The “Under Construction” Mistake

Before I wrote last week’s Insight about Patina stores dropping their online ordering, I checked out the Patina Web site.  I was shocked to find search, shopping cart item count, and checkout buttons still listed across the top of the home page.  This is interesting, I thought.  Why do they have these shopping cart buttons when they discontinued their shopping cart?

Underneath the shopping cart buttons were buttons for at home, women’s, men’s, and kids‘.  I clicked on each of these and received the same result from each click.  I was taken to a page for the button.  Each page had an icon with the words “Under Construction” on it and “Out of stock” printed in red under the icon.

Back at the home page, I scrolled down and discovered a gift card button.  When I clicked on it, I found a long paragraph giving reasons to buy a gift card followed by a short paragraph that due to a new computer system customers could no longer check card balances online.  The third paragraph offered the opportunity to order a gift card.  I tried to do this, and it actually worked.  Down from the gift card button, I saw a wish list button.  Clicking on it, I landed on a page to create an account or log in to a current account.  Where was the wish list?  Down from the wish list button, I spied a shipping/returns button.  The page was very thorough on shipping rates and also answered questions on ordering. 

This confused me.  Aren’t they discontinuing online shopping? I wondered again.

Back at the home page, I noticed this statement at the end of the announcement about dropping online ordering:  “Look for an updated informational site after the New Year.”

Now I was amazed.  Patina management had made a huge mistake using “Under Construction.”  Those two words are the quickest way to turn off customers to your Web site.  Customers think that a business with “Under Construction” on its site either doesn’t care or doesn’t update its site.  Consequently, they leave and do not return. 

Patina management made that mistake even bigger by not following through and changing the Web site by the new year.  I am writing this in mid-January.  Each day after the new year that the site is not changed makes Patina look worse to customers.  Sites with “Under Construction,” “Out-of-Stock,” and parts of a shopping cart that are no longer connected make a very bad impression on customers.

Management wouldn’t allow Patina’s brick and mortar stores to be in this disarray.  Why do they present Patina’s Web site this way?  A web site is a business’s presentation to the world.  Keep it as clean, easy, and convenient for customers to use as an experience at a brick-and-mortar store or a direct contact with staff.

Discover 8 reasons visitors leave a Web site by clicking here.  Listen to a free audio article on the subject from the recent Profitable Marketing Monthly.

This week's marketing trivia challenge is What “Under Construction” Web site have you encountered?  E-mail me your answer.

Not for Every Business

Patina Stores in Minneapolis recently announced that it was discontinuing its online shopping option.  The statement on the front page of the Patina Web site explains "After careful consideration, Patina has decided to discontinue the online shopping cart. We want to concentrate on what we do best -- the store experience."

In a press release, management said that since the store constantly updates its inventory keeping the online offerings current has been a challenge.  "(Online) was becoming a more disconnected experience from our store experience. At our core, we are a specialty destination store that focuses on a quickly changing retail environment.  Ultimately, it was difficult for us to change the Internet mix of inventory as fast as we were resetting and getting in product at our retail locations."

Patina management realized that offering online shopping is not for every business.  Their first priority is to have inventory at the brick-and-mortar locations.

I wonder what prompted Patina’s management to arrive at this decision?  Was it the stress of a seventh location they added in October?  Was it the pressure of keeping the Web site current?  Was it the tension of having online and in-store shoppers competing for inventory? 

Or, as they state on the Web site and in the release, was it that they came to an understanding that their unique selling proposition is the in-store experience?  Did they realize that their inventory, staff, and store environment create an experience that makes Patina different?  Do they get it that these cannot be duplicated online because the sensory stimulation found in the stores is not present online?

As a marketer, I’d like to think management realized Patina’s unique selling proposition.  I’d like to say that management went through the process of developing a marketing plan and realized online shopping did not fit Patina.  In reality, I don’t know.  I have a nagging suspicion that the decision was more inventory than marketing driven.

Whatever prompted the change, I applaud it.  While online shopping is an option, it is not for every business.  Just because a business can offer online shopping doesn’t mean that doing so is best for it.  Before making the decision, all facets ought to be considered.  The first consideration is not additional revenue.  The first and foremost consideration is how online shopping fits into the business’s marketing plan.  Does it mesh with the business’s unique selling proposition?  Does it offer an extension of why customers shop the business?  Does online give the same experience as the brick-and-mortar shopping?

Does your business offer online ordering?  Does it fit customers’ in-person business with your company?  How does it fit into your marketing plan?     

This week's marketing trivia challenge is What online ordering do you not use because it does not fit your experience with the company?  E-mail me your answer.