Now, at the risk of sounding terminally uncool, I've got to kick this blog off with a bit of down-to-earth reality checking. There's a huge buzz at the moment across the new media and technology industries about the unbounded possibilities afforded to retailers and consumers by the wonder of Web 2.0, and whilst there are indeed numerous ways available to web developers to improve the customer experience, in my cynical mind there's a warning bell sounding.
The commonly accepted view of the future of online retail is described nicely here. To pick up on an example, an interesting point that the article raises relates to luxury retailers, suggesting that using the latest and greatest technologies can deliver the sort of luxury experience their brands demand, which jars slightly with my recent experience during an in-house trial Conchango's retail team undertook.
My findings, which followed the overall shape of the team's feedback, were precisely the opposite. Whilst not generally definable as Web 2.0 (a whole other post one day, I think), these sites are typically a triumph of form over function, delivering very sexy-looking interfaces which ultimately don't work. We encountered setbacks like non-delivery; non-availability; poor navigation; lack of feedback and information, all basic hygiene rules most online retailers should have been adhering to in the days of Web 1.0.
What I'm getting at is that there's a worrying trend of walking before one can run (the recent sort-of-launch of Qtrax is a case in point). There's little or no point, for example, in implementing a beautiful bit of interactive video if the product's not going to arrive in the end. Allowing deep user engagement and interaction won't help if it's impossible to find anything in the first place.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for making use of bleeding-edge technologies to drive user experience forwards. My note of caution, however, is on driving this forwards without getting the basics right. In terms of 'what's next for online retail', this year the main things on the Christmas list of a successful retailer will be:
- Slicker back-end operations (stock management, delivery processing, payment methods and processing)
- Genuinely integrated multi-channel propositions
- Intuitive and flexible search and navigation
- Well-managed and powerful eCRM solutions
Once that's cracked, then you can have your Web 2.0.