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Shopping on-line beyond the Christmas Season
Thursday, November 16 2000
by Bernie Goldbach


Don't expect Yuletide rejoicing from on-line merchants following this Christmas
season. 

Do expect merchants to quietly retain customers who 

increase their purchases to fill someone else's Christmas stocking.



One year ago, magazines hyped the joy of business-to-consumer gift-giving.
Freewheeling and colourful start-ups puffed up an over-the-moon feeling at the
turn of the century. Today's print coverage documents the blizzard of 

last calls from companies that made more publicity than profit since last
Christmas. The dotcom downturn is one reason that NFO Research expects on-line
sales to trickle in at less than one percent of total retail sales for year. The
stupid era of Internet shopping is over.



Most of the online shops that have survived the ravages of the New Economy have
bumped up shipping costs and ended mad discounts. Most online merchants still
ringing in the sales have imposed an orderly approach to online retailing.



Buying electronically for Christmas 2000 means filling your online trolley no
later than the end of November. People never forget when their pressies arrive
late and you can safely bet on shipping troubles during the December season. The
de rigueur of a successful on-line shop is a viable search feature, well-designed
graphics and a streamlined checkout. Don't count on delivery that beats the
reindeer if those essential items aren't part of the on-line process.



For those in the business of building e-commerce, it makes sense to buy things
on-line. Ruth Maher, with the Irish Animation Festival in Dublin this weekend,
sports a cute pink Ardman t-shirt bought on-line. "I hope everyone who sees me
knows I have more than one t-shirt. Well, I have four identical t-shirts since
somebody pushed the Submit button several times last year."



How do you know that you're going to get a good product? You could improve your
comparison shopping by reading what others say. It's easy to stumble into
discussions buzzing about popular products. Check out Abuzz.com or Epinions.com
for conversations between people who sell cool things by 

word-of-mouth.



The future belongs to merchants able to cash in from this kind of viral
marketing. Sometimes quiet viral marketing provides a discreet sales channel.
Anyone who has maintained a free mail account for more than a year has seen at
least a half dozen Viagra advertisements. Specialty health products sell on the
Internet and they will fill Christmas stockings too. Instead of calling a
freephone number, customers plug in orders through a web site. It's actually
simpler than posting away a mail order catalogue order.



Tim Kirby, managing director of AllElectric Multimedia, watched over the design
of Phytohealing.com, an essential stopping point for anyone with herpes. "It's
not enough to place an excellent unique product on-line. We have to promote it on
the Internet too." That's made easier since the site was baked with ingredients
to enhance its search engine visibility.



Kicking off a viral marketing campaign comes easy too, since the product works
for a wide assortment of skin irritations. So if you're still trying to recover
from leg chaffing after your Dublin marathon, consider soothing 

Phytocream -- after you read what satisfied users say about it on discussion
boards. People talk about things that work and they end up selling it to each
other.



The Phytohealing.com web site delivers information about the virus and how it may
be treated. It takes the place of a knowledgeable shop assistant. "We used some
Flash to create a friendly resource wider than that of the sale," Kirby
explains. "It layers well so if people want more information, they can dig for
it" by following the links.

The cash till on the site gets power from a combination of Actinic and Worldpay
for instant on-line verification. Credit card details move offline immediately.
That's prudent architecture because you cannot attack what you 

cannot access.



Last Christmas, many companies failed their customers by running out of basic
stock, fumbling deliveries or keeping their web sites running for the duration of
the shopping season.



"What we saw last year were case studies in failure. What we'll see this year
(are) case studies of success," said Mike May, an analyst with Jupiter
Communications. "We'll see what garners not only customers' attention but also
some loyalty."