Been focusing my attention towards online shopping, deal aggregation, and similar sites lately for some reason or another. I know none of us like sharing innovative ideas, but I've been trying to brainstorm what this industry is missing or could use. There hasn't seemed to be too much change in the area. Was curious if anyone had any thoughts on the problems, limitations, or anything related for the online shipping industry - any personal frustrations, etc.
My biggest problem is with stores that try too hard to be innovative and end up making the process harder. But then, they don't frustrate me too much as I just won't use them.<p>Other frustrations:<p>- Gauging availability<p>- Having easy access to shipping cost info<p>- Offers or product names that <i>aren't</i> links. If something says "T-shirt sale, $10 each" I want to be able to click on that to see that sale!<p>- Lack of a categorized view. I want to easily see OTHER products that are very similar to the current one. If I'm looking at a blue shirt, I want to easily find a yellow one (say).<p>- High shipping costs. I gotta admit, "free shipping" gives me an instant shopping boner, even if it makes no sense. It just makes me more likely to buy.<p>- Lack of details. If electronics equipment, I want access to the full specs, including dimensions, etc. If clothes, I want to know the sizes and what scale was used (e.g. US size, UK size, or what?)<p>- Ridiculous registration requirements. I don't want to fill out a 30 field form to become a "member" of your shop. Ask for the absolute minimum to start and then get the other info over time as I become faithful to your brand.<p>- Lack of any review functionality. Sometimes it doesn't matter, but on many items it does. Even if you're just getting reviews from elsewhere, I wanna see them.<p>- Sites that don't fully use HTTPS through the whole checkout process.<p>Things I would like:<p>- Better search.<p>- Support for tagging. I like <i>browsing</i> by tag.<p>- "Random" product link. Not for every store but on some it would be awesome. I like browsing!<p>- Make it easier for me to <i>browse</i> when I don't know what I want. (I think I've made the point now, lol)<p>- Offer a clean but powerful advanced search. If I want to buy something for $5-$10, I should be able to limit searches to that.<p>- "Similar items" when looking at an item. Even if it's just a few with similar names, it helps.<p>- Easy access to <i>high resolution</i> imagery of the product. Let me click on the thumbnail / smaller image to get more awesome shots. It's a big deal when you're looking at the positioning of ports on a notebook, for example.<p>- Cheaper and more expensive alternatives to the current product. This is a touchy area for the actual store providers but as a customer I want to quickly work with my budget. Sometimes I want to spend more on something better, or sometimes less.<p>- Products on the front page of the site. I don't want to have to dig just to reach a single product.<p>Things I don't care about:<p>- Comparison tools. Most are useless. If I really want to compare something, I'll load them up in separate tabs and just figure it out after looking at them both. Very few products come down to a spec by spec comparison.<p>- Splash pages.<p>- Overuse of "theme" imagery. A common problem with clothing sites. I understand building a brand, etc, but in the store section, give me product.
Something else I realized I always do..<p>If I see a "promo code" box when buying, I <i>always</i> Google for a promo code for that store, or try retailmenot.com to see if they have one.<p>Sometime I get one, sometimes I not, and I feel a teeny-weeny pissed off when I don't find one that works as I feel someone else is "beating" me. So.. perhaps seeding a very, very tiny discount promo code out there for people like me would make me remember your store more because you let me "win" for my ingenuity :)
I get this feeling that clothing is <i>THE</i> consumer product but nobody buys clothes online because:<p>1) sizing is screwy<p>2) it's impossibly kludgy to browse clothing, textures, etc.<p>3) a painful return process<p>SO, I'm waiting for a department store with:<p>1) ONE pair of each item<p>2) ZERO inventory,<p>3) With all that additional space, a MASSIVE selection<p>3) Everything gets shipped straight to your home.<p>When you walk into the store they measure you, scan your credit card, and hand you a barcode scanner. Scan what you want and the perfectly sized clothing shows up on your doorstep in a day or two.<p>Nice side effects:<p>1) No more fear because it's easy to take back to the store if you don't like it.<p>2) For all the people that don't live in NYC or LA there would finally be a store with a decent selection...<p>3) Few clothing stores actually track purchases-- finally, you could now have a killer recommendation system that people would actually trust.<p>Solves so many problems (and probably creates a few). It kind of reminds me of Service Merchandise back in the day where they only had one item out front and everything else in the warehouse-- except now the warehouse is in "the cloud" so to speak.<p>...I already do this at Barnes & Noble-- browse for what I want and I've already Amazon Prime'd the book before I walk out the door...<p>Beyond the obvious technical challenges to me the biggest question is whether the economics of it works when you individually ship everything from a central location.
There are two major things I want from online shopping:<p>Real time stock data. I don't care so much about quantities, just whether or not my size/color is in stock -- though a "low quantity" warning would be nice.<p>Ship my order within 24 hours, and with "free" overnight shipping. If I order a pair of pants tonight (1 am on Thursday morning), I should have them Friday. Now I know nothing's really free, but build it into your prices; don't make me think. Pull this off, and you're 80% of the way to matching brick and mortar retail -- it takes a day or two to build a shopping trip into my schedule anyway.
(Slightly off topic) I know there are a lot of startups doing a physical-internet crossover similar to QRCode, but they read bar codes instead. The only issue I see with this is that not every item has a bar code (i.e. clothes) and it requires the cooperation of both online and brick-and-mortar stores.<p>Augmented reality for physical shopping anyone? Stick RFID/bluetooth emitters in the security-ink devices, stick the security devices to the clothes, and then pull out your phone to get relevant information.
They don't ship worldwide. Sometimes they do, but not for every item. And they don't make it clear from the start.<p>This is the biggest single limitation that I encounter constantly.