Ecommerce: Fueling expectations, Pampering Customers

The always-on internet enable your e-commerce store to be kept open 24/7, in the hope of not missing that straggling prospect, anywhere at any time of the day.  There are no restrictions, or necessity of  dropping the shutters or of turning the lights out.

In addition to freedom to shop anytime, your avid website shopper balks at paying the shipping cost.  The concept appears alien since the person has never paid for shipping at the neighborhood supermarket.  Amazon ate a whooping $4B in shipping cost last year in order to remove this friction from online shopping experience.

Speed and timeliness of delivery is the next big thing. Large online retailors are locating warehouses closer to customers to cut down on the delivery time (and hoping to reduce some cost).  Same-day delivery will surely be giving way to same-hour delivery. Soon drones may be taking to air to set our last minute Holiday purchases in our front yards. The expectation will be to go Full Monty and expect deliveries on weekends including public holidays too!

Choices? No problem. Some e-retailers  will ship you three variations. You can select the one you liked and return the other two without any hassle.

How far will this go? The next target will be the customer support. Soon the round-the-clock shopper will expect live support at any time of the day. If the shop can be kept open at all hours, why will support not be manned anytime a customer needs it?

And least we forget, the prices must remain most competitive (read the lowest) along with all other frills. It is not unusual to see “we beat internet prices” at stores who are bravely battling the challenges of heightened customer expectations.

Add to this the fact that acquiring the first customer has become so expensive that it wipes away any profits.  E-commerce businesses now hope to make money with returning customers. Some call it the Critical Second Sale.  Returning buyers, the study found, generated 41% revenue and 100% profits. 

This imposes additional overheads of building brand loyalty (a difficult thing to do with everything just a click or a review away) and cajoling the customer to order again.

E-commerce Customer is the King

Surprisingly all this coddling has only served to increase customer dissatisfaction. A study , conducted by Arizona State University this year, found that customers reporting problems have gone up from 32% in 1976 to 50% in 2013. Yelling at customer support has increased as well, and dissatisfied customers have been talking about their pain to 28 other persons (on an average)!

This outburst reported by Gawker, on Facebook by a customer, and its response by the company, is an indicator of runaway expectations.

With the best prices on consumer goods along with all the shopping conveniences,  why is dissatisfaction growing?

The vivid stories of fights and scenes of violence that broke out in some superstores on Thanksgiving night this year is still fresh in the memory. The physical stores opened in the night because they were afraid of the advancing e-commerce juggernaut, that never sleeps!

I know this is swimming against the tide but I cannot help thinking that online shoppers never had it so good before.

Clearly customer is in the driving seat. But the engine should be in good shape to take you wherever you want to go