Designing the next generation customer experience in multi-channel retailing

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March 30, 2009

iPhone Apps - The latest entrant in Social Media Marketing

It all changed a couple of years back when Social Media began to rear its head and retailers started participating in Blogosphere and launching their own blogs. Since then it has been a gigantic rush to keep up with the ever emerging mediums and the online marketers have been pushing out the boundaries and leaping forward with the latest trends.

I decided to pick a few retailers randomly and see how they are keeping up with the emergence of these new channels.

Amazon.com Daily Blog Amazon Facebook Page Amazon iPhone App Amazon on Twitter American Eagle Outfitters Facebook Page American Eagle Outfitters on Twitter American Eagle Outfitters YouTube Channel Best Buy Digital TV Blog Best Buy Facebook Page Best Buy on Twitter Buy.com Facebook Page Buy.com on Twitter Dell Blog Dell Facebook Page Dell Flickr PhotoStream Dell Outlet on Twitter Dell YouTube Channel Gap Facebook Page Gap iPhone App Gap on Twitter Gap YouTube Channel JCPenney Facebook Page JCPenney on Twitter JCPenney YouTube Channel Nike Blog Nike iPhone App Nike on Twitter Nike YouTube Channel NordStrom From the Floor Blog NordStrom Facebook Page NordStrom on Twitter NordStrom YouTube Channel Overstock Community Blog Overstock.com Facebook Page Overstock.com on Twitter Overstock.com YouTube Channel Ralph Lauren Facebook App Ralph Lauren iPhone App Ralph Lauren YouTube Channel Sears Facebook Page Sears YouTube Channel Sears Outlet on Twitter Starbucks Blog Starbucks Facebook Page Starbucks on Twitter Starbucks YouTube Channel Target Facebook Page Target iPhone App Target on Twitter Target YouTube Channel TJ Maxx Facebook Page TJ Maxx on Twitter TJ Maxx YouTube Channel Urban Outfitters Blog Urban Outfitters Facebook Page Urban Outfitters on Twitter Urban Outfitters YouTube Channel Wal-Mart Checkout Blog Walmart Back to School App on Facebook Wal-Mart Blow A Kiss iPhone App Wal-Mart YouTube Channel Whole Foods Blog Whole Foods Facebook Page Whole Foods Flickr PhotoStream Whole Foods on Twitter Whole Foods YouTube Channel Zappos Blog Zappos Facebook App Zappos on Twitter Zappos YouTube Channel Amazon.com American Eagle Outfitters Best Buy Buy.com Dell Gap JCPenney Nike Nordstrom Overstock.com Ralph Lauren Sears Starbucks Target TJ Maxx Urban Outfitters Wal-Mart Whole Foods Zappos Nike Facebook Page Sears Shake A Deal iPhone App

Almost everybody seems to have a presence on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter whereas only a couple of the retailers seem to be using Flickr. In the past few months, Twitter is seen to be highly utilized and is becoming a favorite of everybody. Last week, Twitter turned 3 year old; There are some great examples of companies using Twitter in the US; Zappos used it to communicate with customers and for marketing purposes, while Dell claims to have made $1m in sales from using Twitter.

So what is next after Twitter?

Recent entry to this gamut of channels is the launch of iPhone App Store which brings in a new range of marketing opportunities. Since its launch in last July, retailers like Gap, Target, and Wal-Mart have launched their own iPhone Apps and going by the current trend analysis, it looks like many more will join the club soon. Recently, we also saw Facebook connect getting integrated with iPhone. iPhone apps present a great potential if integrated with Facebook to get a quick social network on your mobile. That way Facebook can gain from iPhone’s location aware capabilities and iPhone users can get their social networks on their phone with no hassle - A truly exciting opportunity for the retailers to consolidate and rethink on how they want to use these channels to realize their full potential. What is your take on this? Is iphone app going to be the next social quotient scorer for the retailers?

March 29, 2009

Amazon and the UK Groceries: the end of a paradox?

Largest online retail category and poorest customer experience - this is the paradox of the British grocery market. So it was little surprise to read last month that Amazon was planning to enter this market as they did in the USA a few years ago. It is probably time for British online grocers to enhance their customer experience and delivery proposition to be prepared to face a new competitor. How? Here is my proposal:

1/ Improving the customer experience:

Amazon have been leading the pack in terms of customer experience for a few years now. Customer satisfaction indexes regularly place them in the top position - something that online grocers have been struggling to do. For most of them their website is still pretty basic and only offers the rudimental features to their customers (postcode checker, favourites/usual products based on purchase history, basket, check-out and third party recipes). The Amazon proposition will probably quite different as based on a website praised for his user-friendliness and offering more advanced features.

Grocers who are still asking for their customers to login before browsing their website might look very soon outdated once Amazon enter the British grocery market. I believe there are a few things that could be done to significantly improve the online grocery customer experience:

  • Anonymous browsing - customers could browse the website based on a generic store and then be asked to give their postcode while adding to basket
  • Price/Basket optimizer - to make sure that customers pay the best prices and do not miss on promotions/offers
  • Health optimizer - grocers could help customers choosing their products based on a set of preferences
  • User-generated content - reviews and ratings seem to be the first obvious step but user-generated recipes and communities could have a bright future in the grocery world (I will dedicate a post on this specific topic in the coming weeks)

2/ Improving the delivery proposition:

People tend to forget it but the success of Amazon does not rely only on a great website. Their delivery proposition has helped them establish themselves as market leader and services like "Amazon prime" are setting a new standard. Online grocers have not been very innovative in this area, generally limiting themselves to time-slot deliveries (1 to 2 hour time windows where the shopper will be delivered) that the customer can book prior to check-out.

I believe that three major steps could be taken to improve the online grocery delivery proposition:

  • Booking delivery slots in advance
  • Offering subscriptions/repeat orders for groceries
  • Merging orders across lines of businesses post check-out (this is relevant for retailers with different websites/lines of businesses)

The first one (Booking delivery slots in advance) could be as simple as enabling customers to buy delivery slots in advance so they can make sure they will always be delivered in their preferred slot (e.g. mine is Wednesday between 8 and 9 pm). Penalties could be associated to these bookings if customers do not order to limit the number of potential lost orders. This will be a major step in customer's satisfaction as most people tend to place a minimal order to book their delivery slot and then amend their order the day before the delivery to make sure they will have all their goods. Pre-booking will be a major differentiator.

The second one (Offering subscriptions/repeat orders for groceries) is strictly inspired from the Amazon proposition in the USA. This is probably again something that customers expect as the grocery basket does not vary a lot from one week to the other for most people. From a retailer's perspective, this will increase the demand/revenue forecasting and also the customer loyalty. Last but not least this model has been around for a few years now in the wine business and could be easily replicated.

The last one (Merging orders across lines of businesses post check-out) is meant to reduce the number of deliveries a customer has to wait for while ordering goods from different websites/lines of businesses from the same retailer (e.g. buying CD's/DVD's, a chair and the weekly grocery shopping). While this could be the most complex to implement from an operational perspective, this again will have a clear impact on customer retention as Britons do not like to wait hours for deliveries.

Sources:

  1. Online grocery sales outstrip electronic and gadget sales for the first time (http://www.internetretailing.net/news/online-grocery-sales-outstrip-electronic-and-gadget-sales-for-the-first-time/)

 

March 23, 2009

“I want it exactly the way I want it” - Customers as product designers!

In 80s, manufacturing industry started with the concept of customized products offering to its customers. For many years the concept was limited to business-to-business models, only after the internet boom in late 90s, it picked up in other industries, and started to be famous as product customization or mass customization.

Product customization is a concept whereby customers are able to design what-they-want-to-buy, rather than choosing one of the available product’s offering. Technology plays a crucial role in enabling customers as product designers, similar to many other cases, where customers have taken up organizational roles in form of being marketer, customer service agents to peers.

In my view point, product customization is different from personalization. Personalization is an experience of personalized information & service, either in an interactive mode or customer being passive. While product customization is producing a tangible product with uniquely defined features by a customer. Leading brands like Dell, HP, Levis, Sears, adidas, Nike have been harvesting on the product customization concept for almost a decade now.

What are the underlying challenges and how organizations are handling them?

From customer’s view point typical challenges are “Do I understand the product?”, “How can I easily make what I want?”, “How will it look like?”, “Will I get what I exactly want?”

In brick & mortar scenario, sales representatives are able to provide required information about the product features and help customers design products, while in online scenarios, it becomes extremely difficult for customers to be able to understand complex features of simple-looking-product, and configure what-they-want. Online help works, but not to an extent, which will make customer feel confidents spending money on something, they may not have fully understood.

After designing the product, customers want to visualize the product in order to know how it will look like. There are many challenges in terms of making customer visualize & feel the product. For example in apparel industry, customers would like to visualize something similar to what it looks in a mirror, and not a stand alone customized product. There are various technical innovations in last couple of years in form of creating virtual mirrors, online virtual models, 3D models based on rich internet technologies.

Providing easy-to-understand product descriptions, easy to plug-and-play product features, and see in real time on what-it-looks-n-feels-like are most important success measures for a good customer experience in product customization scenario.

From organizations’ perspective, there are two fold challenges. ONE – Adapting “made-for-mass-production” supply chain & production systems to be able to manufacture customized products on near mass production efficiency. TWO – for meeting customers’ expectations on accurate fit & comfort, lead time expectations on “I-want-it-now” and return handling.

Organization are needing to adapt the supply chain to be able to fast track customized product information to factories, and change the production processes to support customized production. The key is to achieve a mass-production like efficiency & quality at a near mass-production-cost. It becomes extremely important to model products with the right choices and rules, not to overburden the supply chain and production systems but still able to meet customers’ expectations on configuration choices.

Technologies like Virtual Fitting Room from Intellifit System, being used in Levis stores for measuring exact fit for a customized Jeans, are steps in right direction. There are many other technologies for foot scan & pressure measurement for footwear industry.

On lead time expectations front: it used to take weeks-to-month time to get customized product delivered to customers. But in last few years, technology has been fast evolving to provide instant production capabilities to organizations. Direct to garment printing, 3 D printing, Cut & sew construction technologies are few examples, which organizations like Zazzle, Spreadshirt, Spoonflower are using to provide within-hours customized product delivery to customers.

What’s next?

Organizations need to integrate web2.0 concepts like online chat, online community, with product configurator to be able to provide instant information about product features, and guide customers similar to brick & stores sales agents. Rich internet technical innovations, especially in 3D technologies, will take customers’ experience to the next level.

Companies like Zazzle, Spreadshirt, Cafepress are taking the product customization concept to a new level, where the customers are not only designing the products, but marketing the best design, and creating new markets. Organizations have started taking advantage of the product configurator to find on the best selling designs directly from customers, and feeding it back to product innovation groups.

Technical innovation will continue driving customers closer to production systems, and empower customers to exactly buy what they want to buy, instead of choosing one from the available ranges.

It will be quite interesting to watch product customization evolve to the new level with fast changing technology landscape.

March 20, 2009

Shopper Marketing & Privacy: How far is far?

In the current economic situation, the customer is holding, undeniably, the pivotal point of Retailer’s marketing activities. Under these circumstances, knowing their customer is more significant than ever before for Retailers. While retailers and CPG’s can drive shoppers to their store and their product, they have not been able to fully understand the shoppers’ behavior inside the store.

Customer Buying Process

 

In these challenging times, both Retailers and CPG’s are waking up to the question - ‘how to get the right customer to the right aisle, to the right product they want’.
Shopper Marketing and Shopper Privacy
When we realize that the customer is at the focal point and the market place has come down to the aisles and shelves, it is all but natural for the companies to rush to gain insights about the customer, aisle and products. BusinessWeek carried a story on how companies are turning to technology to better understand their customer’s shopping behavior and the various technologies to use despite the recessionary times.
With the gathered insights, retailers are busy designing and communicating promotions to shoppers. This whole process, famously known as Shopper Marketing, leaves the retailers to walk a thin line between Shopper Privacy and the effectiveness of the marketing programs. As the technology proliferation happens in shopper marketing, the question that stands tall in front of the retailers is - how far can they go to collect the data, without crossing the line of Shopper Privacy? How far is far?  Where is the line drawn between shopper privacy and shopper marketing?
Broadly, retailers go through 4 phases in Shopper Marketing:
1.     Data collection
2.     Analytics
3.     Decision making/program design
4.     Communication
In the first phase, data is collected about the shoppers and their activities in the stores (and aisles and shelves). The second phase is where the collected data is analyzed through BI tools and various insights about the products, shelves, aisles and shoppers are generated. Based on the insights, the marketers decide on the right mix of products, shelves and aisles that can attract the most profitable customer. They also design appropriate marketing programs and messages based on the insights in this phase. In the final phase, the messages and programs are communicated to the chosen consumer as she shops.
Off the above 4 stages, the consumer interaction is highest in the first and last stage. And if these two stages are not handled properly, retailers run the risk of lowering the effectiveness of their Shopper Marketing Programs and as well shunning the shoppers away.
The moment of truth provides a range of options for the retailers of which the extremes are being most generic and most specific. The below matrix might be a very broad framework for the retailers to choose the quadrant in which they want to operate with respect to Shopper Marketing –

Shopper : Privacy Vs Marketing

As the above framework indicates, the Shopper Marketing effectiveness is very high and shoppers are also not intimidated when the mass data collection is done and communication of marketing programs and messages are done at the personalized level. It is a generally known fact that the effectiveness of Shopper Marketing can be increased by specific personalized messages to the shopper. Any technology that can provide these capabilities (Mass Data collection, personalized communication) will have lot of potential to help the retailer gain massively through shopper marketing.

Shoppers’ privacy has been a cause of solicitousness. Kim Ann Zimmermann, Managing Editor, Grocery Headquarters Magazine, discusses in her blog how her initial anxiety about shopper data protection was abated.

March 19, 2009

"Please Don't Go!" How to Reduce Abandoned Shopping Carts

With today’s recessionary climate, retailers are struggling even more to retain customers and get them to convert online.  It seems that these days online shoppers are much more careful about what they spend their money on.  As a result, comparison shopping is even more common and consumers are spending more time doing their research to make sure they are buying what they need at the best possible price.  Consumers have also become more sophisticated and have higher expectations during their online shopping experience.  Figures range anywhere from 50% to as high as 75% of abandoned carts in the online retail space.   As retailers struggle with ways to reduce this abandonment rate there are a few factors that need to be taken into consideration when deciding what to do to increase conversion.

While different tactics work for different retailers, it is clear that there are some common factors that cause consumers to abandon their carts and that they may not always be what you would be expecting!

What do you mean I Abandoned You?
It seems there is a panic among retailers when it comes to abandoned shopping carts, and sometimes companies are too hasty to dismiss a customer experience as an abandoned cart.  Traditionally if a consumer added an item to their cart but didn’t checkout in the same session – it would be considered as an abandoned shopping cart.   However, retailers find that sometimes it can take 14-30 days for consumers to come back and complete their purchase.  With the increased push towards multi-channel integration, an abandoned cart online can often lead to a purchase in store, via catalogue or mobile phones.   One thing is clear – that retailers’ definition of an abandoned shopping cart is not always a true indicator of the actual situation. 

I Need Approval From My Friends.
I for one like to use the shopping cart more as a wish list or as a tally of all the items I want to buy. Functionality that allows customers to move items from the shopping cart to the wish list can help customers to differentiate between the items they have to have and the items they’d like to have. Having quick access to the wish list without having to refresh the page or separate from the shopping experience may also help encourage users to use shopping carts as they are meant to be used.  Emailing wish lists or carts to friends or as a reminder to yourself is also a great alternative way to get consumers to convert.   If the saved cart or wish list ultimately gets the customer to convert through socially influenced purchasing then it may not result in an abandoned cart. 

It Just Takes too long.
Another common complaint among tech savvy consumers is that the checkout process can sometimes take too long.  Once you’ve made the decision of what you want to purchase you don’t want to go through several pages and clicks to be done entering the same information over and over again.  Online retailers are quickly moving away from the traditional 5 page checkout and opting for a shorter more user friendly process.  Interesting to note, however, studies have shown that in some industries while consumers purchasing smaller ticket items <$75 prefer a shorter checkout process (e.g. 1 page checkout), consumers of larger ticket items >$75 feel more confident if the checkout process is more detailed (3-5 page checkout).   While retailers are eager to reduce the length and complexity of the checkout process, there are instances where it can actually reduce conversion.  Online retailers also need to be cognizant of the forms and number of times the consumer is asked to enter their personal information.  While it is important and valuable to gather customer information, online retailers would be wise to reduce the forms for logged in customers, and allow for guest checkout for new customers.

I Just Don’t Trust You.
When it comes to paying online, consumers are still nervous about entering credit card information online.  There are several ways to offset this lack of trust and build confidence.  For one, minimize any disruption to the website during the checkout process.  Nothing kills confidence more than when you click submit after entering your credit card information only to get a page cannot be displayed.  It is very hard for retailers to recover from an experience like that, and often times you only get one chance to build the consumers’ trust.  Also while it may seem intuitive, there are still a lot of retailers that don’t have a secure checkout process.  In this day and age, there is no excuse for an unsecure checkout process.  Online retailers also need to take advantage of alternative payment methods like PayPal and Bill Me Later as they allow consumers to reduce the number of times their payment information is entered online.  Certification through hacker safe, VeriSign, and other security agencies should also be used with logos visible and prevalent throughout the checkout process with verification dates up to date.  Online retailers should also avoid asking consumers for CCV numbers online it’s almost as risky as asking consumers for a social security number – it will almost always result in an abandoned cart.

You Changed My Mind.
While it may seem intuitive to provide consumers with as much information throughout the checkout process, studies have shown that sometimes too much information can cause consumers to abandon the process.  For example, return policies, shipping costs, taxes can sometimes prompt a consumer to jump ship.   It’s a delicate balance and tests should be run before providing consumers with information about additional fees, policies, and complications that could deter them from completing the purchase.   While the information should be made available to the consumer it doesn’t need to be in their face throughout the checkout process when they’ve already decided to buy.

I Need A Little Convincing.
The difficulty with the online space is that there is no sales person to give you a nudge or pay you a compliment to help make up your mind.  Part of the in store shopping experience is having that friendly sales attendant tell you that those shoes look great with that purse, and to hand you a coupon as you walk in the door, or tell you that the sale has been making the dresses fly off the shelves and that you should buy that dress because you’re lucky to find that dress in that color in your size because three other girls had just come in but couldn’t find their size.  All these things create incentives and a sense of urgency for you to go through with a purchase when you’re not sure.  This is missing in the online experience.  Some retailers like Amazon do a great job of providing dynamic online messaging during the checkout process.  They prompt you and let you know that if you buy one more item you could qualify for free shipping, or if you order it now you will get it in time for Christmas.  Sometimes online consumers need a nudge to give them an incentive to go ahead with the sale instead of closing the browser and walking away.

I have Shopping ADD.
While retailers have often try to cross sell and upsell as much as possible hoping to squeeze as much out of the sale as possible – retailers are starting to find that sometimes cross sells/upsells in the checkout process can be detrimental to completing a sale.  The problem is that it gives consumers Shopping ADD.  They were so sure, ready to checkout, and half way through as they are entering their address they see something else that they may have missed.  As a result, they move away from the checkout funnel and are back into the store.  The goal during checkout is to get them to the finish line; any distractions could result in an abandoned cart if you’re not careful.

While different tactics work for different retailers, it is clear that there are some common factors that cause consumers to abandon their carts and that they may not always be what you would be expecting!

March 12, 2009

Channel’s customers or Customer’s channels?

Do customers belong to channels or are channels created for customers ?

The above being about multi channel commerce (MCC), the answer would seem so obvious – the whole idea of MCC is that retailers provide different channels for customers to interact with their business, providing them with a seamless, pleasing experience. I have been hearing about great vision descriptions during opening meetings every time before we embark on ecommerce / multichannel program. They usually go like ‘a customer who has registered on our brick store logs in online and suddenly we pop up a promotion on an accessory for the music gadget that was bought in our store last week’ and ‘the POS system alerts about a sale on a item that was in the online wish list’. While, these are very nice things to have, very few large enterprises have even come close to be able to do something similar. In real life, serious celebrations erupt in enterprises when websites belonging to the same parent company, using the same technology platform are modified to be able to share a unified user profile. Even today, I come across large ecommerce systems being designed with the customers being stored safe, deep inside the system. The same is true for existing store systems as well. But make no mistake; the business vision is no less than a perfect multichannel enterprise!

The good news is that a lot of enterprises are now thinking hard to make sure that they have a single view of all their customers. For that to be possible, they need to take the customers out of the channels that they are locked up in. The user profile needs to be a service that needs to be hosted centrally but shared across the enterprise. Each of the channels should be a consumer of the service, when it is about obtaining customer information and also should be responsible enough to update customer information back to the service when it receives new information from the customer.  It is also important to understand what all information would make up the unified profile. A customer profile would contain the following basic information areas - identity information, demographic information, domain specific preferences and transactional history. While the ideal Unified profile would contain all of this, it will not be practical to start creating such a service in any enterprise of reasonable size, due to issues with data ownership, security and technology limitations. A feasible approach may be to start creating a central, unified user repository which at least holds identity and demographic information. Since the success of such an initiative is equally dependent on organizational politics and technology, small but sure steps may be a better bet. I am hoping that most of the large retailers would succeed in doing something similar soon – because we customers also stand to gain a lot when they have channels created around us than being locked up inside a channel.

March 10, 2009

Flash Mob Anyone?


For years clothing, grocery, auto, home electronics, and DIY retailers have attempted to drive traffic into their stores with events, offers, coupons etc. Marketing departments crunch numbers and models trying to find relevance for their customer base, a very costly operation when considering staff and system costs.

How else can you drive traffic into your store? The concept of viral marketing and social networking has caught on, but the practical applications are few and far between. Youtube videos are great for advertising products. Facebook widgets can do the same. If you’re a retailer, however, it takes something more to drive people to your store.
The concept of the flash mob was born at the beginning of the century as a way to organize social groups for political reasons, for causes, or just for plain fun. It has been more recently made popular by T-mobiles ad campaign showcasing the recent mobs in London train stations.  I’ve laid out a few scenarios for driving traffic to stores using flash mobs. Some of them are a bit silly, but it’s a fun topic and an interesting way to look at marketing.

Scenario 1:  It’s Valentines Day, and a popular greeting card retail chain sponsors a flash mob speed dating event on Facebook. Speed daters are driven to a local retail store, and are encouraged to by flowers and greeting cards as part of the event.

Scenario 2: An auto retail chain sponsors a local car club’s Facebook page in order to organize a flash mob at a local dealership. Members are driven to the site to test drive a new model or line of models (perfect example, Toyota’s Scion line.)

Scenario 3: It’s the week before spring break, and you’re a hip clothing retailer like Abercrombie, Urban Outfitters, or Hollister. The local marketing department seeks out some local social networks and organizes a flash mob of local high school and/or college kids to go to a particular store and try on bathing suits.

Flash mobs are popular because people are drawn to and feel comfortable performing unusual activities while in larger groups. There are obvious downsides to this type of traffic, such as crowd control and unqualified consumers. It is a fun concept, however, and I am interested to hear any other ideas, so feel free to post.

March 09, 2009

Transforming touch-and-feel, experiential shopping into an ecommerce business model

Internet shopping grew out of business models and products that were perfect for remote shopping: books, CDs, and electronics. Apparel, although common now, faced hurdles in the beginning as customers were leery about how clothes would fit and look when worn. Some business models and products still seem to be poor fits for this channel of retail, for example some professional services and tailored clothing. However, there are a few new approaches to online selling that seem to be addressing these gaps found in traditional online retailing.

Cycling is serious business. I’ve heard it said that cycling is the new golf. Cycling as a sport is on the rise and can be a very expensive recreation. According to the National Sporting Goods Association (NSGA), cycling is a $6 billion business and as a recreational activity has over 64 million participants and is second in popularity only to fitness walking. The NSGA also reports that 38% of cyclists who ride at least six times a year have incomes over $50,000/ year and nearly 50% of these cyclists are between the prime purchasing ages of 18-54. If you’ve stepped into a bicycle shop lately you can appreciate that bicycles and bicycle related equipment is not child’s play – enthusiast level bikes retail at between $1,000 t0 $10,000 with profit margins around 50% (National Bicycle Dealers Association statistics show the average price of a road bicycle at about $1,200 and mountain bikes at about $1,400).

This is a product line with great margins and a strong, growing customer base but it has not been pursued by internet retailers.  Some of the reasons include the fact that bicycle purchasing is highly personal.  There are personal tastes and personal fit which are usually addressed with the all-important test sitting and test riding.  Well, sitting and riding a bicycle via website has proven difficult in my experience.  Well, one company is addressing this for the high-end bicycle purchaser.  Competitive Cyclist (www.competitivecyclist.com) sells bicycles and cycling equipment through the online channel only.  According to their site they different themselves by saying “Even though we operate on-line, we sacrifice none of the personalized service of a local bike shop.”  They have developed innovative methods to bring the personalized experience of shopping at a local bicycle shop to the internet shopper.  Some unique services Competitive Cyclist offers to their customers that are not common in ecommerce: (liberally paraphrased from www.competitivecyclist.com)

1. “Do you want to test ride a bike before you buy?”  They have a dedicated fleet of over 200 demo bikes they will ship via UPS right to your door.
2. “Our Fit Calculator is the most advanced interactive bike fitting system you’ll find on the web.”  This is a high tech calculator using a multitude of inputs to help customers find the right size bicycle based on the customer’s personal measurements and statistics.
3.  “Would you like to buy a new bike and have it arrive 100% assembled?”  Their Ready to Ride shipping program will UPS the bike completely road-ready.
4. “Are you concerned about the regular maintenance and care high-end bikes require?”  We offer a full selection of tune-up, rebuild, and retro-fit services. Instead of dropping your bike off, you simply ship it to them.
5. “Do you want to shop with the confidence that comes with touching and feeling merchandise before you buy?”  Their CZoom photo technology is very cool and customers can inspect almost every item on the site with exacting detail.
6. Our Kit Calculator is the most advanced custom bike configuration system you’ll find on the web. It's an interactive tool that allows you to compare and compile detailed price and weight information for any of the bikes

All of these innovations of technology and service levels attempt to shift customer perception and provide them a compelling alternative to shopping for high end goods through the convenience of the internet.

Readers: What other examples of innovations supporting non-traditional ecommerce products have you seen?