Internet shopping from Rupert Greenhill on Vimeo.
Archive for the ‘Shutl mission control’ Category
What Jimmy Carr likes about internet shopping….. (NSFW – Liberal use of the English language!)
Wednesday, August 25th, 2010Fashionistas make use of Shutl delivery service
Monday, April 12th, 2010Thanks to Shutl, style conscious Londoners with hectic lives have a few less things to worry about. Looking great no longer requires popping out to a boutique in your lunch break or hanging around for a delivery.
Shoreditch based trendsetters Start are currently trialling our Shutl Later delivery service. You can now shop online at one of the top Vogue fashion boutiques of 2010 and specify the hour in which you want your purchases to be delivered. To fit around your busy lifestyle, the delivery window that you select is totally down to you and can be within an amazing two hours of checkout! Prices for all this start at less than a fiver – so no more excuses that you have nothing to wear or no time to shop for an outfit for that last minute date or party!
Start London stocks a hand-picked selection of clothing and accessories both from some of the world’s leading labels and up and coming new designers. Their online store gives you full access to their range of women’s and menswear so whether you’re after the latest Sonia Rykiel party dress, a Mr Start suit for work or you’ve just forgotten your girlfriend’s birthday, click here to visit Start and select the Shutl delivery option upon checkout (currently not advertised until you actually check out).
We’d love to hear what you make of our delivery service, so be sure to leave feedback if you do select the Shutl later option. All comments appreciated!
Why not check out the service for yourself?
How many channels do your customers use?
Thursday, April 8th, 2010According to a recent survey by eCommerce giant ATG, 78 percent of shoppers claim to use two or more channels to browse, research and make their purchases. 30 percent said they use three channels or more.
The access to information and 24/7 commercial availability provided by the internet has fundamentally changed the way we shop. Take me for example (I consider myself an average shopper). I will regularly research a product online (check reviews, price, etc.) before going and buying it in my local shop at the weekend. If the shop is any further than walking distance from home, I’ll probably ring and check that they have it in stock before I bother traipsing down on my Saturday afternoon off. One simple purchase from one shop exploiting three channels. All of which, as a customer, I expect to be staffed and ready to cater to my every whim. Man is an unforgiving beast…
As a retailer, a more effective solution – both in terms of cost and burden to the business – would be if I were to buy the item directly from their website.
Why don’t I just buy it online?
The answer is that I’m a suspicious, miserly, impatient and lazy consumer like everyone else. I still have doubts about the product (it looks too big and I’m still not sure if the colour is quite right?). I don’t want to shell out additional money for a slow delivery service and still run the risk of missing the delivery. And I really don’t want to have to spend my Saturday morning trekking out to the Royal Mail depot and queuing up…
So what do I want?
I want it all and I want it now! And if not now, then at a time that is convenient and doesn’t involve me having to leave the sofa.
Convenience is a concept that by definition implies “at a time and place that suits me”. It is hard, if not impossible, to offer shoppers a “convenient” retail proposition and only operate a single channel to market. Accessibility should not be confused with convenience.
How many channels do you need?
CAUTION: the answer is not as many as possible! In order to maximise sales and build a platform for sustainable growth you need to operate as many channels as YOUR customers habitually use. Obviously this calls into question the cost and effort required to maintain those channels, hence why an integrated multichannel strategy and underpinning solution should go hand in hand.
Ultimately it boils down to knowing what your customers expect and what they want. Top tier retailers invest huge sums in making this type of research a foundation of their decision making, however understanding your customer needs to be at the heart of every retailer’s business, whether a high street giant or a local boutique. And it doesn’t require millions. Just be sympathetic and spend some time in your shopper’s shoes and live the experience that you offer.
Shutl wins Innovate! 2010 Pitch Slam
Friday, March 26th, 2010
Shutl wins Innovate! 2010 Pitch Slam
We are pleased to announce that we won the Innovate! 2010 London award, organized by Guidewire Group. (more…)
Sounds great…but what about the high street?!
Wednesday, March 17th, 2010
According to Forrester’s Western European Online Forecast, over the next 5 years online retail across the EU will grow at a compound annual rate of 11% YoY - outstripping our American cousins across the pond (set to grow at 10% YoY).
The predicted numbers are huge and meaningless: the US is the larger market and is set to hit £164.3 billion by 2014. The EU lags at a forecasted total of £103.6 billion. What’s more palatable is seeing what thas means at the human level. Last year, 2009, Europeans spent an annual average of approximately €483 (£439). This amount is set to rise to €601 (£546) in 2014. A very significant change in spending behaviour.
With more than half of all consumers shopping online, the UK is the largest online retail market in Western Europe. Our online retail sales will apparently rise to some €40 billion (£36.3 billion) by 2014.
What’ll be interesting is to see how the predicted rise in online sales impacts sales across other retail channels. As high speed internet becomes ubiquitous, people will increasingly research product reviews, ratings and information online before purchasing elsewhere. Will the predicted growth in online activity cannibalise or fuel sales across all other channels? And what about the high street…?!
At Shutl we believe there is a real need for deeper cross-channel integration. In order to improve service and drive down costs, consumer demand for the convenience offered by online shopping increasingly needs to be fulfilled with stock that is located local to the consumer. The internet and the high street are therefore intrinsically linked. One cannot truly evolve without pulling the other along with it.
Let’s hope that these numbers have the happy ending that we’re expecting…
Shutl launches first e-Commerce modules
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010
This week we completed development of our first integration modules for Magento and osCommerce.
These modules offer easy “out-of-the-box” integration for retailers running either of these two open-source platforms. Don’t worry if you aren’t using Magento or osCommerce, there will be more to come in due course!
We aim to make it as easy as possible for retailers to offer Shutl delivery to their customers and these two modules are a great start to overcoming the time and development associated with any deployment.
Both modules will be going into production with Shutl clients within the next few weeks.
If you are a London-based retailer running either Magento or osCommerce and would like to try out Shutl– get in touch! We’d love to get your feedback and comments. Just e-mail us on info@shutl.co.uk if you’d like to find out more.
If you are using another e-Commerce platform and would like to request a module, register here and specify your platform and we will get in touch.
Is good customer service worth the cost?
Wednesday, February 24th, 2010
A recent article in The Retail Bulletin threw up some interesting statistics (produced by the Consumer Forum) around customer service. It is particularly timely as the launch of the Shutl service with our first retailer is now imminent and we are working through our own plans for our customer service operation. Some good food for thought…
What is Good Customer Service?
• Nearly two-thirds (60.9%) of respondents said that a personal response to their issue was most important, while 44.3% cited speed of response as an important factor.
• The majority of respondents (57.6%) felt that the best customer service is delivered in face to face situations, while 56.9% said that they receive the worst customer service over the phone.
What drives you to make a complaint?
• Nearly a third (31.7%) of respondents answered ‘rude staff’.
So is delivering great customer service worth the hassle?
• When asked whether a good customer service experience would increase their loyalty to a brand 98.4% of respondents said ‘yes’.
• 97.7% of respondents said that experiencing bad customer service would compel them to take their business elsewhere.
Can the internet deliver innovations in customer service?
• Consumers surveyed remain split down the middle when it comes to the levels of customer service offered online. 49% of respondents have seen an improvement in customer service since the introduction of the internet whilst 51% have experienced a decline.
• Yet surprisingly, nearly a third (31.5%) voted online customer service as being the best, twice as many as those who cited over the phone offerings (15.5%).
• When asked to give an example of excellent customer service online brands Amazon and Ebay were frequently referenced, with John Lewis and Marks & Spencer regularly cited as popular high-street retail brands.
So – my key takeaways are as follows:
1. Does customer good customer service matter? A resounding yes. It’s an integral part of your brand value and is critical in building customer loyalty. If your customers do not feel valued, then they are clearly prepared to vote with their feet – and, more importantly, they will tell other people to do the same. There’s no news like bad news!
2. Problem resolution has to be personal and friendly. For those of us operating in the online world, there is little opportunity to meet with your customer face-to-face, however that does not mean that online businesses are unable to provide the best levels of customer service (despite what the 57.6% of people surveyed say above!). It simply means that your customer needs to be at the very heart of everything do. Just see the references to Amazon and eBay as excellent customer service brands. Shutl is taking notes…
Recession? What recession?
Wednesday, February 10th, 2010
A recent report by Kelkoo shows that UK consumers were responsible for a MASSIVE 30% of all European online retail sales in 2009. Collectively we managed to spend £38bn compared to the European total of £127.7bn. Recession? What recession?
Despite these crazy numbers, the online shopping experience still has some way to go. In contrast, IMRG’s Consumer Delivery Report 2010 reveals that there is an increase in concern amongst consumers about the risk of delivery failure. Despite overall satisfaction with delivery services growing by 13% – predominantly due to the increase in more convenient delivery options – 75% of consumers have experienced a complete or ‘1st time’ delivery failure. An alarmingly high number – and a problem that we at Shutl intend to solve!
The report goes on to state that 17 out of 100 deliveries are still not completed in line with the consumer’s ideal expectations.
Just how much more will we spend once the pains around delivery are overcome?
iPad – an opportunity for retailers?
Thursday, January 28th, 2010
Yesterday’s launch of the iPad met with some serious buzz. If there’s one thing Apple know how to do, its launch a product!
And hats off to Mr. Jobs – the iPad does look like a stunning piece of kit. The sleek design of the iPhone combined with a tablet screen and iTunes/App Store integration makes for a pretty compelling product that nicely bridges the gap between iPhone and MacBook. Whether it will sink or swim is yet to be decided…
Of note, however, is what the launch of this device means for retailers. The supposedly “best browsing experience you’ll ever have” (Steve Jobs) offered by the iPad means this could be the new terminal through which people will be interacting with online stores to do their shopping. Everything about the iPad heralds a new wave of feature-rich retailer apps that will no longer have to limit their functionality and fight for available space on the small screen of a smartphone. It offers huge potential for an entirely new level of engagement with your consumer.
The question is who will be the first to exploit it?
