After several attempts in the physical world, I finally bought my bicycle helmet online. The decision to purchase was driven by two key factors: Fear and Vanity.
Fear because I was increasingly terrified when cycling around in the centre of Copenhagen and really thought that getting a helmet would be a good idea. Vanity, because it was only when I saw a nice “Nutcase” helmet that getting one for myself became a real option.
However, shopping for a helmet in old-school bicycle shops isn’t as easy as you might think. It seems like most store owners have missed the fact that the choice of helmets has increased dramatically in the past years. Consequently, they have failed to adapt their stores to the rather complex process you go through as a customer; that of finding the right size and model:
- The shops lack proper display facilities to make it easy to find designs and sizes.
- There is no privacy for the vane customer who might be embarrassed to show helmet hair and bad fits to the general public.
- Staff isn’t focused on helmets and knows little about the different brands.
- The shops are so crammed with bicycles that moving around is impossible, let alone bringing a friend along to advice you about the right choice.
So after turning around on the doorstep of many offline shops, one afternoon I decided to see if I could get what I wanted online. I remember the process as follows:
- Search Google for the brand of the helmet I had seen on another girl’s head
- Found several available designs of the same brand
- Found out that different designs come in different size intervals
- My spouse got out the tape measure to measure my head and we decided that the 54-58 centimetres interval was probably the best for my head.
- Choosing between the available designs in the best size-interval
Localise store with helmet of choice in stock - Purchase
The most interesting thing about the process is that I remember all the considerations I had and whyin the end it was better to buy the helmet online. But I can’t remember anything about the store. This is a bit thought-provoking as the helmet in itself was rather pricey. There could be a few reasons for this. One is that most Danish bicycle stores online look the same with the same prices everywhere; almost as if it were the same shop. But could it perhaps be that the online experience in its entirety was so good that the experience the shop in itself provided became insignificant?
Are there other examples of frequent online shoppers with no recollection of the names of the places where they do transactions?
Lau Andreasen December 11th, 2008 9:24
Only smooth operators will survive the merciless e-shopper!
You knew what you wanted; you had already seen the helmet you thought would suit your worried head. And on this occasion you got your helmet – and without burning your hands or hitting your head against a virtual brick wall!
Perhaps if you had burnt your hands during your online shopping experience this time around – or previously – you would have had a clearer recollection of the look, feel and efficiency (or lack of!) of the given retailer.
Depending on what I personally am in the market for, my choice of retailer will be based on either:
1: The trust factor: Trusted retailers with credibility, good track record and held in generally high perception; (think Amazon, John Lewis, Kaufhof depending on where you reside) – The trust factor wins if I am likely to need after sales care.
2: Shopping by brand; you know what you want = best deal will decide
3: Experience led: either A) ease of solving the shopping task (no hassle + promises of “never ending care”)or B) intriguing and exciting; a themed experience; what could be called the emotive journey factor.
These choices are valid not only for bike helmets, but for virtually any product; travel, entertainment, household…
When shopping online, one no longer faces the inconvenience factor of trawling up and down busy shopping streets, comparing stores and deals; there is always another retailer offering the same and more one or 2 clicks away, and you do not have to move your shopping self an inch. Choice of product; size; model; your particular preference is always available somewhere along your online high street.
We are used to this now. We are “sub-consciously savvy”. Therefore, the shopping experience online must be smooth and without even ten seconds’ or 2 awkward clicks’ worth of unnecessary hassle – otherwise I (we) return to the browser to launch a fresh Google search in no time. Our minimum expectations have risen dramatically in a very short space of time.
Previously, in the early days of online retailing, price was really the only issue; the key deciding factor. And we as shoppers were rather humble; we thought it amazing that through clicking our way through an order via our computer, goods would actually turn up at our doorstep. Expectations were low and the wow-factor still there. (Like with many things online a decade ago). However, most people have since burnt their hands with unreliable e-tailers who turn out to be impossible to talk to with no after sales care and no knowledge of the product they sell. E-shoppers have become more demanding and the e-tailers have had to catch up.
So yes, we have become rather “spoilt” in terms of our e-tailing experiences and what we expect from them. We do not notice and reflect or comment on the good ones; we take them for granted. The bike helmet story is an example of this. But many certainly notice – and complain extremely loudly about – the bad ones. Think of the casual, but often horrendous slagging off of retailers, brand names and Ebay auctioneers alike on review sites, in ra(n)ting forums etc. The merciless e-shopper is becoming more forceful by the day!