« May 2007 | Back to the main page... | July 2007 »

Last week, I wrote about usability through my experience at a local coffee shop.  One of the comments recommended a book, so I bookmarked it with delicious and will probably forget about it in a few days because delicious (or any bookmarking service) is more for reference when I'm in a bind than a reminder to go pick something up.  It solves the bookmarking problem, but it's passive, not active, so it doesn't necessarily suit the 'wishlist' scenario.

Later on, I stumbled upon a post referencing a list of social wishlists, a post about an 'add to facebook' widget at chapters.indigo.ca and had PowerReviews/Buzzillions on my mind.  The wheels started spinning and I thought - what would make my shopping experience better?  My experience would be enhanced if there was a centralized wishlist functionality in every store. 

What would it do?

1. Provide a centralized wishlist - like Kaboodle, ProductWiki, etc.  A single place to manage my entire wishlist.  The centralized list would tell me where and when I found the product.
2. Remind me of my wishlist.  At some defined interval, remind me of what I have in my wishlist - send it bi-weekly in an email.  I should be able to schedule specific reminders, for example - I found an awesome card for my brother online 6 months before his birthday, but totally forgot about it when the time came around.
3. When I add something to my cart at a store, add it to my wishlist.  Abandoned carts are no more for authenticated users.  There is probably a neat way to solve this for unauthenticated users..  I'll stew on that.
4. Inverse of #3.  When I revisit a site, the cart should be re-populated based on my wishlist.
5. When re-populating my cart, maybe the site sees some of the other related items in my wishlist and if they carry the same product, the site also adds them to my cart.
6. When viewing my wishlist, it tells me the site I bookmarked it on, and other sites that sell the same product.
7. It would accept product updates.  Maybe vendors can communicate with the centralized wishlist using RSS (really simple syndication) to send updates to product descriptions, quantity information, price updates, etc.

What advantages are there for the consumer?

1. I have a wishlist that I can use across multiple websites, is easy to use, and provides me with some stellar value through reminders, product updates, and other features.
2. It's better than the 'bookmark and forget' system I have perfected with delicious.

What advantages are there for the vendor?

1. Vendors can see what I want.  There could be privacy issues here, but I share my bookmarks anyways, so what's the difference?
2. Vendors can push sales to me directly.  They know what I want, I will see relevant information as a result.
3. Vendors can see what the most popular items are - what does everyone have in their wishlist right now?  What is the most popular store?
4. Vendors get exposure.  By offering a particular product, you get exposure to everyone who has that item in their wishlist.

What advantages are there in general?

1. It would be awesome if RSPS were developed as a result (really simple product syndication).
2. Maybe it would lead to virtual stores that sell a collection of products from many vendors?  The store is made up of product feeds (see RSPS), and some way of paying for them all together.  Amazon's Seller Central offers similar functionality to this now, by way of allowing customers to list items for sale on their site, so this isn't a new concept, but I'm stretching it the other way - allow small shops to sell products from any company.  A consumer cross-dock sorta setup.  That would be cool.

It's a pipe dream, I know.  But it would be straightforward to implement, not hard to sell to vendors, and would really make my life easier as a consumer.  Until then, I will suffer with my patented delicious 'bookmark and forget' system.

Note:  By the end of this post, I had forgotten about the book recommendation completely.

This mornings routine forced me to visit a different Second Cup to pickup my daily dose of caffeine.  Having never visited this location before, I settled into line and waited for my turn to order.  I was greeted by staff, I ordered my medium Paradiso Medium, followed the line to the cash, swiped my giftcard and was off to find the ever important 'raw sugar' to make my coffee drinkable.

I turned around, found the sugar station, and proceeded to load up.  1.. 2.. 3.. done. 

Next - find a stir stick.  Different stir sticks here, wood instead of plastic.  I stir, and find the wood is much more effective for large sugar consumers.  Mentally noted.

Lid.  I need a lid for my coffee so I don't spill it (on myself) during my walk back to the office.  I look up to see the usual stack of lids above the sugar, reach for one, instinctively grab and shake it so I don't take 2 when I notice they are all upside-down.  Interesting. 

When I picked a lid off the stack, it was immediately easier to grab because the rim was up.  Because the rim was up instead of down I didn't apply pressure to grab it, which meant I didn't inadvertently grab 2 or 3, try to separate them and put them back on the stack.  It made my visit to the sugar station much quicker and reduced the after purchase wait time.  Fascinating!

I remembered a few things this morning as a result of my coffee experience. 

First, small changes can make a big difference.  Not all small changes will result in a positive effect on a system, but well thought out changes can.  In my case, upside-down coffee lids made a marked improvement on the overall coffee experience.  The wood stir sticks were more effective too.

Second, people who are very comfortable with a particular system can have a hard time seeing small improvements.  While I normally have feedback on everything, my morning coffee process has become a habit to the point of auto-pilot.  I have ordered a coffee so many times from the same location that I don't notice the system at all.  It's important to get a fresh perspective on a system, those who are too close might not see simple improvements that can make a big difference.

It was an interesting experience this morning.  It reminded me to read WHY WE BUY: The Science of Shopping, and CALL OF THE MALL: The Geography of Shopping again.  While all of these observations occur outside of the online experience, they still apply.  Understanding your users and their behavior within your system is a critical part of business.

There are many ways to better understand your users - through usability testing or usability assessments, but the most common and most cost effective way is through the use of analytics packages like Omniture's SiteCatalyst.  While the information gathered by the analytics package won't tell you everything, it will tell you more than you think.

From Airlines to Consumer Product Companies to Sports and Entertainment firms, more and more organizations are turning to online Auctions in general, and points-based online auctions in particular, as a means of reaching out to customers and building their brand.

Why you say?  I'm glad you asked...the reasons why are varied, but all tie back to the elusive challenge of keeping that all important returning customer coming back again and again...So here then, are the top reasons why marketers see value in adding online auctions to their eCommerce and Online Marketing toolkit:

Reason #1 – Airlines/hotels and other companies that reward customers with points or loyalty rewards need these loyal customers to continue to redeem these points. Often loyalty points are viewed as a liability on an organizations P+L and most naturally want to encourage their redemption. Auctions are an effective method to encourage this.

Reason #2 - These organizations need to engage their customers with interesting new ideas and products and provide compelling reasons to return to their respective .coms. Auctions have historically proven to be sticky application providing an ‘entertainment/game’ like functionality the respective web sites. Average time spent on auction sites by customers is significantly higher than on traditional eCommerce sites -- often 3 to 4 times the average session time

Reason #3 - Airlines/hotels and other companies that reward customers with points or loyalty rewards can often leverage existing partnerships and relationships they have already developed for prizing and products for their online auctions.

For example Priority Club Auctions has an arrangement with Major League baseball (MLB) via Holiday Inn as the official hotel of Major League baseball. They utilize this relationship for prizing such as tickets, once in lifetime experiences and signed baseball memorabilia

Reason #4 - Many organizations want the ability to communicate directly with their customers on a frequent and consistent basis. Auctions provide this level of communication by the very nature of the auction environment i.e. email upon registration, email upon bid, email upon out bid, etc.

It is a pretty safe bet to say that Loyalty Points Auction programs are becoming a required piece of site functionality for any company that is developing or has developed an extensive program that rewards customers with points or miles.

This year's Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition, held in San Jose last week  is quickly becoming a bellwether for our industry.  Dubbed "America's Largest e-Retailing Show", the conference represents a chance for vendors, investors, multi-channel retailers, pure play etailers, analysts and journalists alike to come together in the name of all things eCommerce.

Yes, while there are other such events out there, IRCE seems to have assumed the distinction of being the show that can't be missed.  Why?  Well, I have a theory on why....(shhh...its the content). 

With events like these, there is a very fine line between generating good revenue for the organizer and generating good content for the attendees -- sometimes they are mutually exclusive.  IRCE seems to have found the right mix however.  Perhaps their history as being a publisher first, event organizer second, has worked to their advantage.

We live in a pretty jaded era.  Consumers, whether B2C or B2B, are bombarded with selling messages every time they turn around.  My belief is that the folks at IR have done a good job of providing  true thought leadership content: ie best practices and ideas from industry leaders, in a forum that caters to the retailer first and foremost. 

This value added content, whether in the form of breakout sessions or part of the larger conference itself, is key to bringing getting retailer buy in (4000 attendees this year).

And as one can imagine when you cater to the retailers, the vendors are sure to follow.  Similar I would think, to time-honoured practice of adding playgrounds to fast-food restaurants...if the kids want to go, the parents and their wallets are sure to follow.

The end result for Internet Retailer?  The industry's most respected, and most diverse conference.  Retailing giants like Macy's, Best Buy and WalMart together with a wide array of small and mid-size retailers and online pure-plays.  With more than 30% of the retailing attendees at $10 million online or below, this year's show was truly an accurate representation of the market itself.

We will be back next year...

Craziest Niche Market Retailer: http://www.usbgaggifts.com/About%20Us.html

Most Interesting New Vendor: https://www.changeroundup.com/default.aspx