The Online Insider Has a Sharp Christmas -- Check out Sharper Image's site!
Written: Dec 30 '04
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Every year the Insider gives what he likes to call his "signature gift" to members of his family. It's a tongue in cheek affair, for the most part, but it does highlight something that epinioneers might find useful -- the Insider's use of the Internet to find quirky items for others to enjoy.
Last year, I found UncommonGoods.com -- and the fun items that I bought there went over really big. In fact, I know that my wife and mother-in-law have gone back to that site to buy 2003's signature gift for other people -- a sure sign of my gifting chops!
This year, I was stumped. I not only needed to find a gift for my father, I needed to find the signature gift. What would it be?
Filled with holiday dread and consternation, I turned to an old standby... SharperImage. SI is one of the few stores in the mall that I can actually stomach for more than 10 minutes. It's fun to go into an environment where you're encouraged to touch and try new things... something that the real world store gets consumers to do. But does the website foster that same type of experience?
Well, it does the best it can. Obviously you can't clone the touch and feel aspect of the store, but you can satiate the gadget-freak's need for information online. The site does do a good job of that.
Using the Site
The site is constructed much like the offline catalog. Again, sites that come from companies with stores and catalogs seem to get closer to the ideal shopping experience. They also understand that the cross pollination of visitors is important -- that is, that people will buy from them in all of their channels, so it's best to think of the purchase process as one that starts online and ends offline or vice versa, and not try to lock the user into one medium. Studies show that this holistic view results in more buying in total.
The site immediately offers the user 13 items, including one that is superfeatured in the middle of the page. This is similar to the instore experience where the islands that are set up show you one item or group of items at a time. These items are probably the most popular... and right now the Ionic Breeze air purifier seems to be that item online and off.
In addition, the site has three levels of navigation. The top right of the page contains the search box (yes! this is the right place), as well as the customer service links of checkout, view basket, sign in and order status.
The second level of navigation contains links to home, customer service area (for larger concerns and informational requests), corporate gift department, and store locations. Only after all of this informational content does the site start to add in commerce information. They also have a special offers and auction area here. Lastly, they have a catalog quick order section to get you on the mailing list.
The last navigational line has sections that route the user to ways to shop... gift guides, new products, best sellers, personal care, electronics and toys, office and travel, and home.
When the Insider was looking for his signature gift, he tried the special offers tab. I had a budget in mind, and I did need to buy 11 items for all the folks on the list. The click on this section led me to the Sharper Image Outlet section -- which is notably absent from the front page. This seemed at first to be a mistake, but it's not. Why let users buy refurbished or off priced items when you can have them buy full price, higher margin items? The folks at Sharper Image are smart and know that they'd sell more of the lesser margin product if they link to the outlet right away. They bury the link so only the bargain hunters would find it, and probably increase overall sales this way.
After clicking through to the outlet, I followed the link to electronic items and found this years gift. A talking pocket picture album... this is ideal for our family, who want to tote around pics of the Insider 2.0. At just a few bucks per person, I bought out the store!
After adding this and a few other items to the basket, I clicked on the checkout button. Checking out was easy. The site did make me register, but SI does want to carry on a dialogue with their customers, so I'll give it a pass. 3 screens from the item and I was done.
After submitting my order, I recieved an email confirmation from the site, signed by the CEO of the company. Nice touch. This contained links to UPS where I could check the tracking of the items. They shipped in 3 separate boxes and arrived on time for Christmas.
All in all, a nice shopping experience. I will return.
Recommended:
Yes
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? Talking Pocket Picture Album
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bhweb22
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Member: Brian H
Location: Northeast
Reviews written: 297
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I'm an Internet GEEK.
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