In 1998, online holiday shopping was a novelty. You may have touted your purchasing skills to friends - citing your buy, wrap and delivery capabilities with just a few keystrokes. You may have even found that rare toy for your child that the local store ran out of 2 weeks previously. While web sites lacked customer focus, orders were lost, and packages were incorrectly filled, most arrived on-time.
In 1999, there was a tremendous increase of businesses and consumers on the Web. Net traffic swelled to an all time high and servers were load tested in real time by real people. Many businesses failed to deliver on customer expectations. Online stores were unavailable, customer service was meager if found at all, and orders placed often arrived late.
This year customers won't accept server downtime, poor customer service or untimely delivery. This year the price of admission to the marketplace is much steeper. Forrester Research, Jupiter Communications and Gartner Group, three e-commerce market research firms, estimate US consumers will buy between $9-10.7 billion worth of online products this holiday season. That is up to 100% more than last year.
And consumers are much more intelligent and deliberate about their research of products, as well as the stores where they purchase those products. So what business processes do you need to double check in preparation for this holiday season? What metrics must you ensure you're capturing to control the customer experience?
Next Page > Metrics and Sigma Levels for Online Shopping
