E-Shop

Monday, 17 April 2000
< Good morning
Good morning >
< Do you have any ice cream?
Yeah, what kind of ice cream? Vanilla ice cream, strawberry ice cream, creamy ice cream... What kind of ice cream? >
< Mocca ice cream with nuts.
We don't have that. >
< What kind of ice cream do you have?
We don't have any ice cream at all! >
This sketch above used the be a re-occurring highlight of the Dutch radio show "Dik VoorMekaar"("All's well"). Every week 2 gentlemen had a similar sketch. The merchandise changed every week, but the 'camping store" remained just as ridiculous, week after week. Over and over again the same story line: Say yes first, name a several different types, create expectations, and sell a "No" in the end.

Yet, the camping store still lives on, as shop of disaster in Cyberspace.

What kind of ice cream?

Quite some E-Commerce sites do a perfect imitation of the ridiculous camping store. A lot of application only report no have when the customer already finished a quest for a product.

They offer a choice at first, but hit the user afterwards with some kind of annoying error message. Isn't this ridiculous? (utopia.knoware.nl/.../geluid2.html, sorry all Dutch sounds from the Dik VoorMekaar show)? Yes, I could cry, but end up laughing.

Alternative

It's so simple:

Start to show what you do have.

Keep it as simple as possible. Allow the user to choose a product with just one click.

Strawberry icecream

(www.users.nwark.com/...#strawberry)

Pistachio icecream

(www.morph.u-net.com/...)
It has been years since the "Dik VoorMekaar Show" was aired on radio. I still miss this nonsense, and will be glued to the tuner in September, when the show will make it's come back (tros.nl/dikvoormekaar, sorry All Dutch) (dvm-lois.myweb.nl, sorry all Dutch too).

I hope that the nonsense in cyberworld will come to a final stop. Don't make your E-shop a disaster shop. Follow the 7 E-Commerce commandments.

Till next week!
Nut

With special thanks to H. Nootenboom for this week's word of wisdom.
March 2000 · Rust · Broken · E-Shop · Disprovement · May 2000
Home · Search...