It’s amazing what a difference two years can make. In November 2006, Retail Week ran the first of its online mystery shops and many of the sites were nowhere near as efficient as they are today. Back then the experience involved spending torturous days battling with clumsy web sites, chasing retailers to arrange courier collection and queuing in post offices.
By comparison this year – with the odd exception – has been a dream. There are still common problems – more on those later – but most sites are well designed and user friendly.
New Look launched its transactional site at the end of last year and performed well in this year’s experiment. Group business change director Adrian Thomas says the retailer’s learning curve has been steep: “The backdrop is that we were the first fashion value retailer to go online.” He says that its key focus has been listening to customers. “We have a call centre dedicated to e-commerce and we run various focus groups and insight days. The feedback we’ve had is the simpler the better. We keep everything as simple as possible.”
Alex Croft, managing director of Game’s online business, which came out on top of our survey, agrees that customer communication is vital. “We spend a lot of time talking to our customers, interacting with them to see what else we can do to help them. The core principles of retail are always the same, wherever you do it. We offer specialist service in our stores, with a lot of direct contact with customers, and we aim to replicate this online.”
By far the most significant change over the past two years has been the number of retailers that now have solid multichannel strategies. The only sites tested for this feature that didn’t allow customers to return items to a store were Anthropologie – which hasn’t yet opened its first UK shop – Reiss and House of Fraser.
More retailers now recognise that to succeed online they need to make life as convenient as possible for customers. Returning an item by post can delay a refund by as much as a week – if not more.
As online retail becomes even more competitive in the run-up to Christmas far more retailers are now offering free delivery. In 2006, none of those tested did. This year, five out of the eight did – even if it was just a temporary measure to lure shoppers during the festive countdown.
Furthermore, a cost for postal returns was only incurred at two retailers – Reiss and Anthropologie. For those who don’t offer free returns, the option to return a product to a store is a suitable alternative. More and more retailers are realising that customers are expecting maximum convenience for minimum cost. As Croft says: “Customers tell us that they like transparent pricing. All investment in improving the customer experience is worth it.”
Time to deliver
There are, however, still vast improvements to be made. Despite the prevalence of multichannel strategies, retailers need to ensure store staff are fully briefed. Items were taken back to a store at WHSmith, New Look, Body Shop and Woolworths. The only shop assistant who had any idea what to do with an online return was at WHSmith. The rest scrutinised the delivery receipt for what seemed like an eternity, before trying to figure out what to do with the till and eventually calling the store manager. Even an assistant manager at the Body Shop didn’t know what to do and initially tried asking me to come back another day with my bank statement.
Thomas says that helping store staff understand multichannel strategies is “absolutely a challenge”. He explains: “We have full training in place for store staff, but we do have Saturday workers and temporary staff in the run-up to Christmas who might not be as aware.”
Another problem with some sites is the lack of a phone number to call if online shoppers have a query with their order. Reiss’ site only has an e-mail address. Despite e-mailing following transaction problems on its site, no one got in touch. Customers view online shopping as an extension of the brand and that means the personal touch is just as relevant as it is in a shop.
In comparison, the Anthropologie web site has a link that enables you to track orders and it asks customers to phone or send an e-mail if they have any questions about their purchase. Its efficiency is worth pointing out. After e-mailing to chase my delivery, its international customer service e-mailed a couple of hours later confirming that a neighbour had signed for it. Interestingly, Croft says that although having someone available at the end of a phone line is important, Game is “definitely seeing a growth in the use of e-mail communication”. He adds: “We listen to what our customers tell us in terms of preferred form communication and offering rapid e-mail responses is also an integral part of our customer service offering.” Rapid response, though, is key. No response, as in the case of Reiss, is not acceptable.
Clarity in pricing is also important and Anthropologie’s extra charges warrant discussion alone. The US fashion retailer has been selling online in the UK for about six months. The dress ordered cost£80.29. The total cost at the checkout, which included customs tariffs, taxes and shipping handling, came to£128.86. This may be standard practice when using an international site, but it highlights a problem. To arrive at the checkout and find almost£50 slapped on to the bill would surely prompt most shoppers to leave the site without a moment’s thought. Its shipping cost alone was£21.52 – too much for many cost-conscious shoppers to justify.
Many of the improvements that retailers could make to their online operations are relatively minor. Information regarding delivery, returns or contact details needs to be easier to find. House of Fraser is one example of a retailer with a good, designated area for such information, accessible from its home page.
Simple inclusions such as a ready-printed returns label – as retailers such as Reiss, House of Fraser and Game provide – can also make a surprising difference to the overall customer experience. If the product has to go back, people don’t want to spend time looking for a label and writing out the address, calling the courier company to arrange collection and obtaining a code, as some online retailers request.
The overall winner of this year’s online Christmas mystery shop was Game. The customer experience was nearly faultless. It has clear information, delivery is free, the product arrived after two days and return is free. Trading in cyberspace is maturing and improving all the time. At the same time, consumer expectation is increasing. Before long, all e-tailers will need to match the likes of Game, or their enjoyment of strong online sales will be short-lived.
NEW LOOK
Item chosen: Glitter prom dress,£28
Web site and ordering: No faults with the web site – it is easy to navigate. However, there was a lack of product information, for instance regarding the length of the dress.
The virtual wardrobe is a classy feature and there is good customer interaction – you are invited to join its Facebook page.
When the dress arrived the colour and fabric was different to what the picture suggested, but it’s impossible to say if this is a widespread problem.
7/10
Delivery options and service: Standard delivery is£3.50. Express delivery is£4.95. The dress arrived four working days after ordering. A very efficient and quick service.
8/10
Return: Postal returns are free of charge. However, the 14-day returns window it gives you from the date of purchase is a little mean.
If returning to a store, staff are instructed to use a certain code. However, no one seemed to know what to do with an online return. In fact, a colleague of the perplexed assistant said: “I’ve no idea, in case you were going to ask me.” After calling over the manager, they eventually credited my card.
6/10
Total: 21/30
ANTHROPOLOGIE
Item chosen: Alyssum dress,£80.29
Web site and ordering: A very attractive site with great product and photography. Its price system may deter shoppers. It does state on the site that the price excludes taxes and tariffs, but you only realise the full extent of it at the checkout –£10.50 for custom tariffs,£16.55 for taxes and a hefty£21.52 for shipping and handling, bringing the bill to£128.86.
When the product was received it stated on the dispatch note that customs and taxes are refunded for returns, but they don’t make this clear when you order.
6/10
Delivery options and service: It claims to have “fast international shipping”, but only has standard delivery of six to 11 days.
You can’t chase delivery by phone, but its international customer service does reply very quickly, confirming it had been signed for seven working days after ordering. It arrived, beautifully packaged in a very small box with minimal packaging waste.
6/10
Return: This could be clearer. It was not immediately obvious on the dispatch note where I needed to send the item back to – there was no returns label – and return is not free of charge.
4/10
Total: 16/20
HOUSE OF FRASER
Item chosen: Therapy prom dress,£45
Web site and ordering: A good site with an effective search engine – you can narrow your choices by price, brand, colour or style.
There is also a wide selection of products to suit various budgets. It has a clear and designated Christmas shop and you can browse its Christmas catalogue online – perfect for encouraging shoppers to linger on the web site.
Information regarding delivery charges and returns before you get to the checkout is particularly useful. The dress was dispatched the following day.
8/10
Delivery options and service: At the time of ordering standard delivery was free. Next day or named day was£7, Saturday delivery was£20. The following week, after the product had arrived, the web site said the standard delivery was only free on orders over£50, otherwise the charge was£4.
The dress arrived five working days later, complete with a Christmas catalogue.
8/10
Return: You can’t return to stores, but postage is free. A returns label is provided, as well as a proof of postage certificate for the post office to stamp.
8/10
Total: 24/30
REISS
Item chosen: Luca dress,£135
Web site and ordering: A slick site that is easy to search. However, it soon became a case of style over substance. After trying to amend the delivery address, the site wouldn’t let me go back and I had to start all over again.
For some reason my card didn’t work, despite the bank confirming it was fine. This might not have been Reiss’ fault, but most frustratingly there was no way of contacting anyone by telephone. After e-mailing to say my order couldn’t be processed, I received an automated e-mail saying they would respond as soon as possible. They never bothered.
2/10
Delivery options and service: There was only one option: standard delivery at£3.95. Reiss says it aims to deliver within two working days, which it does, with a “24-hour special delivery” label. The speed of delivery is impressive, but it did arrive in a battered cardboard box that looked as though it had been thrown against a few walls. A bit underwhelming given the price of the dress.
7/10
Return: You can’t return goods to a store and returns are not free, but it did provide a ready-printed returns label.
6/10
Total: 15/30
WHSmith
Item chosen: WHS Pop Trivia Game,£9.99
Web site and ordering: This is a good, practical site, with helpful customer information on the home page.
However, purchasing a product proved difficult. In fact, one phone call and three online attempts over the course of an entire afternoon would have led most customers to give up.
That neither the site nor customer services could process my card details isn’t necessarily WHSmith’s fault, but there were other problems. It didn’t retain the product in the checkout basket, so each order attempt involved finding it and typing in personal details again. It was also difficult to amend the delivery address.
1/10
Delivery options and service: Free delivery, either to a store or your home. The package arrived on the Monday, having ordered it on the Friday.
10/10
Return: Return is not free, but you can return to store, which couldn’t have been easier. The assistant knew exactly what to do, was very polite and the whole process took about 30 seconds. Very impressive. The money arrived back in my account two days later.
10/10
Total: 21/30
BODY SHOP
Item chosen: Neroli Jasmine Pampering Treats,£6
Web site and ordering: This is a great web site for inspiration and it’s full of price offers to tempt people to spend.
However, more information on delivery and returns on the home page would be helpful. One thing that was slightly confusing was the price of delivery. The site makes a big deal of saying it is free on orders over£20, but once you get to the checkout it turns out standard delivery is free anyway.
7/10
Delivery options and service: Express is£5.50, standard is free. It arrived two working days later.
10/10
Return: You can return goods to the store or via a parcel carrier and the cost is reimbursed.
Returning it to a store was not simple. The assistant manager didn’t seem to know what to do with an online return. The dispatch note provided didn’t list the product price, so she asked me to come back with my bank statement. The price could have been found easily and the request seemed odd. Eventually she called customer services, it was sorted out and the money credited two days later.
3/10
Total: 20/30
GAME
Item chosen: Kung Fu Panda, PC,£14.99
Web site and ordering: A fantastic site for a games fanatic, with lots of offers to entice people to spend. It also has clear customer information – it states, for instance, that Wii Fit orders require five to 10 days for delivery, and on the home page it advertises “free delivery on everything”.
However, it does require some searching on the site to find out further details about delivery and returns – this was eventually found under terms and conditions. An e-mail arrived first thing the next morning confirming that the delivery had been dispatched.
9/10
Delivery options and service: All UK orders for two working days delivery are free. Orders up to£100 for one working day delivery is£4.95, the same option is free for orders over£100. It was ordered on a Thursday and arrived on Monday.
10/10
Return: Very good – return is free and a freepost label is provided, making life as easy as possible for the consumer. You can also return items to a store. One slight drawback is that if you are returning by post, you have to revisit the site to note down a returns code. However, this is a very minor complaint.
9/10
Total: 28/30
WOOLWORTHS
Item chosen: 007 Quantum of Solace, PlayStation 2,£29.99
Web site and ordering: Woolworths’ site has a well-promoted Christmas shop on its home page, plenty of gifts to choose from and lots of price promotions. It also provides delivery timescales for individual products to avoid potential disappointment for Christmas shoppers.
However, it could probably advertise its free delivery offer more widely on the home page and it could make it easier to find a phone number to call if you have a query.
8/10
Delivery options and service: Delivery is free. There don’t appear to be any choices at the point of order and it’s unclear if delivery is only temporarily free during the run-up to Christmas. It was ordered on a Thursday and arrived on Monday.
10/10
Return: You can return products to a store, although it doesn’t stipulate this on the returns form. Returning the game was a bit protracted – after queuing at the till I had to go to customer services and then the assistant had to go and find her manager to check what to do. She then had to go and find him again because she didn’t know if it was a “Jersey product or not”. We got there eventually and the money appeared in my account two days later.
5/10
Total: 23/30
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