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Evolving Web Ordering issues for Catalogs
March 28, 2008

The more I work with web to print solutions the more I see how oversimplified and misunderstood the business models can be. For example, about a decade ago catalogers were compelled to hire programmers or outside service providers to create web sites that would allow customers to order online.

The thinking at the time was  that people would flock to buy all things on-line. While some sales grew others shrank and most remained the same. Pundits point to many things to explain the less then stellar growth, especially the lack of consumer confidence in security during this time.

One thing that changed was the ordering process. Instead of throwing a catalog into a briefcase, getting to work and ordering on the phone, now people opened the catalog at work and went to the web site.

However an often overlooked consideration is customer preferences. For certain products customers wanted to walk into a store, pick up the product and try it on or get in and take it for a test drive. For other products, like ink or toner cartridges people feel comfortable picking up the phone, mentioning a SKU, citing a coupon code and ordering it. And for some products people feel fine ordering from a web page like ebay.

The demographics of the shopper has a role too. Younger people are more inclined to order from web pages and older people more inclined to shop in stores or make a phone call to order. Adding to this complexity are constant changes in the population based on age which has an impact on the ordering too.Today with the large baby boomer population approaching retirement age it is likely that shopping in stores and making a phone call orders will continue as a popular option in the next decade.

Posted by Howie Fenton on March 28, 2008 | Comments (3)