Over the holidays, 25% of Web sites suffered such severe technological glitches that customers were prevented from ordering products from those sites, Cliff Sharples, president, CEO and co-founder of Garden.com Inc. said yesterday at the opening session of the DMA net.marketing Conference & Exhibition in Seattle, WA.
Sharples, in his talk on the "Next Generation E-Commerce" said marketers can learn from their past mistakes and outlined some of the more prominent glitches in holiday e-retailing that dogged the industry as marketers struggled to overcome technological, fulfillment and customer satisfaction problems. They are:
* 14% of packages were delivered late
* 6% of packages never arrived
* 56% of Web sites did not respond to e-mail within 48 hours
* 26% of Web sites did not respond to e-mail at all
In addition, the study found that 40% of sites are personalizing e-mail messages, 25% recognize repeat buyers and that the average number of people an online shopper tells about their online experiences is 12.
"We've got a long way to go and a lot more to do," Sharples said.
The study of 50 Web sites--a market basket sample of sites that are highly visible and have attracted financial investors, was sourced by Resource Marketing ECommerce Watch.
