E-commerce To infinity & beyond?

							     E-commerce
To infinity & beyond?
      Kieron Smith
                     Agenda
1.   Growth & crisis
2.   Why is this happening
3.   Why is the customer never happy?
4.   The GAME case
5.   What can we do about this?
                              Progress of the Internet
                               Phase 1         Phase 2           Phase 3           Phase 4          Phase 5
                               Dotcom          Burst             Steady            Integration      ?
People accessing and buying




                                                                                                            Growth/Crisis in ?
                                                                                Crisis of service

                                                                                               Growth in inclusion
                                                           Crisis of red tape

                                                                                Growth in consolidation
                                           Crisis of control                    / collaboration


                              Crisis of trust/confidence       Growth through direction



                                     Growth through creativity

                              Young      1994 ---          1999 ---        2004 ---           2006              Mature
                                                                                                     After Greiner 1972
Growing pains as move from
mass service to service shops
Why the customer is never happy
The famous 1967 Stanley Milgram study which showed
      there were at most “six degrees of separation”
           between any two people in America

   Despite the increase in population the number has
                    now fallen to 4.6

 Customers bad experiences spread faster than ever
                       before

                                   The Economist 21 01 06
Bombarded, cynical & informed

               “We now have a far more
               informed but far more cynical
               consumer.”
               Siemon Scamell-Katz

               Average of 3,500 daily
               messages 99% have no
               impact


                           The Guardian 19 11 05
          Expose your guts
              … or the customers will




                   Hack-Your-Own
Our experience of the informed customer on a mission
           Service measure
1. Tangibles: site, usability, abandonment
2. Reliability: pick, pack & dispatch.
3. Responsiveness: customer contact, proactive
   communication.
4. Assurance: ability to inspire trust & confidence.
5. Empathy: caring, individualised attention
   provided to customers.

                               After Parasuraman et al 1994
                Conclusion
• Many retailers now face a crisis of service due to
  exceptional growth.
• The challenge is to move to a ‘service shop’ –
  high customisation & low labour.
• The networked customer is cynical and
  bombarded – target well and work with them or
  they will work around you.
• Measure & monitor service levels to take us to
  the next phase of growth.