs by greatly varying them for very similar size and weight items (you know who you are, Newegg) actually discourage a lot of sales. Why it costs $2.99 to ship some pcmcia cards, even $1.00 to ship some, but $5 to ship others that are on the same size box and of the same weight makes no sense at all (and even less sense if I want to buy 4 and the shipping jumps to %20).
Re:You assume all goods have same point of origin? (Score:3, Interesting)
Hardly. Take the case of Newegg. The same type of item (pcmcia cards) can range in shipping cost from free to $5 per item, and if you buy several they just multiply the cost times the number you buy. But you can see the shipping cost based on which item you buy before you ever give them a destination address! In other words, the person in California pays the same shipping cost as the person in New York or North Caroli
Well, ...duh (Score:3, Interesting)
1. Even with a high speed connection buying anything online is a very deliberate act. You have to be determined. You have to look up a url and go through multiple screens. If you are in this frame of mind you have pretty much decided what you want ( & don't ) want to buy.
2. You have to take trouble to physically go to a brick-n-mortar store. Hence the mentality to load up while you are there. Your PC/Mac is always there so if you are unsure about a purchase you always bag it and come back later.
3. Impulse buys happen in checkout lines where you are forced to wait and stare at the impulse item they want you to buy. Not so on the web, and if they tried the customer would perceive an enforced wait or redirect as an intrusion and bag the purchase.
Re:Toaster oven (Score:2)
Just let it dry before you plug it in.
The plastic ones can't handle that.
Now I need to figure out a way to get my george foreman in there without ruining it.
Re:Toaster oven (Score:2)
Re:People like newegg are leading the pack (Score:2)
Re:iMac (Score:2)
Maybe it is though. Wonder what that means, considering that it is true.