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Insider's report on payments
Multichannel shopping, payments struggle
By Patti Murphy NRF data, the average online shopper spent just over $177
ProScribes Inc. online Thanksgiving weekend.
'm a big fan of online shopping. I have been ever But here's something else the NRF's data revealed:
since moving to a rural area. (The store closest to consumers continue to rely on traditional advertising
my home is a six-mile drive.) But e-commerce can't media when shopping for deals. Among Thanksgiving
I replace in-store shopping; there are too many down- weekend shoppers polled, 49.2 percent sought deals by
sides. That means payment companies need to become perusing advertising circulars; only one-third went online
proficient at supporting all manner of payments across to find deals. Nearly 37 percent kept track of email deals
multiple channels. sent by retailers, and 16.4 percent reviewed the store's
Facebook pages; just 12.2 percent walked store aisles
One downside of e-commerce is lack of immediacy. Often, looking for bargains, NRF said.
by the time an online order gets delivered, the excitement It's a multichannel thing
of the purchase has diminished. Amazon Inc. has said it's
working to overcome this. The plan: use drones (unmanned Today shopping is, for most, a multichannel experience,
aircraft) to deliver orders in 30 minutes or less. News of and the Internet is just one of those channels. "Multichannel
the service, called Amazon Prime Air, has been met with a shopping is all about freedom and being able to shop
good deal of skepticism and derision, and for good reasons. wherever and whenever you want," the consultancy
It's not practical. It's not even legal for private citizens to PwC wrote in the white paper How U.S. online shoppers
fly drones in U.S. airspace. That's why Amazon said it will are reshaping the retail experience. Among U.S. consumers
take "some number of years as we advance the technology surveyed in 2012 by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC),
and wait for the necessary FAA rules and regulations." 65 percent said they shop across two channels, 25 percent
Online purchases not seamless enough use four and 21 percent use five channels to shop.
Another downside of online shopping is technology. PwC also found most U.S. consumers go online to research
Consumers who shop online want transactions that are products before shopping – between 73 percent and 80
seamless and easy, and the technologies underlying percent, depending on the products. The higher the price,
e-commerce are not always up to the task. I discovered this generally, the more likely consumers are to research online.
first hand on Black Friday when I went online to purchase "[O]nline research doesn't just lead to online purchases, it's
an oven. According to the National Retail Federation, I also critical in leading to purchases through other channels
was one of 59 million Americans who shopped online and in driving traffic to physical brick-and-mortar outlets,"
over the Thanksgiving weekend. Digital metrics company the consultancy wrote.
comScore Inc. said U.S. businesses rang up $1.198 billion in
consumer online (desktop) sales just on Black Friday – a 15 This creates challenges not just for retailers, but also for
percent jump over Black Friday online sales in 2012. payment companies. As a recent survey by First Annapolis
Consulting revealed, a significant share of multichannel
My penchant for online shopping was put to the ultimate merchants (27 percent) use three or more software solutions
test, however. Although it didn't take long to find a new to facilitate payments across multiple channels. The
oven, the purchase process went on for almost an hour survey results indicate payment processors are missing
before I was told my order could not be completed and the mark "mostly due to the fragmented manner in which
that I should try again in a couple of hours. It seems the payments technology has tended to evolve in the past,"
major national retailer with the best deal on ovens had a First Annapolis stated.
systems outage. So instead of ordering a new oven from
the comfort of my home, I had to get into my car, drive
20 miles and fight frenzied crowds at a brick-and-mortar Patti Murphy is Senior Editor of The Green Sheet and President of
locale on Black Friday. ProScribes Inc. She is also the founder of InsideMicrofinance.com.
Email her at patti@greensheet.com.
I may have been a bit too optimistic expecting to be able
to make a large-dollar purchase online with the same ease
that I order books and computer equipment. According to
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Insider's report on payments
Multichannel shopping, payments struggle
By Patti Murphy NRF data, the average online shopper spent just over $177
ProScribes Inc. online Thanksgiving weekend.
'm a big fan of online shopping. I have been ever But here's something else the NRF's data revealed:
since moving to a rural area. (The store closest to consumers continue to rely on traditional advertising
my home is a six-mile drive.) But e-commerce can't media when shopping for deals. Among Thanksgiving
I replace in-store shopping; there are too many down- weekend shoppers polled, 49.2 percent sought deals by
sides. That means payment companies need to become perusing advertising circulars; only one-third went online
proficient at supporting all manner of payments across to find deals. Nearly 37 percent kept track of email deals
multiple channels. sent by retailers, and 16.4 percent reviewed the store's
Facebook pages; just 12.2 percent walked store aisles
One downside of e-commerce is lack of immediacy. Often, looking for bargains, NRF said.
by the time an online order gets delivered, the excitement It's a multichannel thing
of the purchase has diminished. Amazon Inc. has said it's
working to overcome this. The plan: use drones (unmanned Today shopping is, for most, a multichannel experience,
aircraft) to deliver orders in 30 minutes or less. News of and the Internet is just one of those channels. "Multichannel
the service, called Amazon Prime Air, has been met with a shopping is all about freedom and being able to shop
good deal of skepticism and derision, and for good reasons. wherever and whenever you want," the consultancy
It's not practical. It's not even legal for private citizens to PwC wrote in the white paper How U.S. online shoppers
fly drones in U.S. airspace. That's why Amazon said it will are reshaping the retail experience. Among U.S. consumers
take "some number of years as we advance the technology surveyed in 2012 by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC),
and wait for the necessary FAA rules and regulations." 65 percent said they shop across two channels, 25 percent
Online purchases not seamless enough use four and 21 percent use five channels to shop.
Another downside of online shopping is technology. PwC also found most U.S. consumers go online to research
Consumers who shop online want transactions that are products before shopping – between 73 percent and 80
seamless and easy, and the technologies underlying percent, depending on the products. The higher the price,
e-commerce are not always up to the task. I discovered this generally, the more likely consumers are to research online.
first hand on Black Friday when I went online to purchase "[O]nline research doesn't just lead to online purchases, it's
an oven. According to the National Retail Federation, I also critical in leading to purchases through other channels
was one of 59 million Americans who shopped online and in driving traffic to physical brick-and-mortar outlets,"
over the Thanksgiving weekend. Digital metrics company the consultancy wrote.
comScore Inc. said U.S. businesses rang up $1.198 billion in
consumer online (desktop) sales just on Black Friday – a 15 This creates challenges not just for retailers, but also for
percent jump over Black Friday online sales in 2012. payment companies. As a recent survey by First Annapolis
Consulting revealed, a significant share of multichannel
My penchant for online shopping was put to the ultimate merchants (27 percent) use three or more software solutions
test, however. Although it didn't take long to find a new to facilitate payments across multiple channels. The
oven, the purchase process went on for almost an hour survey results indicate payment processors are missing
before I was told my order could not be completed and the mark "mostly due to the fragmented manner in which
that I should try again in a couple of hours. It seems the payments technology has tended to evolve in the past,"
major national retailer with the best deal on ovens had a First Annapolis stated.
systems outage. So instead of ordering a new oven from
the comfort of my home, I had to get into my car, drive
20 miles and fight frenzied crowds at a brick-and-mortar Patti Murphy is Senior Editor of The Green Sheet and President of
locale on Black Friday. ProScribes Inc. She is also the founder of InsideMicrofinance.com.
Email her at patti@greensheet.com.
I may have been a bit too optimistic expecting to be able
to make a large-dollar purchase online with the same ease
that I order books and computer equipment. According to
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