Hattons website award?

there was a story about Hattons in last months BRM. My copy is in work, but i can fill you in with what it says tomorrow if no one else does so in the meantime.

mutley

I can never understand why they have two web sites:

Any ideas?

Governor of Waldovia

Governor of Waldovia > I can never understand why they have two web sites

Apparently

is a bog standard HTML website, whereas is the all-singing, all-dancing searchable website, using MTS, IIS, ASP and all sorts of other brands of alphabet soup.

-- Enzo

I wear the cheese. It does not wear me.

was the first website. It evolved over time and people got used to the way it worked and it was successful.

Keith Hatton eventually realised that the site was relatively simplistic and wanted to offer more advanced features to customers, yet not annoy those who were happy with the basic, yet functional first site.

The brief for the second site was to be "everything that the first site isnt plus more". It was built using a lot of feedback from existing customers and users. Currently

has the bigger share of orders, both in numbers and in sales totals. There are no plans to scrap the original site because Keith respects the people who want to carry on using it and isnt going to dictate to them that they need to change.

Richard

Richard Davies wrote: There are no plans to scrap the original site

Which is an excellent way of doing business. I'm an infrequent customer of Hattons, and I went from the earlier website to the later because I preferred it, but I get peeved with businesses that change for the sake of change. It reminds me of the apocryphal story of some rich landowner in the 18thC who'd just installed some all-singing, all-dancing piece of mechanical contrivance, and remarked to his gardener,

"Progress, my boy, progress." "No, my lord, just change."

R.

1989?

They beat just about every other business to the internet then...

Methinks you mean 1999...

Ian J.

In my opinion, a winner for that reason alone. Well, that and cost anyway :-)

Governor of Waldovia

"Richard Davies" wrote

Would you be happy handing over potentially sensitive information to Asda or Sainsbury's before being allowed to shop there? I certainly wouldn't, and I wouldn't normally be happy to do it with any on-line store either.

John.

...

For what possible benefit? 15% of the purchase price perhaps?

Interesting question! My immediate reaction on reading the question was no chance! However I've already given that info to Amazon, Maplin, Tesco etc etc. Perhaps it's something to do with the size of the organisation.

Nigel

Many people do just that at Sainsbury's and Tesco's with loyalty cards, and with these new handheld wireless devices I saw at one store - swipe your loyalty card and scan your own purchases. There is an interesting and rather scary article about the latest retailing technology trends at

It's interesting to note that the UK's 3rd largest and lowest-priced supermarket chain, ASDA (owned by Wal-Mart - there's one across the street from your shop, John!), and Canada's largest, Loblaws, do not have loyalty cards. Neither does Wal-Mart in Canada. The new Nectar card in the UK is very similar to Canada's Air Miles card, which is not surprising as it was introduced by the same people. It enables sharing of information on spending patterns between companies - and banks.

I don't tend to worry about registering if the only info required is username, password and an email address. I have a Hotmail account for those such things if I feel less trustworthy of the site. With Hattons I wouldn't be worried as my impression is that they are a reasonable company to do business with.

Any further info, such as full name, address, and other personal info should only be requested when purchasing, and personally I would prefer it not to be linked to the registration.

Ian J.

I imagine it's entirely possible. What incentive(s) did you have in mind Richard?

"MartinS" wrote

Indeed there is, and guess who shops there and doesn't have any loyalty cards? :-)

John.

The main one is greater "personalisation" of the websites. If I knew who you were and what sort of stuff you had bought from us before or looked at, then I would be able to use that information to show you things which you would be (statistically) likely to be interested in buying. I'd be able to send you more interesting mailing lists (because you could specify what you were and were not interested in). Features like the "Recommended Products" on

could become a lot more reliable - currently they can be a little tenuous, but we don't need any more examples thanks ;-)

Time-to-customer could be reduced because all the information regarding the organisation could be stored in one single location - having the customers register is central to reducing admin headaches (especially when there are multiple orders for the same customer to deal with). Also I would be able to decrease the time it takes to make a purchase (assuming that the customer makes more than one purchase from the site) because duplicate information would not need to be entered. Multiple addresses and Special Instructions could be handled easily.

Confidentially is important, but most of the companies I know are successful enough not to have to sell their customer information and anyway, spamming people is pretty much a waste of time in the majority of sophisticated online markets.

I take JT's comment about sensitive information - but really cant see what harm it does for Mr Tesco to know how many bottles of his finest Value Spring Water I get through each week. I also know that by allowing him to gain an accurate indication of what I'm likely to buy next time I turn up at one of his stores, it makes it more likely that I'm going to have a more productive, enjoyable and economical visit. It's incidental to me that Mr Tesco is also going to make more money this way. I also know that Mr Tesco is never going to jeopardise his reputation by doing something rash with my "sensitive" information because there wouldn't be enough return to justify it.

When you are a regular customer of a local shop the shopkeeper and staff will get to know you, and sometimes they will be able to recommend a product on the basis of what you have bought there before and what you are currently looking at. This is one of the things which come up in the great "Internet" vs. "Local model shops" argument, and I'm looking for ways for the Internet to provide a superior experience to the traditional one.

Cheers

Richard

Hi Martin

"Interesting" in what way? Do you think that the lack of a Loyalty card for Asda is a benefit to them or a disadvantage? I can see how it may be perceived as either :-)

Cheers

Richard

When I shop on-line I don't mind giving them personal information such as name, address and certain bank details. It helps pay for the goods and ensures they know where to deliver it. :-)

Governor of Waldovia

Well, it offers the advantage of lower prices to customers who don't want to be tied to one store for the sake of some paltry bonus (usually around 1% or less). I do have an Air Miles card, which gets me a few free groceries once a year. As a result, I was recently enrolled, without my requesting it, in the A&P "Fresh Club", which promises me extra benefits - as long as I spend $100 a week at their supermarket. I will never spend that much, as all I buy there are the few items that aren't in stock at the lower-priced No Frills supermarket down the road, so I have had to go to the trouble of requesting to be unsubscribed.

As I suggested before, many consumers like to have a free choice. When I read the Guardian article I referenced in my earlier post*, I was quite shocked at the amount of personal data that is already being collected - and shared - by retailers, and at the proposals to collect even more. There is a valid concern that targeted marketing based on spending habits of individuals will enable retailers to concentrate on the big spenders (e.g. families with teens) and ignore the "cherrypickers" (e.g. pensioners or single parents) who shop for a few low-priced staples.

I'm not saying any of the above applies to Rails of Sheffield, or even Hatton's. All the points you make in your other reply to Ed Callaghan's post make sense from the point of view of the merchant, but not all consumers see things the same way. I have been suckered in too: I have several loyalty-type cards, but I make my purchases on the basis of best value for money. However, I am concerned as to where all this is leading. I still like to make my own choices, and don't like other people making decisions and assumptions on my behalf - whether it's a Cable TV company or a multi-billionaire in Redmond, Washington. And I'm sick of being asked at every other store if I have a loyalty card.

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In message , Richard Davies writes

There are lies, damn lies and statistics.

The things that I am _really_ interested in buying are not available (rtr GWR 2-8-0T and 2-8-2T, 1930s GWR suburban coaches, etc.).

Things that I am not interested in telling people include my sex and age. If sites insist I fill in those details, I invariably put in the wrong information, on the "mind your own bloody business" principle.

If I spend £1000 at your website (not all in one go), how much discount can I have?