Old vs Newby Nigel Fenwick |
With so much attention being given to the demise of high profile eRetailers, traditional retailers are reconsidering the merits of having their online operations set up as separate companies. Traditional brick and mortar retailers with close links to their online operations have significant advantages over pure Internet retailers; the ability to leverage their physical stores to boost online sales, and their substantial resources to sustain and build their online operations. There are signs the more advanced retailers are learning how to leverage their physical advantage. In the 2000-11 report we conducted a mini-research study to find out just how well some of the biggest offline names are doing when it comes to taking their brands online. The study found that companies like Barnes and Noble have begun to surpass their competitors in terms of website design and online shopping features. When this is coupled with the ability to return purchases to local stores, they begin to show some significant customer service benefits over Amazon.com. Off course, there are a some online shoppers that simply don't want to go to a store for any reason, but for others, the inconvenience of returning purchases is one of the biggest problems of shopping online. It will not be long before these click and mortar offline/online combinations figure out how to allow customers to shop online and collect their purchases at their local store. When this happens, many shoppers that live within easy reach of a physical store may choose this option, as opposed to waiting for their merchandise to be delivered. Personally, I shop online to save time when I know what I want, so having to go to a store to collect something doesn't appeal to me, but I'm sure there are plenty of people out there that feel just the opposite. Home Depot may well be one of the first companies to test this theory in a big way. Right now, if you live in the Las Vegas area, it's possible to order merchandise online and collect it from the local Home Depot store. One of the more interesting aspects of the recent Amazon.com/Toys"R"Us combination is the fact that shoppers can no longer return their merchandise to a local Toys"R"Us store, as they could before the partnership was established. You can see a summary of our mini-eRetail Scorecard analysis in the chart below.
Returns Policies - Why they are important to eRetailers, click here
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