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Shopping Centers Today -> February 2002
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PLASTIC PHOBIAS
Credit cards stir up all kinds of fears with the public: People
are afraid to trust the Internet with their numbers, parents are
wary of letting mall-addicted children loose with plastic, and,
when it comes to more-adult pleasures, some don’t want certain
charges showing up on their statements. To overcome these misgivings,
Los Angeles-based GSB Financial Services, which develops technology
solutions for the financial services industry, has come out with
a prepaid cash card, called the I-Card. Not only will it be popular
with consumers, the company says, but merchants will see it as a
way to cut fraud, operate loyalty promotions — and sell certain
products without embarrassing buyers.
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Sears Roebuck & Co., Circuit City, the major drugstores and others are converging technology with instant gratification by letting customers order and pay online, then go to their nearest store to pick the product up. “The primary reason people like this option is that they want their product quicker than shipping allows,” Sears spokeswoman Ann Woolman told SCT. The company’s research indicates 38 percent of Sears’ online customers prefer this option, she said. But an opportunity to save money is another reason for the popularity of self-pickup: The cost of shipping and handling is the biggest deterrent among those who do not shop online, reported Jupiter Media Metrix, a New York City-based technology and Internet research firm.
…BUT DO THEY PROVIDE MANY HAPPY RETURNS?
Potential online consumers are still very much concerned about the ease of returning merchandise bought over the Internet, according to a survey by Jupiter Media Metrix. Jupiter reports that 41 percent of Internet users say they are reluctant to buy over the Web because they anticipate having problems returning goods. Their expectations are particularly high, however, when it comes to brick-and-mortar stores, with 81 percent of online customers saying they expect to be able to return their online purchases at the nearest store, the survey found. So can they?
STORES AHEAD ON CUSTOMER SERVICE
While 75 percent of consumers agree that online customer service has improved over the past year, only 34 percent believe it is superior to in-store service, according to a telephone poll conducted by iSKY, a Laurel, Md., company that provides multichannel support to companies.
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CLICKS AND STICKS
So young urban professionals with no time to shop are the biggest
online supermarket customers, right? Not according to a study by
British supermarket giant Tesco, which runs one of the world’s
largest and most successful online grocery businesses. It found
its most valuable customers are residents of two adjoining villages
in Britain’s rural West Country. “Online shopping was
initially the preserve of affluent town-based professionals,”
a spokesman said. Not any more.
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BULL MARKET
Internet commerce has hit a new benchmark by penetrating one of
America’s most traditional retail arenas: the cattle auction.
Up to now buyers have had to sit around a ring bidding with the
wave of a hand or nod of the head. Now they can be miles away and
bid with the flick of a finger, under a system developed by Sebastian,
Fla.-based eMerge Interactive. “Buyers out West see cattle
they normally would never have seen,” Scott Mathews, the company’s
president and COO, told the Calgary (Alberta) Herald. “Sellers
locally get eyes on cattle they never would have had.”
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DUELING ONLINE HEADLINES
While the verdict has long been in on the performance of e-tailers
during the recent holidays, confusion reigned late into the season,
at least in the media: “Slump seen in holiday sales online;
in-store discounts may be luring buyers from Web retailers,”
ran a headline in the Dec. 21 issue of The Boston Globe. Not so,
according to a headline in The Orlando Sentinel on the same day:
“E-tailers holiday wishes come true; more shoppers are trading
the mall for the mouse, despite a rising number of complaints.”
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