The majority of my time over the past 6 months have been spent working on the new release of the website for the company I work for. As I rule I do not talk about that here, but after everything we did, I feel the need to at least point out what we did. As with everything else, there are things I like and things I don’t.

[the site]

I am currently guest blogging on “Notes on Design”, the blog of sessions.edu.

I’ll post all the links within this post.

• Placing Blogs on a Retail Site
• Staying User-Centric in the Maze of Web 2.0, Part I
• Staying User-Centric in the Maze of Web 2.0, Part II
• Rehashing the Fixed vs. Liquid Width Debate

Check back for more soon…

How have we not come up with a better way to build vending machines than with those stupid coil things? Have we all not lost our money only to watch our desired snack selection hanging by an edge and out of grasping distance? With all the technology in this world we can’t come up with something better?

One of the things people talked about this holiday season was how the high gas prices would improve online shopping. The theory goes that since gas prices are so high, people will turn to online shopping in order to save gas and therefore money. I do not buy this theory.

Around the same time that this idea was being discussed, I saw a news story about high gas prices. They interviewed several people and asked them what the were going to do about these prices. The common answer? “What can I do? I don’t have a choice.” Basically, people are going to pay whatever they charge (within reason, obviously — if it was $20 a gallon that might change things) because driving is just part of everyday life.

Maybe I’m completely underestimating this, but I just don’t see people staying home because gas is 50 cents or a dollar more a gallon. Online shopping, however, offers many more benefits than just saving money on gas…

Every year my company (a multi-channel eCommerce co.) invites some of our customers to a tradeshow style event, which features mostly vendors showcasing new, upcoming products, giveaways, etc. At this event we have a “.com” booth where we teach customers about how to use the website, showcase new site features, etc.

Last year, a lot of the customers who attended were not that familiar with the site — either they didn’t use it or had only used it sparingly. We had a great time showing them how easy and great it was to use, and the response was overwhelmingly good. Most people walked away from our booth really excited about using the site in the future.

This year — same event, same concept, mostly different customers — there was a noticable difference with the people who came by our booth: almost every single person used the site regularly and was familiar with most of the features. It was very difficult to find someone who didn’t know all about the site and who was blown away by our great features (they certainly haven’t gotten any worse, but these people now use them every day).

Our customers tend to be a little less tech-savvy than your normal blog-reader, but it is amazing to me how in the past year their knowledge of our website had changed. Its almost as if last year the web, at least to many of our customers, was this new thing that was just starting to catch on, and this year it is something that is just part of everyday life.

For me, of course, the web has been part of every day life for almost 10 years, but I’ve struggled to see others accept it the way I have. The difference from last year to this year in our customers really drove home the point that it is finally being accepted by those people who might have taken a little longer to realize the power and importance of the internet.

One of the interesting concepts starting to emerge is the idea of going to a store but placing what is essentially an internet order.

Ecko Unlimited has experimented with web kiosks at their stores where customers can browse for products not carried in that store, then print out an invoice and pay with cash (or charge) at the register. The product is then sent to the customer as if they had made an internet purchase. This allows Ecko to essentialy sell their entire line from every store without having to stock every single item, and also allows customers to make an internet purchase with cash.

A new mall concept called Epicenter takes this idea even further, creating an entire shopping complex based on the idea that customers will browse and try out products in a mall-type setting but will have their orders shipped to them as if the were completed online. Rachel Thorner from the New York Times describes it well:

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The nucleus of Epicenter will consist of two parts - the Buypod, a hand-held electronic device, and electronic kiosks located throughout the mall.

Under the concept, customers will enter the mall and register their credit card information, which will then be put into their Buypods. As customers browse merchandise, they can use their Buypod - which, as the name suggests, looks something like an Apple iPod - to scan the labels of items they want to buy.

Although a small number of items will available to take home, most orders will be sent directly to the warehouse, where they will be filled and shipped. The electronic kiosks will print receipts and can be used to cancel orders, if needed.”

(from NYT article 5/23/05 — full text available at corpwatch.com)

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The goal with these ventures is to bridge one of the major gaps that online commerces faces — the fact that consumers cannot hold the items. With many items, testing/feeling/using is paramount to the buying decision, and the internet will not be able to provide this in the forseeable future.

Of course the other major hurdle for internet shopping is shipping charges, which I imagine would still come into play in kiosk-warehouse shopping.

Lastly, the major benefit to internet shopping, at least from my perspective, is completely lost. Convenience! Epicenter is an interesting concept, but the main reason I shop online is because I can do it without having to go to the mall. I hate malls, and I doubt Epicenter will change that. (I also can’t believe they want people to pre-register before going to the mall — that seems like too much work for lazy America!)