Forum Archive Index - June 2000

[Phil Eriksen <phil@acepay.co.nz>]

ril wrote:
  
> What the internet doesn't deliver is what makes us human. Contact. Not
> contact through a computer but face to face. When people purchase face
> to face there are also subtleties. The attention one receives when
> handing over ones money for example. The wrapping of the good. The
> people around. The sitting in a cafe afterwards flicking through the
> purchase.

The internet cannot currently deliver face to face contact, so if that
is what you really want, the internet is not for you.  However, when I
go to a retail store, the real point of the face to face contact is
simple - to gain the information I need about the product I am
purchasing, and to gain the confidence that i'm purchasing the product
from the right place.

The internet can't exactly replicate the retail store experience - and
it shouldn't try to.  What it can do, however, is offer the shopper
substantially more information, and ensure that this information is top
notch.  Every tried to purchase computer equipment from certain large
retailers?  I have - and sure, i can get all the face to face contact I
want - can't get any answers tho. 

An example from my own business.  The product we sell (admittedly to
business users not consumers, but I believe the rules don't change much)
is sold direct, and also by dealers.  The support for it (ie the
information) can be gotten from a helpdesk, or face to face, or from a
third party.  The advantage of the internet is that when we add or
change something now, the day it is changed, it is documented in full. 
The new information is indexed to other relevant information.  Chances
are that documentation has been written by one of the owners of the
business.  To look back at my computer equipment example, the "shopper",
instead of relying on face-to-face contact with a part time worker who
doesn't care, is able to get all the information they need, written by
those who know the answers.

>From a business point of view, its a terribly efficient way to do
things.  Instead of dispensing the information one-to-one 10,000 times,
it is available to any takers, 24 hours a day.  Our traditional sources
of info (helpdesk, dealers etc) are still there and are helped by having
the information source - an effective training manual.  The face to face
contact hasn't been eliminated - but if you are just wanting the
information, and nothing else, you can get it faster, cheaper, and from
the right source.  CEO's of businesses always talk about "understanding
customers" and "getting onto the groundfloor" thinking that 20 minutes a
week on the phone achieves this - with the internet, a CEO can literally
communicate with all of his customers - direct.

I believe that currently, a comparison between traditional retail and
online retail is unfair, because online retail has failed miserably to
date.  "e-commerce" is what people are talking about endlessly, but
completing the transaction is the easy part.  At the above mentioned
computer retailer, there are numerous ways to pay for your purchase -
the point is you walk out before buying because the rep isn't helpful. 
On the net, everybody has put lists of products and e-commerce
facilities online - but very few have made all the information one would
need to make a purchase available.

Quite a few years ago I recall the term "information super-highway" was
used often.  Between then and now, as net entrepreneurs greed and
investors idiocy ensured too much money flowed in to ensure the job was
done right (why worry about building a business and controlling costs
when your 25, just had an IPO and theres $50mil in the bank?) people
seem to have forgotten the keyword - information.  

Face to face contact isn't overly useful, but it can provide
information, and reassurance.  Once these two things are better handled
online (and the day will come) online retail will fare better.  The
internet companies have "caught up" with traditional retail by allowing
the purchase to be made (as much as this misses the point).  However, if
they can next ensure that all information needed to make a purchase is
provided, and offer reassurance, traditional retail will never catch up.

Cheers,
Phil

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