As companies continue to ramp up their eCommerce efforts, there seems to be no end to the teething pains. Coming to grips with the omni/multi/ubiquitous channel customer is no easy feat. But, in an aha moment, it struck me that one of the most singularly great advantages of eCommerce for the business manager is that you don’t have to worry as much about the weather affecting business. In fact, the worse the weather, the bigger the incentive for couch-surfing and shopping via Windows (or iOS).
The bad weather excuse…
I mean, how often has bad weather been cited for a dip in business by pure eCommerce players? I used to cringe each time I heard Sales Managers refer to inclement weather for the bad year-over-year performance during my time selling suds and dyes to hairdressers. Of course, there was an element of justification; but it just seemed like such a meager excuse. When the weather was good, I never heard the same sales manager give credit to the sunshine. When sales are so dependent on the sun coming out, then I would tend to believe that the core proposition (ie. the product/service being sold) needs a little more sunshine itself. It’s a question of mindset, I say.
I know it’s not always true, but really…
The good weather excuse?
So, imagine my face the other day when I heard a sales manager identify that sunshine was the cause of reduced sales online. That said, as eCommerce matures, we will surely increasingly hear about the challenges of delivering packages on-time during bad weather. To confuse the figures of speech, on-time delivery may become a bellwe[a]ther metric for eCommerce customer service! {Tweet this}
These are, indeed, changing times!
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