This is Interesting: Free Magazines for Graphics designers and webmasters
Home > Archive > Webmaster forum > April 2006 > Shopping Cart Exit Rates
You are viewing an archived Text-only version of the thread.
To view this thread in it's original format and/or if you want to reply to
this thread please [click here]
| Author |
Shopping Cart Exit Rates
|
|
|
| In the checkout process, our shopping cart seems to have a high number
of exits. Is there an industry average for exits in the checkout
process? I'd like to find out if we have a higher than normal
percentage of exits. Is there a resource available where I can find
this kind of information?
| |
| Mark Goodge 2006-04-20, 7:29 pm |
| On 20 Apr 2006 07:42:10 -0700, Andi put finger to keyboard and typed:
>In the checkout process, our shopping cart seems to have a high number
>of exits. Is there an industry average for exits in the checkout
>process? I'd like to find out if we have a higher than normal
>percentage of exits. Is there a resource available where I can find
>this kind of information?
That's a "how long is a piece of string?" question, as so much depends
on other variables. But, for comparison, here are the figures for a
randomly selected period of time on a shop that I look after:
Uncompleted carts: 4085 (82%)
Completed carts: 922 (18%)
Total: 5008
In this context, "completed" means that the customer actually bought
the stuff, while "uncompleted" means that they initialised a shopping
cart on the database (by selecting at least one product), but didn't
actually buy. I used a period of time from the recent past, long
enough ago to ensure that none of the uncompleted carts are ones still
in progress but not so long ago that the figures are seriously out of
date.
How does that compare with yours?
It's just occurred to me that I ought to add some extra logging so
that I can break it down further into people who initialised a cart
but didn't go as far as the checkout, people who went to the checkout
but never attempted payment and those who attempted payment but had
their card declined. Hmmm, there's a project for next week, I think.
Mark
--
Visit: http://names.orangehedgehog.com - British surname distribution profiles
Listen: http://www.goodge.co.uk/files/dweeb.mp3 - you'll love it!
| |
| Matt Silberstein 2006-04-20, 7:29 pm |
| On Thu, 20 Apr 2006 19:23:36 +0100, in alt.www.webmaster , Mark Goodge
<usenet@listmail.good-stuff.co.uk> in
<kijf4211kkdl76bbbb54gdj549qp17k0ct@news.markshouse.net> wrote:
>On 20 Apr 2006 07:42:10 -0700, Andi put finger to keyboard and typed:
>
>
>That's a "how long is a piece of string?" question, as so much depends
>on other variables. But, for comparison, here are the figures for a
>randomly selected period of time on a shop that I look after:
>
>Uncompleted carts: 4085 (82%)
>Completed carts: 922 (18%)
>Total: 5008
>
>In this context, "completed" means that the customer actually bought
>the stuff, while "uncompleted" means that they initialised a shopping
>cart on the database (by selecting at least one product), but didn't
>actually buy. I used a period of time from the recent past, long
>enough ago to ensure that none of the uncompleted carts are ones still
>in progress but not so long ago that the figures are seriously out of
>date.
>
>How does that compare with yours?
>
>It's just occurred to me that I ought to add some extra logging so
>that I can break it down further into people who initialised a cart
>but didn't go as far as the checkout, people who went to the checkout
>but never attempted payment and those who attempted payment but had
>their card declined. Hmmm, there's a project for next week, I think.
As long as you are at it keep track of the number of items in
abandoned carts vs completed carts. I bet that a large number of
abandoned carts are one item selection to check out the shipping costs
with no (immediate) intention to buy.
--
Matt Silberstein
Do something today about the Darfur Genocide
http://www.beawitness.org
http://www.darfurgenocide.org
http://www.savedarfur.org
"Darfur: A Genocide We can Stop"
| |
| John Bokma 2006-04-20, 7:29 pm |
| Mark Goodge <usenet@listmail.good-stuff.co.uk> wrote:
> but didn't go as far as the checkout, people who went to the checkout
> but never attempted payment
been in that situation a few times. Reasons:
- site don't state the payment possibilities (I want to use PayPal and
discover when I want to pay that it's not an option) [1]
- site doesn't ship to Mexico, which I discover while checking out [2]
[1] one site was worse: the webmaster probably copied all payment option
icons without thinking, so the site stated "We accept PayPal" while
they didn't [3]
[2] Somehow Mexico is on a black list for shipping, no idea why
[3] I wanted to buy quite some stuff, and instead of providing a fix and
make me a happy customer, they just removed the icon.
--
John Freelance PERL programmer: http://castleamber.com/
Firefox Fast Search:http://johnbokma.com/firefox/keymarks-explained.html
| |
| Auggie 2006-04-20, 7:29 pm |
|
"Mark Goodge" <usenet@listmail.good-stuff.co.uk> wrote in message
news:kijf4211kkdl76bbbb54gdj549qp17k0ct@news.markshouse.net...
> On 20 Apr 2006 07:42:10 -0700, Andi put finger to keyboard and typed:
>
>
> That's a "how long is a piece of string?" question, as so much depends
> on other variables. But, for comparison, here are the figures for a
> randomly selected period of time on a shop that I look after:
To show how different the stats can be, here are some of my shopping cart
stats:
Total Carts Created: 704,681
Completed Carts: 592,441 (84.07%)
Uncompleted Carts: 112,240 (15.93%)
For me, a "Complete Cart" means the order was placed by the user.
"Uncomplete Carts" are either the user didn't finish the order or the user
"emptied" the cart (if the user clicks the EMPTY CART icon I keep the old
cart and start a new cart for them)
These stats are pretty different from what Mark posted for the site he looks
over. The websites I pulled this information from are all online ordering
for restaurants which will be pretty different than somebody selling
merchandise over the internet.
| |
|
| Matt Silberstein wrote:
>
> As long as you are at it keep track of the number of items in
> abandoned carts vs completed carts. I bet that a large number of
> abandoned carts are one item selection to check out the shipping costs
> with no (immediate) intention to buy.
Or other similar things, such as to get more detail on a product, or see
what colors are available, etc.
I do it all the time, especially on sites that don't provide ALL of that
information up front.
| |
|
| Auggie wrote:
> To show how different the stats can be, here are some of my shopping cart
> stats:
>
> Total Carts Created: 704,681
> Completed Carts: 592,441 (84.07%)
> Uncompleted Carts: 112,240 (15.93%)
>
> For me, a "Complete Cart" means the order was placed by the user.
> "Uncomplete Carts" are either the user didn't finish the order or the user
> "emptied" the cart (if the user clicks the EMPTY CART icon I keep the old
> cart and start a new cart for them)
>
> These stats are pretty different from what Mark posted for the site he looks
> over. The websites I pulled this information from are all online ordering
> for restaurants which will be pretty different than somebody selling
> merchandise over the internet.
And probably includes a LOT of repeat business.
| |
| Charles Sweeney 2006-04-21, 5:54 am |
| Matt Silberstein wrote
> I bet that a large number of
> abandoned carts are one item selection to check out the shipping costs
> with no (immediate) intention to buy.
Bingo!
That's the answer. As a surfer I often do that. Sometimes I want to see
the delivery cost, other times I want to see what payment methods they
accept, or I might want to see any hidden extra charges. I might also want
to see if it requires me to register first. Also as a webmaster I might
want to see what cart and which payment gateway they use.
All of this could be avoided by spelling these things out clearly so the
prospect doesn't have to make a pretend purchase!!
--
Charles Sweeney
http://CharlesSweeney.com
| |
|
| Charles Sweeney <me@charlessweeney.com> wrote:
>Matt Silberstein wrote
>
>
>Bingo!
>
>That's the answer. As a surfer I often do that. Sometimes I want to see
>the delivery cost, other times I want to see what payment methods they
>accept, or I might want to see any hidden extra charges. I might also want
>to see if it requires me to register first. Also as a webmaster I might
>want to see what cart and which payment gateway they use.
>
>All of this could be avoided by spelling these things out clearly so the
>prospect doesn't have to make a pretend purchase!!
I was thinking about that. How and where would you spell that out,
without getting in the customer's way? Are people going to dig
through an FAQ for that when they can just plop a random product into
the cart and see what it says? Put some kind of distracting banner on
each page? I don't really see a good method at the moment.
--
http://www.ren-prod-inc.com/hug_sof...?action=contact
| |
| Mark Goodge 2006-04-21, 7:15 pm |
| On Fri, 21 Apr 2006 05:14:38 -0600, hug put finger to keyboard and
typed:
>Charles Sweeney <me@charlessweeney.com> wrote:
>
>
>I was thinking about that. How and where would you spell that out,
>without getting in the customer's way? Are people going to dig
>through an FAQ for that when they can just plop a random product into
>the cart and see what it says? Put some kind of distracting banner on
>each page? I don't really see a good method at the moment.
That's how I see it. Our delivery costs and payment methods are stated
on the help pages, but not everyone bothers to read them. Also, it's
easier to add somethign to the cart and then let the server add it up
for you than do it yourself. How much is the total cost of two
standard items, one high-rate item, plus delivery? I could work it out
myself, but I can just as well stick it in the cart and see what the
page says.
Also, we encourage people to create carts. Adding a database entry
costs us virtually nothing, but making the add-to-cart facility nice
and easy to use encourages sales. A lot of sites that have a higher
cart-to-checkout conversion rate have a correspondingly lower
browse-to-cart conversion rate. I don't care how many uncompleted
carts I get - what matters is sales, and I want to make the entire
process as simple as possible.
Mark
--
Visit: http://names.orangehedgehog.com - British surname distribution profiles
Listen: http://www.goodge.co.uk/files/dweeb.mp3 - you'll love it!
| |
| Charles Sweeney 2006-04-23, 6:53 am |
| hug wrote
> Charles Sweeney <me@charlessweeney.com> wrote:
>
>
> I was thinking about that. How and where would you spell that out,
> without getting in the customer's way? Are people going to dig
> through an FAQ for that when they can just plop a random product into
> the cart and see what it says?
Speaking for myself, yes, I often look up FAQs for a new site to see the
information in question here, although I rarely find answers to all my
questions.
A common one for me in the UK is to see if a US company ships here. For
such a simple piece of information I often have to do a bit of
searching!
--
Charles Sweeney
http://CharlesSweeney.com
| |
|
| hug wrote:
> Charles Sweeney <me@charlessweeney.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> I was thinking about that. How and where would you spell that out,
> without getting in the customer's way? Are people going to dig
> through an FAQ for that when they can just plop a random product into
> the cart and see what it says? Put some kind of distracting banner on
> each page? I don't really see a good method at the moment.
>
>
Why not add something to the category pages like this or even to the
product page itself. Of course this only works if you have flat rate
shipping.
http://www.4everhers.com/4store/pc/...sp?idCategory=4
Terry
| |
| Swampy Bogtrotter 2006-04-24, 6:56 pm |
| hug wrote:
> Charles Sweeney <me@charlessweeney.com> wrote:
>
>
> I was thinking about that. How and where would you spell that out,
> without getting in the customer's way? Are people going to dig
> through an FAQ for that when they can just plop a random product into
> the cart and see what it says? Put some kind of distracting banner on
> each page? I don't really see a good method at the moment.
No reason why you can't list delivery charges with the product detail
listing....In fact, that's a brilliant idea in my opinion.....
Hidden charges normally represent poor business practices, so I like to make
it clear that there are no hidden charges....That way customers won't waste
their time by going looking for them.....Again, this could be done with the
product detail listing....
As for the payment types, I always feel that the best place for this is on
the front page, although you could again include a small icon with each
product listing to indicate the payment types available for that product.
I'm not so sure where you would comfortably indicate the software used to
create the cart and gateway without it seeming entirely irrelevant.....And
also, how would you indicate that you're using a custom made shopping
cart?.....
| |
|
| "Swampy Bogtrotter" <samandjanetknox@tessco.net> wrote:
>And
>also, how would you indicate that you're using a custom made shopping
>cart?.....
Why should you need to? None of my customers ever seem to have cared
who made the shopping cart.
--
http://www.ren-prod-inc.com/hug_sof...?action=contact
| |
|
| On Fri, 21 Apr 2006 05:14:38 -0600, hug
<contact_info@sig_line.clickit> scrawled:
> Charles Sweeney <me@charlessweeney.com> wrote:
>
>
> I was thinking about that. How and where would you spell that out,
> without getting in the customer's way? Are people going to dig
> through an FAQ for that when they can just plop a random product into
> the cart and see what it says? Put some kind of distracting banner on
> each page? I don't really see a good method at the moment.
I'd definitely go to the FAQ! MUCH less annoying than having to
pretend to buy an item - especially when the site requires that I fill
in my personal information before it will tell me how much
shipping/handling costs. I'm much more likely to buy from a site
that's upfront about such things.
--
MGW
Hofstadter's Law: It always takes longer than you expect, even
when you take into account Hofstadter's Law. - Douglas Hofstadter
| |
|
| MGW <mgw1979@hotmail.com> wrote:
>On Fri, 21 Apr 2006 05:14:38 -0600, hug
><contact_info@sig_line.clickit> scrawled:
>
>
>I'd definitely go to the FAQ! MUCH less annoying than having to
>pretend to buy an item - especially when the site requires that I fill
>in my personal information before it will tell me how much
>shipping/handling costs. I'm much more likely to buy from a site
>that's upfront about such things.
Maybe, but if I don't actually intend to buy something I'm not going
to bother doing either.
--
http://www.ren-prod-inc.com/hug_sof...?action=contact
| |
| Charles Sweeney 2006-04-25, 7:05 pm |
| hug wrote
> "Swampy Bogtrotter" <samandjanetknox@tessco.net> wrote:
>
>
> Why should you need to? None of my customers ever seem to have cared
> who made the shopping cart.
I think that was a reference to my earlier point. Webmasters might be
interested, but no-one else would!
--
Charles Sweeney
http://CharlesSweeney.com
| |
|
| On Tue, 25 Apr 2006 05:01:21 -0600, hug
<contact_info@sig_line.clickit> scrawled:
> MGW <mgw1979@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> Maybe, but if I don't actually intend to buy something I'm not going
> to bother doing either.
You misunderstood what I was saying. Say I'm looking to buy a yellow
polkadot widget. I'm checking on the web to compare prices. I need
to know shipping and handling to know which company is offering the
best deal - no point saving $2 on the widget if S&H is going to cost
$5 more than at other places.
Some places make it easy for me by having the info on S&H available.
Not only does this make my life easier, it also increases my sense of
the company's honesty since I don't feel like they are trying to hide
costs from me. Some places only show me S&H after I've loaded the
shopping cart and started to check out, which I find annoying. Some
won't show me the S&H until I've filled in all my billing info - those
I leave ASAP.
--
MGW
Hofstadter's Law: It always takes longer than you expect, even
when you take into account Hofstadter's Law. - Douglas Hofstadter
| |
| Charles Sweeney 2006-04-25, 7:05 pm |
| MGW wrote
> shopping cart and started to check out, which I find annoying. Some
> won't show me the S&H until I've filled in all my billing info - those
> I leave ASAP.
You bet. I had £160 worth of stuff in a cart yesterday. I wasn't sure of
the shipping cost. The FAQ did not answer my question. I had to register
to proceed. I pulled out.
Turned out to my advantage. I found another supplier and saved about £30!
Point is. If it was clear about the shipping on the first site, I would
have placed the order.
--
Charles Sweeney
http://CharlesSweeney.com
| |
|
| MGW <mgw1979@hotmail.com> wrote:
>On Tue, 25 Apr 2006 05:01:21 -0600, hug
><contact_info@sig_line.clickit> scrawled:
>
>
>You misunderstood what I was saying. Say I'm looking to buy a yellow
>polkadot widget. I'm checking on the web to compare prices. I need
>to know shipping and handling to know which company is offering the
>best deal - no point saving $2 on the widget if S&H is going to cost
>$5 more than at other places.
>
>Some places make it easy for me by having the info on S&H available.
>Not only does this make my life easier, it also increases my sense of
>the company's honesty since I don't feel like they are trying to hide
>costs from me. Some places only show me S&H after I've loaded the
>shopping cart and started to check out, which I find annoying. Some
>won't show me the S&H until I've filled in all my billing info - those
>I leave ASAP.
>
I don't care what the FAQ might say, I want to see the bottom line
just before it hits my credit card.
--
http://www.ren-prod-inc.com/hug_sof...?action=contact
| |
| Charles Sweeney 2006-04-25, 7:06 pm |
| hug wrote
> I don't care what the FAQ might say, I want to see the bottom line
> just before it hits my credit card.
Most want to see it long before that.
It's not a secret (or it shouldn't be) so there's nothing to gain, and
plenty to lose by holding it back.
--
Charles Sweeney
http://CharlesSweeney.com
| |
| Mark Goodge 2006-04-25, 7:06 pm |
| On Mon, 24 Apr 2006 23:01:08 -0400, MGW put finger to keyboard and
typed:
>
>I'd definitely go to the FAQ! MUCH less annoying than having to
>pretend to buy an item - especially when the site requires that I fill
>in my personal information before it will tell me how much
>shipping/handling costs.
My site allows you to manually calculate the costs by reference to the
prices on the info pages, if you want - there is a front page link to
the detailed pricing page. The cart will give a running total as soon
as you add anything to it, and continue to give a running total as you
add (or remove) further items. But - and it is a fairly important
"but" - shipping costs are different for different destinations, so
the site can't give a definitive amount until you've told it where you
live. That does mean you need to enter your address before a
guaranteed price will appear, although for the majority of shoppers
the cart running total will be accurate.
Mark
--
Visit: http://www.MotorwayServices.info - read and share comments and opinons
Listen: http://www.goodge.co.uk/files/dweeb.mp3 - you'll love it!
| |
| William Tasso 2006-04-25, 7:06 pm |
| Fleeing from the madness of the No thank you jungle
Charles Sweeney <me@charlessweeney.com> stumbled into
news:alt.www.webmaster
and said:
> hug wrote
>
>
> Most want to see it long before that.
>
> It's not a secret (or it shouldn't be) so there's nothing to gain, and
> plenty to lose by holding it back.
hrmm - I'm not sure how P+P (S&H) can be calculated until the shopping
cycle is done. Each item added has weight and presumably there's an algo
to determine which packing materials will be used for any and every
combination.
for simplicity the following assumes the same packing materials are used
in each case
1 tube of widget paste weighs 20gms
packaging materials 1 padded envelope 20 gms cost 40p
postage cost 32p
total cost 72p
2 tubes of widget paste weighs 40gms
packaging materials 1 padded envelope 20 gms cost 40p
postage cost 32p
total cost 72p
3 tubes of widget paste weighs 60gms
packaging materials 1 padded envelope 20 gms cost 40p
postage cost 49p
total cost 89p
--
William Tasso
http://williamtasso.com/words/what-is-usenet.asp
| |
|
| On Tue, 25 Apr 2006 23:06:16 +0100, "William Tasso"
<SpamBlocked@tbdata.com> scrawled:
>
> hrmm - I'm not sure how P+P (S&H) can be calculated until the shopping
> cycle is done. Each item added has weight and presumably there's an algo
> to determine which packing materials will be used for any and every
> combination.
Depends on the shop. Some places have the S&H calculated by number of
items or by how much the purchase costs (the latter is particularly
common among online clothing shops.) Most of these places also do
catalog sales, so they are used to havign to pring the S&H on their
catalogs.
I've also seen one or two online shopping systems that allow you to
enter just your postal code and calculate S&H after you've put
together your order. For situations where the algorithm is by weight
or other arcane formula, this is another simple way of allowing the
customer to find out the cost without having to enter any personal
info (those who are paranoid can enter the zip code of the
neighboring town without likely affecting the calculated cost.)
--
MGW
Hofstadter's Law: It always takes longer than you expect, even
when you take into account Hofstadter's Law. - Douglas Hofstadter
| |
| Charles Sweeney 2006-04-25, 10:58 pm |
| William Tasso wrote
> Fleeing from the madness of the No thank you jungle
> Charles Sweeney <me@charlessweeney.com> stumbled into
> news:alt.www.webmaster
> and said:
>
>
> hrmm - I'm not sure how P+P (S&H) can be calculated until the shopping
> cycle is done. Each item added has weight and presumably there's an
> algo to determine which packing materials will be used for any and
> every combination.
First off, it should be done before requiring the prospect to register.
Here's a pretty good FAQ from a site I have purchased from:
http://www.bigpockets.co.uk/faq.php?lang=en
This answers the questions I asked earlier, how much for delivery, is
there a charge for credit cards, do they deliver to (for example)
Austria?
As MGW said, it also depends on the shop. I used to buy parts for
making clocks, on mail order, long before the internet. They included
the delivery price in their prices, and had the very sweet (on various
levels) line of "the price you see is the price you pay".
Another example would be the home shopping catalogues where there is no
seperate delivery charge. Again it's built into the price.
Here's another good one:
http://www.rimmerbros.co.uk/delivery.htx
It's gives you a pretty good idea, long before paying, and before you
have put anything in your cart.
My main gripe, and I suspect others too from reading this thread, is
when some sites turn it into a test, a treasure hunt, a closely guarded
secret, where you don't even get half a clue.
--
Charles Sweeney
http://CharlesSweeney.com
| |
| Charles Sweeney 2006-04-25, 10:59 pm |
| Mark Goodge wrote
> On Mon, 24 Apr 2006 23:01:08 -0400, MGW put finger to keyboard and
> typed:
>
>
> My site allows you to manually calculate the costs by reference to the
> prices on the info pages, if you want - there is a front page link to
> the detailed pricing page. The cart will give a running total as soon
> as you add anything to it, and continue to give a running total as you
> add (or remove) further items. But - and it is a fairly important
> "but" - shipping costs are different for different destinations, so
> the site can't give a definitive amount until you've told it where you
> live. That does mean you need to enter your address before a
> guaranteed price will appear, although for the majority of shoppers
> the cart running total will be accurate.
And in most cases I would imagine this would be acceptable to the
prospect, giving them a pretty good idea (if not the exact amount) of
the delivery charge. I wonder then why you get so many failed
checkouts?
As has been discussed, it very much depends on the product, but if I was
shipping tangible goods, I would be very tempted to include the delivery
charge in the price, giving a "the price you see is the price you pay"
deal, as the home shopping catalogues have done for generations.
--
Charles Sweeney
http://CharlesSweeney.com
| |
| Mark Goodge 2006-04-26, 3:52 am |
| On 25 Apr 2006 23:40:54 GMT, Charles Sweeney put finger to keyboard
and typed:
>Mark Goodge wrote
>
>
>And in most cases I would imagine this would be acceptable to the
>prospect, giving them a pretty good idea (if not the exact amount) of
>the delivery charge. I wonder then why you get so many failed
>checkouts?
Probably because it's very easy to create a cart. It only takes one
click.
>As has been discussed, it very much depends on the product, but if I was
>shipping tangible goods, I would be very tempted to include the delivery
>charge in the price, giving a "the price you see is the price you pay"
>deal, as the home shopping catalogues have done for generations.
There are three main reasons why this isn't practical for a website.
Firstly, you can't do that if shipping cost depends on delivery
location, which it will do if you sell outside the borders of your own
country. Secondly, shipping costs are not linear - it doesn't cost
twice as much to pack and post two items as it does to pack and post
one, so including shipping costs in the headline price will penalise
multi-item buyers unnecessarily. And, finally, price comparison sites
go by the headline cost, so it's in the retailer's interests to keep
that low and then add shipping as an extra. We get a significant
number of orders via Froogle, as we're usually the cheapest for the
product. If we factored postage into the headline price, then we
wouldn't get any of these orders - even though, once our competitors'
shipping costs are included, we're still cheaper overall.
Mark
--
Visit: http://www.MotorwayServices.info - read and share comments and opinons
Listen: http://www.goodge.co.uk/files/dweeb.mp3 - you'll love it!
| |
| Charles Sweeney 2006-04-26, 6:51 am |
| Mark Goodge wrote
> On 25 Apr 2006 23:40:54 GMT, Charles Sweeney put finger to keyboard
> and typed:
was[color=darkred]
delivery[color=darkred]
pay"[color=darkred]
>
> There are three main reasons why this isn't practical for a website.
> Firstly, you can't do that if shipping cost depends on delivery
> location, which it will do if you sell outside the borders of your own
> country.
I didn't want to write a thesis. Yes the location is a factor.
> Secondly, shipping costs are not linear - it doesn't cost
> twice as much to pack and post two items as it does to pack and post
> one
Yep, I think we all know that.
> And, finally, price comparison sites
> go by the headline cost, so it's in the retailer's interests to keep
> that low and then add shipping as an extra.
This does apply to a website, the first two apply to any mail order.
This is the biggest thing against an all-inclusive price, I would say.
The pros are a simpler cart and shopping experience for the customer.
Much less administration/scripting/maintenance. Being known as the
"free shipping service".
Of course there is not a "one size fits all" solution, but I did see
something that comes in between, where a service had a fixed delivery
charge.
Just to be clear (I knew I should have done this earlier) yes there are
a million factors at play here. I'm not writing a thesis, just offering
points for consideration.
--
Charles Sweeney
http://CharlesSweeney.com
| |
|
| MGW wrote:
> On Tue, 25 Apr 2006 05:01:21 -0600, hug
> <contact_info@sig_line.clickit> scrawled:
>
>
> You misunderstood what I was saying. Say I'm looking to buy a yellow
> polkadot widget. I'm checking on the web to compare prices. I need
> to know shipping and handling to know which company is offering the
> best deal - no point saving $2 on the widget if S&H is going to cost
> $5 more than at other places.
>
> Some places make it easy for me by having the info on S&H available.
> Not only does this make my life easier, it also increases my sense of
> the company's honesty since I don't feel like they are trying to hide
> costs from me. Some places only show me S&H after I've loaded the
> shopping cart and started to check out, which I find annoying. Some
> won't show me the S&H until I've filled in all my billing info - those
> I leave ASAP.
And some make it even easier by putting that information on the product
page, or at least making it directly accessible from the product page.
I know that I have had problems with some online stores (most recently
http://www.oldbikebarn.com) that had special shipping conditions on SOME
items, but I didn't find out until AFTER I had placed the order. When I
complained, they said it was on their shipping terms page - I looked,
and it was there, but not very prominent, and at NO point during the
checkout process was I notified that this particular item had special
terms (in this case a 4-6 week delay - and I had paid for "expedited"
shipping).
That is a really good way to piss off customers and lose any
repeat/referral business.
I know it's a bit off the thread topic, but since we're talking about
shopping carts and making info available...
| |
| Mark Goodge 2006-04-26, 7:10 pm |
| On 26 Apr 2006 09:13:02 GMT, Charles Sweeney put finger to keyboard
and typed:
>Mark Goodge wrote
>
>I didn't want to write a thesis. Yes the location is a factor.
>
>
>Yep, I think we all know that.
>
>
>This does apply to a website, the first two apply to any mail order.
Traditional mail order tends to be more country-specific than the web,
though. To get customers via the old-fashioned method, you either have
to send out catalogues or place adverts, and thus your customer base
is determined by where you direct your marketing. It's unusual for
traditional mail order to be trans-national. A website, on the other
hand, has a global reach and will be trans-national by default.
>Just to be clear (I knew I should have done this earlier) yes there are
>a million factors at play here. I'm not writing a thesis, just offering
>points for consideration.
Sure. There are some products for which an inclusive price works. For
example, bespoke items, high-margin products where the cost of
shipping is small compared to the cost of the item, or anything which
is only available from one vendor (such as self-published material,
event tickets, etc). But that's not the market I'm selling in, for the
most part, so I don't really have inclusive pricing as a useful
option.
Mark
--
Visit: http://www.GoogleFun.info - fun and games with Google!
Listen: http://www.goodge.co.uk/files/dweeb.mp3 - you'll love it!
|
|
|
| | Copyright 2003 - 2008 forum4designers.com Software forum Computer Hardware reviews |
|