Author: Steve Hawker
Source: articleage.com
This short essay explores the history of online shopping from
the author's perspective. The essay concludes with a list of
e-commerce features that should meet the needs of emotional
shoppers.
A few years ago, someone prophesised that workplace offices
wouldn't need paper in the future. The prophecy didn't 'come to
pass' though, largely because it overlooked some significant
human emotions.
One such, was the emotional need for safety and security, which
was undermined apparently by new paper-less procedures. Another
was the emotional satisfaction that we all derive from
manipulating tangible objects, which was also undermined by the
sudden lack of paper.
Yes, paper-less working was one of those 'flights of fancy'
often indulged-in by visionaries at the forefront of exciting
new technologies. These 'flights' are forgivable because
enthusiasm, even misguided enthusiasm, is a valuable resource in
our sceptical world.
I must admit, when I first heard about online shopping, I was
more sceptical than enthusiastic. 'Assistant-less shops' seemed
just a little too much like 'paper-less offices'. Yet, the
online shopping revolution has taken hold, to the extent now
that some very big retailers see the Internet as a viable and
important selling channel.
Why was I, along with so many other potential shoppers,
sceptical at the outset? So sceptical that I held-off making my
first credit card purchase via the Internet for several
years.
Even when I did make my first purchase, boxed software as I
recall, I experienced terrible feelings of foreboding. The
foreboding was worsened by the 'cart' summarily rejecting my
first few attempts to buy online, because I'd left spaces after
every set of four digits, as I'd always done when buying by card
over the telephone previously.
During my long 'hold-off' period, the media had fuelled my
scepticism and undermined my enthusiasm, with scary stories of
insecure servers, crackable encryption codes and stolen
identities. Consequently, one day I'd feel brave enough to make
my first purchase, the next I'd decide to hold-off a few months
longer. In all probability, I could have gone ahead with my
software purchase without any problems or worries at all, as
long as I'd stayed in the 'right' shopping neighbourhoods.
As with paper-less offices then, when the idea was first mooted,
assistant-less shops made me feel unsafe and insecure. This
affected my subsequent shopping behaviour. Like many others I'm
sure, I wanted to be a part of the 'dot com' revolution.
However, the perceived wisdom was that card purchases over the
Internet were inadvisable, if not dangerous. The whole industry
was just too immature initially, apparently.
As well as unsafe and insecure, I felt isolated and exposed in
the early days of online shopping. I was a hesitant pioneer,
wary of being caught out in the open by 'bandits'. I wanted to
talk to other pioneers, to share my experiences with them; yes,
and to hide amongst them at times. As a species, we humans like
to belong to social groups. There's safety in numbers, you
see.
We also like to feel loved by others. However, some of my early
online shopping experiences, when customer support was still in
its infancy, made me feel more like the enemy than a friend.
Thank goodness I was an able-bodied, young(ish), white, male
Briton with English as my first language. Otherwise, I might
have felt totally alienated!
Another emotional need that wasn't addressed well by early
e-commerce sites was the need for mastery. You see, I'd mastered
a large raft of skills to do with shopping offline, in the real
world, in real shops.
In many virtual shops though, I felt de-skilled. Rather than
online shopping being as much as possible like offline shopping,
many virtual shops were designed on a computer world somewhere
beyond Mars, or so it seemed. I wanted to offer some of the
earliest online shop designers some advice. 'Keep it simple and,
above all, keep it familiar,' I wanted to say.
Let's turn now to the emotions of shopping itself. Specifically,
the emotions associated with buying various commodities.
In the early days of online shopping, I sensed that the
selection of goods for sale was more to do with what could be
sold over the Internet very easily, rather than what could be
sold over the Internet. Boxed software, with little
'personality' and simple shipping, was a ubiquitous offering.
Very few online shops though offered the kind of big, expensive
products that often require multi-sensory approaches whilst
shopping.
When working in offices, we seek the security of manipulating
tangible objects like paper invoices and sales reports.
Likewise, when shopping, we seek the security provided by
stroking settees, smelling their leather covers and listening to
the noises they make as we sink into them.
To address the esteem needs associated with 'prestige
purchases', like leather settees, many online shops still have
some way to go, even today. Thumbnail colour photographs for
such items are insufficient I'm afraid.
So, what have we learnt from this essay about the emotions of
online shopping? In my humble opinion, online shopping requires
further attention in a number of key areas, if it is to fulfil
its potential:
* Journalists and pundits have roles to play in ensuring there
is no complacency regarding the personal and financial security
of online transactions. At the same time, the e-commerce
industry must remain proactive in its pursuit of secure
purchases, free from fraud and trickery.
* Online shops should implement, where necessary, friendly
forums and the like, which allow the free exchange of concerns
and ideas between shop staff and their customers.
* Online shops should be designed by people who live in the real
world. The online shopping experience should mimic as far as
possible the offline shopping experience that shoppers know and
trust. Prototypes of new shops should be tested with potential
shoppers from all backgrounds, including age, gender, race,
ability, language etc.
* Designers must continue to push the boundaries of what can be
sold over the Internet. Some 'big-ticket' items will demand the
innovative use of 'rich' media, like video and audio. Sometimes
hybrid media applications will be necessary, requiring the
despatch of leather swashes say, to meet needs for tactile
manipulation.
The 'assistant-less shops' revolution will succeed. To give
everyone - including the isolated, disabled and housebound - the
information they need to make satisfying purchases, the
e-commerce industry must manage the growth of online shopping
proactively and implement new media in innovative ways.