Today’s award for lamest excuse for an e-commerice web site goes to….NorthernTool.com
Hoping to buy some tools, I went online shopping there this morning before work. However, the site search function and category browse failed to work. The unhelpful chat agent (a real person) suggested I try again after lunch. I’ve no idea what time zone he was referring too. Probably his in central US (where I don’t live).
So I tried after “lunch” at around 7:15PST and the web site is still spewing helpful errors like this one:
Lameness
In keeping with that spirit of unavailability, I’m making my wallet unavailable to Nothern Tool forever.
I find it sad and pathetic how many sites I’ve encountered lately that just don’t work. These businesses are losing a ton of potential revenue and customers. I contend that you simply cannot trust *any* vendor to protect your personal information that cannot keep their web site running.
These businesses just don’t seem to get it. If you can’t run a rock-solid web shopping experience, then you are going to get killed. Online shopping is where the growth is — not retail, not telesales. And if I’m a shareholder in one of these firms, then I’m going to run from that stock as fast as I can.
There’s a simple message: if you can’t run the online store, then prepare for annihilation at the hands of Amazon or one of your competitors that takes it seriously. And if you can’t run it right, then get on board as an Amazon merchant, Yahoo! Shopping partner, or Google Products/Checkout vendor. At least your business will live a little bit longer before assimilation and death.
