28 Aug 2007


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Festive customers still lack trust in online retailing

Source : PPT Solutions
Nearly 40% of people attempted to contact online retailers by telephone during last year's Christmas period – proof that customers still have 'trust' issues with internet shopping.

A survey by PPT Solutions, a leading call centre outsourcing operation, discovered that a third of people (31.5%) had bought Christmas presents online last year, with most of them (76.6%) satisfied or very satisfied with the experience.

However, over half (56.9%) encountered at least one problem while shopping on the web – 30.1% found that items were out of stock, 22% had issues with late deliveries and crashed websites accounted for 13.8% of gripes.

And the problems didn't stop online. When calls were made to retailers 43.5% of people were unable to get through at all, 28.3% were unable to get through for a long time and 10.9% of people felt that call centre staff lacked product knowledge or were unable to resolve their problems satisfactorily.

Diane Hewitt is managing director of PPT Solutions, which commissioned the survey of UK householders: “First and foremost, what this survey proves is the trend towards internet shopping, particularly during the Christmas period, continues apace. A large chunk of the population made online purchases last year, and analysis suggests this figure will grow in 2007.

“By and large, people are happy with the service online retailers are giving them but, despite their best efforts, 38.7% of customers still feel the need to contact them by telephone.

“Anecdotal evidence gathered during the course of our survey suggests that the calls may be in relation to genuine issues like product enquiries – but others are simply seeking reassurance that orders have gone through. It seems there are multiple cases where customers just simply want to speak to another human being!

“Of course, the result is that undue pressure is put onto call centre operations. Which is why retailers need to be putting their arrangements in place now for Christmas 2007, whether recruiting and training in-house staff, or looking at outsourcing operations.”

Diane Hewitt added: “Despite experiencing some problems, I think our survey shows that customer attitudes towards online shopping are fantastic. One of the most positive statistics to come out of the study was that 92.7% of people were likely, or very likely, to buy their Christmas presents online this year – which is great news for us all!”

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