Online shopping has plenty of pluses going for it: Compared to the in-store experience, the consumer can browse more quickly than strolling down the aisles, and can do so 24 hours a day, without ever having to head to the mall. But the experience is far from perfect, and I’m not talking about the obvious downsides, like that you can’t try something on if you’re only looking at it on a computer screen. Many of the problems seem to arise because the retail and online divisions of major stores are run by entirely different groups, or at least they were until recently—and these groups sometimes seem more like competitors rather than players working on the same team. The consumer sees the same store brand name, and understandably assumes the entities are identical, but they’re not—and the results are heaps of confusion and frustration. Here, some of the issues that I and others take issue with when it comes to buying stuff on the Internet: Price Inconsistency. Paco Underhill, the consumer culture scholar behind Why We Buy, discusses all sorts of online shopping frustrations in an interview with the WSJ Digits blog. Among other things, he wonders why in the world retailers would sell a product for one price in the store, and for another price on the web. Do retailers think we’ll never find out? Do they think we’re stupid? Such practices can only lead to consumer frustration, with more than a few consumers taking our business elsewhere. “They have to create seamless links between online and the store,” says Underhill. Signage Inconsistency. There’s a big banner promotion heralded on a retailer’s website, asking consumers to come down to the store and take advantage. When you get there, you have to ask a salesperson if you’re in the right place—because there are no signs whatsoever to match the promos you saw online. “Oh yeah,” the sales guy says, pointing out what you need to do. It seems like the brick-and-mortar stores prefer in-store shoppers to be ignorant of special deals … Continue reading What’s Wrong with Online Shopping