6 February 2009

As new waves of technology come into fashion, it is important to take a step back and consider what they can do for you and your customers. Bernhard Pichler explains.

Wikipedia, My Space, forums, blogs, RSS. All of these words form and represent a new way of using the Internet, and has come to be known as Web 2.0. The Web is no longer just about finding information, but also about having the ability to influence it from a social perspective.

Many retailers are now starting to catch on to this, using social networking technologies as a different route to market. This is all very well and good, but many businesses are focussing on these over-hyped technology developments, and risking diverting resources from the high-ROI design issues that really matter to their users – and to their profits.

Web 2.0 ideas are not intrinsically bad for users, they can actually be highly effective. However, if these technologies don’t focus on users’ core needs then there’s a distinct likelihood that badly thought out ‘enhancements’ will actually diminish profits because they fail to focus on those simpler design issues that actually increase sales and leads.

So, in order to succeed with Web 2.0 you need to ask yourself what drives people within it. By doing this, and really thinking about what people want, then you can be sure that you are going to succeed when the crowd arrives. People are like birds of passage; they just need the right climate in which to feel comfortable.

So what does this mean for retail in an Internet world these days? The answer is to establish exactly this climate that best fits your customer’s needs, a climate of trust, self expression and respect.

This means that the front end of your business needs to be focused on the customer, and it needs to be user-friendly. Usability focuses on the human approach and, as research shows, significantly increases trade volumes by up to 30 – 40 per cent. I deeply believe that this will be the key differentiator for e-commerce in the years to come. And never has the time been better to set up usable software.

Let me point out some key areas and how technology responds to the need of usability. Firstly, a system should be reliable and stable. Lots of frameworks are available that offer developers tested modules they can use. Performance is also key. Even long running actions should not hinder the user interface from being responsive. Asynchronous calls and multi threading have become very easy to implement, fulfilling this demand.

To be usable, technology also has to be to a certain extent predictable. Office 2007 has clearly focused on this with its preview functionality. The user can see the results of an action before performing it, and he can undo any action that he has made. Usability is now a real selling feature. It is not new features that make it compelling – users love it because they can work faster – the usability is overwhelming.

Focus is also important. Why have all commands available if only three or four fit the current context? Command Binding in Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) gives a set of tools that react to the context without a single line of code. The more information we have the more important it is to see it at a glance. Silverlight and WPF go far beyond the controls you know and visualise complex information in a cool design. The integration of maps, for example Virtual Earth, let you target the right zone much easier.

With technologies such as WPF, Silverlight and Virtual Earth, to mention just a few, Microsoft offers solutions that can help retailers create an experience with a real wow factor. It is up to dedicated developers, passionate designers and professional usability experts to realise your vision – that customers buy your goods because you truly understand their needs.

About the author: Bernhard Pichler is managing director of Informare Consulting. He leads development teams in Eastern Europe and India, works as a trainer and speaker for WPF and consults with retail companies about new business opportunities that arise from new technologies. Together with his wife and four children he is located in Oberschneiding, Bavaria, Germany.

This article first appeared in the spring 2009 edition of Retailspeak magazine.

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