Getting Web users to come to a site is only half the battle, and, according to Gartner, Inc. research director Geri Spieler, many retailers need to make the shopping experience more satisfactory. In short, e-tailers need to direct resources toward fulfillment with the same zeal they direct resources toward marketing. Online shoppers are removed from human interaction, and this separation allows them to leave the store in the click of a mouse. The challenge for a Web store is not only to engage the shopper, but to deliver an experience by which the customer can navigate and complete the shopping experience and actually achieve 'e-fulfillment' by the merchant. Greenfield Online More than 60 percent of potential online consumer shopping is abandoned before reaching the credit card transaction process, Gartner found, and Spieler said this is directly related to the front-end design linking the shopping experience to the fulfillment process.
Customer service is also important to offline brands using the Internet.
Jupiter's survey also found that 83 percent of online buyers would like to be able to return online purchases at offline stores. But only 18 percent of multichannel retailers offer in-store pickup of items ordered online, and Jupiter analysts say that nonintegrated product inventory is a leading reason for customers' dissatisfaction with online service. Customer service surveys by ICR, Accenture, and CustomerAsset all agree that online retailers have made improvements with regard to their customer service in the past year. Estimates on online spending aren't quite as agreeable. Copyright 2001 INT Media Group, Incorporated All Rights Reserved.