The cross-sells that a retailer produces on the website are often very revealing, as they provide an insight into the mind of the customer. Or … perhaps an insight into the mind of John Lewis the retailer looking into the mind of the customer.
So, given this, I think I’d really like to party with John Lewis Direct!
Bounce and Fizz!
Its long been my contention that the people who embrace technology also embrace the use of it. It has always been rather odd to me that the given wisdom of the internet states that:
“Users want to get in to a website, buy, and get out again as quickly as possible”
Cant be right, can it? If you get a new toy then I think you want to play, not just leave it in its box. So I guess I see these early adopters and early mass market as spending a lot of time online rather than just dipping in and out. They love technology, so they find ways to use it.
I would accept, however, that cost and speed has been a consideration within all of this. Dial up meant long waits and sometimes high costs to stay online all the time. You might be quite picky about how you use the internet however keen you were. Banking, certainly, researching, probably, groceries, possibly.
But dial up is plummeting, and broadband is everywhere cheap, and if I were an early adopter (which I am) then I’d get broadband (which I have) and I’d be on all day (well, a lot!). I get to play with my toys as much as I like for a set cost. Marvellous.
Hence The Always On Culture, emphasis, Culture and the Supermarket Sweep. Whereas in 2000 I want to get my groceries with the minimum of fuss, in 2005 I don’t care how long I say. I’ll browse forever if you can keep me there. I’m playing, I enjoy this, I want to stay. I think in 2000, the tick of the connection clock still nagged us, but in 2005 nothing can stop us but the limits of our imaginations. We’ve now got the flow that we could never get before with the ticking clock in the background
“Users want to get in to a website, buy, and get out again as quickly as possible”?
In 2005? Complete tosh.
Gladwell says: “I think its time we paid more attention to those fleeting moments. I think that if we did, it would change the way wars are fought, the kind of products we see on the shelves, the kinds of movies that get made, the way police officers are trained, the way couples are counseled, the way job interviews are conducted and on and on–and if you combine all those little changes together you end up with a different and happier world.”
So, .. have you read Blink yet? Do you feel you should?
Great title for me! The first line of a very interesting article about the Empathy Economy. Finally we might be free of the clutches of those damn left brainers and back to accepting that emotion, thin-slicing, intuition, gut feeling, holism and maybe even a little bit of risk is important ahead of stultifying cold rationality. Thank you and goodbye, Hal 9000! … maybe?
“I’m afraid I can’t do that, Dave…”
The latest edition of the ACMs Interactions Magazine consists of a discussion of who owns the User Experience. I was pleased to be invited to contribute to this, and here is my piece … it draws much on my experiences in film and TV production…
“THERE HAS BEEN MUCH DISCUSSION among organizations and practitioners
lately about the ownership of the user experience. So, who owns it? Or to put it another way, who is responsible for the user experience and who makes it work? …”
The Vision of Good User Experience
© ACM, 2005. This is the author’s version of the work. It is posted here by permission of ACM for your personal use. Not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Interactions, VOL 12, ISS 3, May + June 2005 http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1060189.1060208
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