ISSUE NINE
14 April 2008
How often do you send an email and then check your inbox
every 10 minutes or so waiting for a response. Have you ever
left a queue in a shop because you can’t be bothered
to wait? After watching London Marathon runners thundering
past my house this weekend, I resolved to begin running again
and tried to order new trainers online. My first and second
choice e-stores didn’t have my size in stock. I simply
trawled around until I found an e-retailer not only with
my chosen shoes, but that could also deliver the next day.
Our lives have sped up so much that many of us are no
longer repared to wait for things we perceive should always
be readily available. We know exactly what we want, how we
want it and when
we want it – right now. We
have little regard for retailers or services that cannot
meet those expectations. In fact research shows that
64%
of us believe we have less time now than we did a year ago.
Frightening isn’t it?
GSK, with its Lucozade and Ribena soft drinks brands, understands
more than most food and drink manufacturers the importance
of delivering ‘Nowability’ – that is giving
consumers what they want, when they want it, sometimes even
when they don’t know they want it.
Research shows that around 50% of us are willing to pay
more for convenient solutions, while c-store shoppers are
prepared to pay 11% more for goods than in a supermarket.
I certainly fall into this bracket – regularly shunning
my local Asda for a small Tesco Express simply because I
can’t face the queues.
But, retailers fail to deliver
at their peril! 50% of us will stop shopping in a store if
we can’t find what we want
just twice. In the end it comes back to two premises – availability
and visibility. Is it in stock and can shoppers find it? It
doesn’t get simpler than that – so how come so
many retailers still seem to struggle with the concept?
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