Online Holiday Shopping Customer Experiences and Expectations

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December 22nd, 2010, In Advertising, Business, eCommerce, by Beverly Crandon

It tis’ the season where regardless of how you claimed last season that you were not buying any gifts next holiday season or that you were cutting back, you now find yourself buying gifts at increasing levels, in contrary acceptance.  Furthermore, the thought of running around and having to  take part in holiday shopping, if you are like me, can be a daunting one. So, naturally, I wait until the last minute to start, execute and complete my shopping. This year, my last minute plan of attack (yes – I plan to be last minute, every year) was impacted by an untimely and intense surgery, which has now rendered me out of kilter for the next couple of weeks (oh yeah…this also explains my scarcity on the world wide web this past week). So, Sunday, one week before the big day, and upon my discharge from the hospital, I decided to power up the laptop at home and commence shopping online.  It was the only way I could ensure my shopping got done, given the circumstances.

Purchasing gifts or personal items online, for anyone accustom to doing product and service research on the web, would seem a run of the mill thing at this point, but I was surprised by what I encountered when trying to complete my holiday shopping online, at nameplate brand sites.

I first set out to cover gifts for my niece and logically went to the Toys “R” US site. The first thing I looked for was an indication that the gift will make it to the house in time for December 25th. Thankfully, Toys “R” Us played into the holiday and gift giving for children and messaging about shipping was above the fold and centre screen – you couldn’t miss it. What was also impressive with Toys “R” Us was that depending on the calendar date, the messaging changed to indicate the now available transportation methods and pricing to get  your package to where you needed it, in time.  There appeared to be a true effort to ensure all holiday gift givers were taken care of, even if they were late to the party.

I then went on to the Best Buy site, because I mean let’s face it, in today’s digital age I can find gifts at Best Buy for my parents, who are now senior citizens, with one being an extreme techie and the other a Facebook lover, all the way through to my fashionista sister-in-law, however, my time on the Best Buy site was not as impressive.  My Best Buy online experience started with me looking for shipping information, and I was surprised that I could not find any related information above the fold or in other obvious places, but I naively assumed that if my Toys “R” Us experience was as easy as it was, so too should my Best Buy experience – given this, I commenced to shop. I spent an hour doing research on site and sourcing other related technical blogs, to ensure I was purchasing durable products that would serve my gift recipients well. At the point of selecting all of my gifts, totalling more than I thought I would spend, I started the checkout process.  I had filled out two web pages worth of information and then got to the shipping section of the checkout process, only to find that  the same annual general terms “5 to 11 business days”, were listed, and simple math told me that these items would not make it to the house in time.  I then looked through the page, thoroughly, to see if other shipping options existed, expedited or air, whatever would get my items to the house in time.   Nonetheless, there was no clear indication that I could expedite shipping, and because I was now heavily invested in the process (I had spent an hour thus far, carefully selecting all of my gifts), I called Best Buy online support, to see if they could shed some light.  I was told that I had missed the guaranteed shipping date and so the service rep suggested that I order the gifts online and then pick them up at the store.  So upset and frustrated, I went on to the Future Shop (a large Canadian electronics store) web site, and found the same or similar products and was impressed to see that the first thing I saw when I got to their site, was ways in which they could help me get my gifts to their destination, in time for the big day.  At the end of the whole shopping ordeal, I was left  puzzled that some nameplate stores could get it right, while others couldn’t.  When things like this happen, it makes a consumer think that there are some businesses who, given their size, tend to focus less on what may appear to be the little things, which when equated to dollars and sense and multiplied by each potential customer, extends to quite a costly experience.

I think the biggest problem is that online commerce for these nameplate brands was initiated as another source to aid in cutting staffing costs at brick and mortar locations and not as a tool to attain additional customers or share. In essence, eCommerce initiatives at nameplates was an attempt at creating positive margin contributors, with regards to operating costs.  What nameplates like Best Buy have failed to factor into their online commerce flow is that it is no longer a shopping avenue solely targeted at increasing margins, it is a shopping avenue that we as consumers use, almost as often as running out to the mall, especially during holiday seasons.  Given its now normalcy, there are some natural expectations consumers have when indulging in online commerce, and missing the mark on these expectations is no longer an option.

With online commerce growing in acceptance and adoption, the need to ensure the delight quotients expected when I head into your brick and mortar store are also present and possible to experience online, is stronger than ever now.  The review of the average sale per source (brick and mortar stores versus online storefronts) alone prove that businesses need to translate their online shopping experiences to a level of heightened focus.  The bottom line is that many of those with store fronts offline still take for granted and do not recognize the power and potential of their store fronts online.  This neglect is also what has made it easy for pure play online sites, such as Amazon, to make such an impact on traditional storefront brands, even the large ones.

As an aside, Future Shop was purchased by Best Buy Co. in 2001, but it operates as its own entity in Canada, hence the very different online holiday buying rules.

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