Best Practices for ``e-Tail'' Emerge From Holiday Growing Pains; Holiday Season Survey of Online Merchants Reveals the Traits That Separate Winners From Losers.Business Editors/High Tech &Retail Writers HUDSON, Ohio--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 1, 2000 A study of online catalog Similar to an online library or databases in the information storage respect, ‘’’online catalogs’’’ allow potential customers to browse a company’s items for sale from a different location using the internet. merchants by CFT CFT complement fixation test; see under fixation. CFT complement fixation test. Retail|solutions(SM), part of AnswerThink, during the holiday-shopping season indicates that &uot;e-Tail&uot; sites designed primarily to boost customer loyalty are the winners for both the short and long terms. The survey's objective was to determine which web catalog catalog, descriptive list, on cards or in a book, of the contents of a library. Assurbanipal's library at Nineveh was cataloged on shelves of slate. The first known subject catalog was compiled by Callimachus at the Alexandrian Library in the 3d cent. B.C. retailers maintained the most functional and &uot;customer-centric&uot; sites during the busiest shopping time of the year -- the holiday season. &uot;First impressions are crucial to successful Internet commerce,&uot; said Frank Andryauskas, Retail e-Commerce practice director at AnswerThink (Nasdaq:ANSR ANSR Autonomous Naval Support Round ANSR Adaptive Network Solutions Research, Inc. ANSR Advanced Neutron Source Reactor ANSR Active No Swashplate Rotor (Army) ). &uot;Online consumers are typically getting on the web in the first place because they want to avoid the crowds and long waits that are associated with retail shopping during the holidays. If they can't get the product information they are seeking quickly and easily, they are simply going to surf to another site, never returning to the first.&uot; The survey revealed a number of e-Tail best practices, like ease of shopping, ease of ordering, ease of order tracking, customer service and product availability for last-minute shopping. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. results, based on research of more than 75 catalog company web sites, the top-performing online catalog merchants offer best-practice solutions including customer personalization Custom tailoring information to the individual. On the Web, personalization means returning a page that has been customized for the user, taking into consideration that person's habits and preferences. , order history and tracking, gift certificates and gift registry The configuration database in all 32-bit versions of Windows that contains settings for the hardware and software in the PC it is installed in. The Registry is made up of the SYSTEM.DAT and USER.DAT files. Many settings previously stored in the WIN.INI and SYSTEM. capabilities, advanced searching, the option to enter product numbers directly from a catalog, address books and confirmation e-mails. The survey also shows that while Internet vendors do provide a convenient service, the majority still have a long way to go before being considered a world-class operation. For instance, only eight percent of the surveyed companies offered time-saving address books to customers who planned on shipping products at various times to the same location. And only 22 percent of the web sites kept customer profiles that allowed visitors to come back later and directly log in, with more than three-quarters of users being forced to re-enter re·en·ter also re-en·ter v. re·en·tered, re·en·ter·ing, re·en·ters v.tr. 1. To enter or come in to again. 2. To record again on a list or ledger. v.intr. credit card and other personal information. The holiday rush exposed another primary weakness of online merchants -- the inability to deliver quickly. Only one-third of the web sites surveyed were still offering merchandise for Christmas delivery after December 19 and, of those that did, only a quarter actually delivered by Christmas day. &uot;While some on-line catalogs are still lacking in many of the fundamental practices that lead to retail success, many catalogs are a huge step closer to making shopping easier. Poor service during the hectic hec·tic adj. 1. Characterized by intense activity, confusion, or haste: "There was nothing feverish or hectic about his vigor" Erik Erikson. 2. holiday season, however, proves they still have a long way to go,&uot; said Susan DeLuca, manager, CFT Retail|solutions(SM) e-Commerce practice. &uot;Time will tell if this new shopping medium will be able to evolve in the direction that's necessary to ensure increased business and -- more importantly -- customer loyalty.&uot; About AnswerThink AnswerThink (www.answerthink.com) is a leading, integrated e-Business solutions provider. With its recent merger with THINK New Ideas "New Ideas" is the debut single by Scottish New Wave/Indie Rock act The Dykeenies. It was first released as a Double A-side with "Will It Happen Tonight?" on July 17, 2006. The band also recorded a video for the track. , the company now helps design, build, market and support the e-Business efforts of a growing list of FORTUNE 1000 and dot-com clients. AnswerThink offers a wide range of integrated solutions, including e-business consulting, interactive marketing, branding and creative content development, Web design, benchmarking and best practices, e-Business transformation, custom application development, software package implementation, e-commerce and decision support technology. The company's &uot;end-to-end&uot; focus provides its clients with a unique combination of accountability and expertise, leveraging e-Solutions across multi-entity functional areas that include brand and product development, business strategy, e-Commerce, supply chain, sales and marketing, customer relationship management, finance, human resources The fancy word for "people." The human resources department within an organization, years ago known as the "personnel department," manages the administrative aspects of the employees. and information technology. For more information about AnswerThink, please call1-888-2solve-IT. For more information about CFT Retail|solutions(SM) Customer Care Best Practices, the survey, or to speak with Susan DeLuca, please contact: Aaron Smith Aaron Smith may refer to:
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