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Scheveringen at the Kurhaus

Written by Ian Jindal on . Posted in eCommerce.

It’s a tough life! On a beautiful spring morning I found myself in the lovely seaside suburb of The Hague – Scheveringen. I was there for a workshop with Shell (very interesting) and couldn’t believe the splendid venue. The meeting was in the Kurhaus – think of the Brighton Pavillion on steroids – and the meeting room overlooked the shore and promenade…

This is my second trip to the Netherlands in a week and I’m struck again by the nice feel to the cities, the efficient transport system and just how polite and helpful everyone is.

I must find some time now to do a bit of research on the land reclamation and dykes. The burning question for me at the moment is what you do with the pooled rainfall when the land is below sea level? Come to that, why don’t the rivers flow in from the sea?

I’m just off to google those very questions, but in the meantime here’s another view of the beach from the promenade.
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Webwinkel-ing in Amsterdam

Written by Ian Jindal on . Posted in eCommerce.

Just back from a fun trip to Amsterdam and Utrecht to speak at a conference with Joris Beckers of Fred Hopper – info on my ‘business’ site here. It was a really fun trip and Joris is a great host (sadly, I had consumed too many beers to snap photos of the 5-piece female close-harmony barbershop blues quintet that spontaneously – nay, randomly – coalesced and performed at a bar in Rembrandt Square…).

I discovered that “webwinkel” is eCommerce: how cool is that?

So – to impressions:

1) City Airport is just fab, especially now that a) the DLR goes all the way there and b) I’ve worked out how to use my Oyster card. Result.
2) Turbo-prop planes are rather small and are not for nervous flyers who don’t want to feel every cloud bump and the effort of climbing… I think I’ll find jet routes in future!
3) There are lots of “Hotel Amsterdams” in Amsterdam. Yes, I know that seems obvious now, but after being dropped in the wrong one, directed to another wrong one, checking out a very wrong one on my travels I finally found the rather lovely “Eden” hotel Amsterdam. Phew. Very modern, good service and one of the best hotel beds ever.
4) Dutch trains are fab. Take care though to check whether you’re getting on an intercity (fast), sprinter (not fast at all) or the other one (stops everywhere and has a cuppa). Nearly made a mightily embarrassing mistake…
5) Schipol airport has nothing to do with transport – it’s a typographer’s art installation. The signs, ah the signage!
6) I think there’s an internet boom on. The conference had some stunning stands, my two favourites being the small lake, 4 industrial wind machines and remote controlled yacht racing (god only knows what they actually sold) and the 15m-high “hands of the clock” cycle a loop-the-loop machine. Nuts. Sadly the crapcam decided to die and erase the photos. If not I could also have shown the football teams, the traditional waffle chef in a kitchen, the cars… It was 1999 all over again!

Went for an early morning wander with the XPan and so will post the panoramas as soon as I get a mo to do some scanning.

The customer service message we’d all love to give!

Written by Ian Jindal on . Posted in eCommerce, Webshite.

Woot : What Is Woot?

While I’m not much the wiser as to ‘what is W00t!’, I am in admiration of their customer returns policy!

Will I receive customer support like I’m used to?

No. Well, not really. If you buy something you don’t end up liking or you have what marketing people call “buyer’s remorse,” sell it on eBay. It’s likely you’ll make money doing this and save everyone a hassle. If the item doesn’t work, find out what you’re doing wrong. Yes, we know you think the item is bad, but it’s probably your fault. Google your problem, or come back to that product discussion in our community and ask other people if they know. Try to call the manufacturer and ask if they know. If you give up and must return it to us, then follow on to the next FAQ entry.

How do I return a defective product?

Unless we specifically tell you not to, call the manufacturer of the product you bought. You will likely get a replacement of a new model or better item from them. If we still haven’t dissuaded you, email rma@woot.com with your woot order number, the name of the product you are returning, and the detailed problem with the item. We will respond with return authorization by the next business day. Because we aren’t likely to have a replacement in stock, you should be prepared for a refund-only option if that’s all we can do. Know that return freight will be at your expense. Again, you will probably get a better deal from the manufacturer, or whoever else handling customer service for that product.

Joy!

Unless you’re the customer, of course.

A tale of two awards: Retail Week and Revolution Magazine

Written by Ian Jindal on . Posted in eCommerce, T'interwebs.

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Ah, it’s a tough life! Last week saw me in my black tie at the Grosvenor House hotel on Park Lane for two award dinners: that for Retail Week on the 16th of March, and the Revolution Magazine awards dinner (for which awards I’d played a small part as a judge).

I was a guest of Conchango at the Retail Week awards and Mike Altendorf and his team were hospitable, generous and highly convivial hosts. The table was just great, with people from M&S, Ann Summers, Comet and Currys, as well as the esteemed CIO at Littlewoods, Martin Wyke.

Our table was a small “digital enclave” and my overwhelming thought about the awards (the next day, as the headache cleared) was how traditional the retail industry is. The people I met all seemed to have worked in the industry for many years, often working through either M&S or GUS or both. These companies clearly provide the basis of training and networking for the industry and I’m sure that an award is due to them for that!

eCommerce is clearly making an impact, but it’s still “other” and “new”. Companies like Conchango (and also Javelin) are championing “integrated commerce”, building upon the tradition capabilities in buying and distribution, but it’s still a matter of turning oil tankers…

The Revolution awards could not have been more different. The gathering was younger, focused on digital marketing and ecommerce, and there was a confident, “up” feeling to the evening from the start.

At some point in my career I’d hope to have the buzz, talent, can-do creativity and digital sparkle from the Revolution evening meet fully the experience, merchandising and capability in the Retail Week camp. Then we’d know that the 21st Century eCommerce aspirations are becoming a reality!

Phil Buxton did really well on the podium and will shortly be tying the knot at his wedding: congrats to Phil – let us know which speech was the most nerve-wracking (my money’s on the wedding speech!).

My final resolution though is to go and see more live, stand-up comedy: The Pub Landlord (Revolution) and Dara o’Brien (RW) were both great: sharp, funny and clearly bemused by (aka not giving a toss about) the events – wonderful!

More shots from the CrapCam after the jump.

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“Electronic channels hitting store sales”. Surely not!

Written by Ian Jindal on . Posted in eCommerce.

Electronic channels hitting store sales.

Apparently…

Some 50% of retailers at the Retail Business Show believe their e-commerce channels are cannibalising their in-store spend, according to the results of a survey conducted by platform integration specialists Glue4.

The surprise here is not that the online channel is no longer seen as ‘free’, purely additional sales, but that people naively refer to the change in the channel mix as “cannibalising”. This notion that there’s a ‘natural’ or ‘real’ sales channel and that ecommerce is somehow undermining it is quaint at best.

This is tantamount to retailers complaining that the new automatically-opening door is taking traffic away from the old manual doors next to them. Or complaining that the call centre is ‘taking sales’ away from the shops.

I’m sure that when retailers initially commit to the web all sales are seen as additive and free. As they learn more about their customers’ behaviour then they realise that customers see the web as a complementary part of the offering. People can research online, shortlist and then visit a shop to feel the ‘heft’ before committing. The web can also even out distribution anomalies – 12 pairs of size 7 shoes in Exeter, yet none in Aberdeen. An integrated stock system, linked to the eCommerce front end, can make that stock visible to the customer in Croydon, Camden or Lyon, take payment and get the shoes in the post.

Retail Business Show

Written by Ian Jindal on . Posted in eCommerce.

On 2 February I’ll be visiting the Retail Business Show at Olympia. There’s an interesting set of people to visit so I’ll be there most of the day.

If you’re attending either drop me a note or SMS on the day and we can hook up for some of the (much improved, thank God) coffee now on offer!

Line56: Multichannel Retail

Written by Ian Jindal on . Posted in eCommerce.

Line56.com: Multichannel Retail

Here’s an easy-read article on Line56 talking about the attractions on multichannel retail (see how right Argos get it most of the time: impressive). While it mainly states the obvious I thought that the conclusions on the platform front were striking. They ring true, are clearly presented and give food for thought. Using as website as a veneer is not sustainable.

If you think your first-generation e-commerce platform is sufficient for multichannel, consider Garf’s list of the shortcomings of older systems:

* “Current systems are difficult, if not impossible, for business users to tailor merchandising content, manage promotional campaigns, and access customer information.”

* “Cumbersome integration with other platforms–Retailers find it slow and expensive to integrate current applications with their own software and services from third parties. This lack of integration also means there is limited visibility into real-time data.”

* “Customized and inflexible code that is difficult to maintain–Adding additional functionality is not easy and increases the difficulty of maintaining software doing more than it was designed to do. The resultant new development and maintenance is expensive.”

* “An inability to synchronize e-commerce with other retail processes–With its laser-like focus on the Internet, these platforms are not designed to work with other business rules and processes, forcing companies to attempt to manually create consistent policies and practices.”