How neglect of the internet cost a supplier my order

Regular readers of this blog will well be familiar with two recurring eBusiness themes I keep prattling on about – closing sales using available technology and ‘channelism‘ – a vendor’s indiscriminate preference for one sales channel over another.

I now have another firsthand experience of both of these cardinal sins within the one transaction – or near transaction.

The point being that the supplier in question missed out on a certain sale because it failed on two counts:
1. it didn’t ‘close the sale’ on its website by introducing reliable seamless online purchasing (or at least ordering) and;
2. it failed to respond to the eventual email order whatsoever.

This sad tale makes interesting reading for anyone in business today.

Day 1: Research vendor candidates
It started when I took possession of a (showing my age) vinyl turntable so as I could convert some of my dusty old (and some rare) vinyl collection to CD (and again!).

Because turntables are rapidly going the way of the very vinyl LPs they reproduce, I decided to prepare for the inevitable decline of the player and/or its manufacturer by ordering enough styli and cartridge parts (if too young to know what these are, think USB stick and ipod cover) to last for some years to come.

So I researched suppliers of the parts via the manufacturer’s website and was pleased to find that they provided a current list of parts stockists. Better still, that stockist had a website.

Clicking through to the stockist website I was disappointed to find that the website looked very amateurish and unappealing – not a good indicator of their professionalism. However, not only did it have a ‘product search’ capability but also sold online via what appeared to be a secure shopping cart.

This might be a productive exercise after all!

Or so I thought. Unfortunately, that’s where what should have been a seamless transaction disintegrated.

A search failed to return a listing of the parts required. Disappointed, and not wanting having time to either have a phone call be put on hold or play phone tag, I decided to email the stockist and asked if they had said part, and if so, at what price.

What’s more, it was 10.58pm (gotta love the accountability of email).

Day 3: A response!
Nearly two days later I finally get a response.

It seemed good news. Yes, they did have the parts and the price was good. While I was on a roll, I thought I’d ask about some related parts.

But I surmised too soon, as it took three days to get another email response.

Day 6: A second response
Despite the delay, again the price was good.

Problem was, as it was a very busy week for me I didn’t get a chance to attend to it until several days later.

Day 10: Order
Finally, I got a chance to order the parts via return email with the subject header: ‘Order for Parts’ complete with all the details they could ever need including phone number.

And that was the last I heard!

Day 28: Still no acknowledgement or delivery
Twenty-eight days from the original supplier research and I’ve received nothing. Yes, I’ve checked the email address and no it didn’t bounce.

And now I don’t know if I can be bothered following up the order.

Now some might think that I should at least give the stockist the benefit of the doubt and call them to find out what has happened to the order.

Perhaps ten years ago when eCommerce was still in nappies I might well have done that.

But online ordering is now mainstream and my email order should be as reliable as walking into the store. I don’t believe it’s good enough these days to simply ignore an order delivered by email.

And I’m not alone. According to the latest Sensis eBusiness Report, nearly two thirds of Australians order goods and services online.

That’s an awfully large number of Australians to neglect!

Lessons to be learned
The firm in question has failed its very reason for being – to sell its product when the customer wants it.

Not only has this firm failed to close the sale with a reliable eCommerce system, it’s been channelist by neglecting its online fallback position – its inbox – when I suspect that the order may well have been attended to had I made it either in person or by phone.

The point is that instead of the stockist losing this sale, or at least delaying it for at least a month, a reliable and up-to-date eCommerce system – not at all expensive in these days of affordable Software as a Service technology – could have turned it over in a matter of seconds.

Failing that, due attention to the email communications channel could have closed the sale within 24 hours.

But instead they fell over at both moments of truth.

Alas, no Robinson Crusoes
The real tragedy of this saga is that it’s likely to be quite common in this country.

I wonder how many Australian businesses would be guilty of these two sales sacrileges.

My guess is that it’s a very high percentage – perhaps around 80%. No, not among the smart operators who know the massive value of allowing customers to browse, order and pay the way the customer wants, when they want.

I’m talking about the laggard majority who are under the crippling illusion that customers will sidestep the choice, convenience and seamlessness of the web and happily come strolling into their stores when they are next open with cash in hand.

Of course, this kind of thinking means only one thing – the sale will most likely go to a competitor instead.

I hope for your sake it’s not something that would occur within your business.

But then again, given you are informed enough to be reading the web’s best smaller business resource in SmartCompany, I doubt it would!

Have you had any similar experiences? We’d love to hear them by commenting below.

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Craig Reardon is a leading eBusiness educator and founder and director of independent web services firm The E Team which provide the gamut of ‘pre-built’ website solutions, technologies and services to SMEs in Melbourne and beyond.  www.theeteam.com.au