Page 149 - Electronic Commerce

Chapter 3

Adding the Personal Touch
A number of apparel sellers have adapted their catalog sales model to the Web. These Web
stores display photos of casual and business clothing categorized by style and described
with prices, sizes, colors, and tailoring details. Their intent is to have customers examine
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the clothing and place orders through the Web site. Lands’ End pioneered the idea of
online Web shopping assistance with its Lands’ End Live feature in 1999. Today, many
Web sites offer a chat feature that is activated by the Web site visitor clicking a button on
the Web page. Some sites activate a chat window when a visitor remains on a particular
Web page longer than a certain time interval. These chat windows simulate the
experience of having a helpful salesperson approach the customer in a physical retail
store. In addition to text chat, some online retailers use video to communicate with
customers who have Webcams attached to or built into their computers.
Some online stores include a feature that lets two shoppers browse the Web site
together from different computers. Only one of the shoppers can purchase items, but
either shopper can select items to view. The selected items appear in both Web browsers.
Many online clothing retailers offer personal shopper and virtual model features. The
personal shopper is an intelligent agent program that learns the customer’s preferences
and makes suggestions. The virtual model is a graphic image built from customer
measurements and descriptions on which customers can try clothes. Some retailers report
that the dollar amount of orders placed by customers who use the virtual model is
significantly higher than other orders. The Canadian company that developed this Web
site feature, My Virtual Model, has sold the technology to a number of other clothing
retailers. The increase in sales and the decrease in returns on Web sites that use these
services, generally called virtual fitting rooms, is so dramatic that a number of other
companies now offer similar services that include, in some cases, body scans performed at
a physical location.
One problem that the Web presents for clothing retailers of all types is that the color
settings on computer monitors vary widely. It is difficult for customers to get an accurate
idea of what the product’s color will look like when it arrives. Most online clothing stores
will send a fabric swatch on request. The swatch also gives the customer a sense of the
fabric’s texture—an added benefit not provided by catalogs. Many Web catalog retailers
also have generous return policies that allow customers to return unused merchandise for
any reason. One company that used its return policy as a competitive advantage is online
shoe retailer Zappos (now owned by Amazon.com). Recognizing that shoe styles and fit
can be difficult to evaluate online, Zappos distinguished itself from its competitors by
offering fast delivery and free returns.

Fee-for-Content Revenue Models
Firms that own written information (words or numbers) or rights to that information have
embraced the Web as a highly efficient distribution mechanism. Many of these companies
use a digital content revenue model; that is, they sell rights to access the information
they own. Many companies sell subscriptions that give customers the right to access all
or a specified part of the information; others sell the right to access individual items.
A number of companies combine these two approaches and sell both subscriptions and
individual access rights.

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