RE: UKNM: 'Wacky Names'

[Tony Newland]

Hi guys, have just joined the group, I'm from a print publishing background

so this is all very new territory for me. However, having just read the

first chapter of the Cluetrain Minefesto (sufficently interested to order

it) I thought I'd put the philosophy into practice and enter into

conversation.


I thought at the time with boo (stop me if you've heard all this before)

that the principle of buying clothes online was fundamentally flawed. The

web is principally visual and the interaction involved with it is for the

most part written with regard to usergroups, and online communities etc.


Clothes buying is experiential, a tactile process as well as visual, people

for the most part try on clothes etc before they buy them. The large

catalogue clothes market in the UK can't really be used as evidence to the

contrary to this. The catalogue clothes buying market, especially in the UK,

is comprised for the most part by c1,2,E,d women. Not the people who  at the

moment make up the majority of people online. Also (admittedly anecdotal)

evidence suggests that the purpose for catalogue buying in this market is

financially based, the benefits of ease of payment over a period of time.

Not because it is a *preffered* way of buying clothes overall. What's all

this about I hear you cry. ;-) Again I am possibly wrong in this, and will

after assimilating more information be horribly embarrased; but surely we

need to look at what type, or rather the nature of interaction/communication

that is taking place between an individual and the business (especially

online). If we are to determine the most effective way of communicating we

need to understand the different levels at which people operate and

communicate in different situations, especially on the web. Language in this

sense has a much broader meaning (perhaps) than in the non-web enviroment.


We need to avoid a Tower of Babel situation where we find that we are all

talking different languages and expecting different things from a given

interaction. Avoiding (for example) the bland expectation of people  buying

visually what they have been used to buying experientially, especially

clothing, without making some effort to create a bridge by which customers

can comfortably cross from one type of action to another. This is in

addition to the principles of fulfillment, cost and ease of use. Perhaps I

have confused a number of issues here, but hey if I have I'd be grateful if

you could put me straight....that's what this is all about right?


> Tony Newland

> Advertising & Sponsorship Manager

> Rainbow Network Plc

> phone: 0207 278 1105

> fax: 0207 713 7732

> web: http://www.rainbownetwork.com

>

> Any opinions expressed in this message are those of the author only and do

not necessarily represent the views of RAINBOW NETWORK PLC.

>

>



-----Original Message-----

From: Dan Oliver [

dan [dot] oliverfuturenet [dot] co [dot] uk (mailto:dan [dot] oliverfuturenet [dot] co [dot] uk)

]


Sent: Monday, July 24, 2000 4:22 AM

To:

uk-netmarketingchinwag [dot] com

Subject: RE: UKNM: 'Wacky Names'



The real clinchers in an online environment are fulfillment, cost and ease

of use. Get these right and you're on to a winner. Boo simply misjudged the

market they were aiming at. No one, not even the teen/20's age bracket, is

willing to wait 30 seconds (or more) for a self indulgent piece of Web

design to download before they can even view any of the products. Online

you can't wait months, let alone weeks, to see a brand grow. Amazon got in

at the ground floor and could afford to do this, businesses getting online

now simply don't have that luxury.


Having said this I thought the Boo TV ads were cool :-)


Dan


[Sam says: msg chopped]



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