Study reveals e-tailers not ready for Holiday 2000

[July 31st 2000]

Instead of ho ho ho, holiday shoppers may be feeling ho-hum with unsatisfactory online shopping experiences this holiday season. A recent report by Internet marketing company Resource Marketing, Inc., says that e-tailers will need to make many improvements to avoid another holiday train wreck on the Net.

In their fifth battery of intense evaluation of 50 top e-tailers, Resource found that no single retailer has mastered the art and science of gift services on the Web.

"Online sites need to work harder to earn those holiday gift dollars," said Kelly Mooney managing director of Intelligence for Resource. "Gift services -- which consumers expect during the holidays, still remain one of the biggest oversights on the Web."

Some findings from this pre-holiday study showed:

• 44 percent of the sites don't offer gift-wrapping services.

• 90 percent don't have full-featured gift registries.

• Less than 25 percent let consumers search by more than one criteria.

• Only 18 percent have live representatives to aid confused or harried shoppers.

The study also identifies blind spots, serious Web site errors that can cause customers to bail out. For example:

• Beyond.com's "Quick Buy" option only lets shoppers purchase one item at a time-and shoppers must reenter all their information with each transaction.

• A search for "wooden trains" on Amazon.com's toy section brought back 240 results, including a plastic ambulance.

• Crate and Barrel sends purchase confirmations of items bought online through the U.S. mail.

• Email notification about a Banana Republic transaction came from Gap.

• Rather than provide a return number, Egghead.com's customer service representative suggested keeping the product since it was such a great deal or selling it to a friend.

• A package from BlueLight.com arrived in an empty box without an invoice, packing slip, or slightest clue as to the company's identity.

• Walmart.com is filled with dead links.

Since 1997, Mooney and her team of "undercover" cybershoppers have been tracking the quality of the online customer experience. They've spent thousands of hours and hundreds of thousands of dollars on e-merchandise. Twice per year, Mooney rates 50 leading sites on 500 consumer-based measures, reporting how retailers perform on 14 key success factors. She awards medals to each site: gold for an exceptional customer experience, silver for good, and for those bringing up the rear, bombs.

Links
Resource Marketing		http://www.resource.com