The Teckki Says

Do you bring items to a checkout line, only to make the decision not to purchase after the item has been rung up? Do you add an item to your online shopping cart, only later to abandon the sale?

I do this, but not necessarily out of a buyer's remorse.

In a recent AP article notes that during this recession, up to 25% of brick-and-mortar shoppers are abandoning purchases, while upwards of 70% are doing so online

I don't feel guilty about abandoning merchandise. In some cases, I was only looking to see what the price was. If taking it up to the register or going as far as I can in an online shopping process is the only way I can get the price, and I mean the NEAR FINAL PRICE, then I will do so with full intent of possibly abandoning the item.

I bet most of us have done this as well, but feel guilty about it. If we do it in front of a checkout person, we feel really guilty. This probably explains the rate differential between online and brick-and-mortar stores.

I'll cite two examples of places I shop in how, a large department store, and an online equipment retailer, helps it's customers with pricing information and lessens the chances of abandoned purchases. In the case of the department store, they have scanners in the aisles. They are generally very good about pricing on the shelves, but with tens of thousands of items, not everything is marked clearly all of the time. I think the in-store scanner was a fantastic idea, and one that saves money. Most likely, when a shopper is able to scan an item near its shelf, the unwanted item will go back on the shelf from whence it came. This means that a stock clerk doesn't have to restock it, or more importantly, won't spend time searching for it when the inventory screen says that there is one left, but someone who abandoned the item left it at the cash register or in another department.

As for the online retailer, the equivalent of this is a wish list, or a feature that calculates shipping and handling based on zip code. If I can get all of the pricing information prior to placing it into a cart, I won't abandon the cart later when I intend to buy. They beauty of this retailer's system is that I don't even have to log in to get an exact purchasing price, just enter in my zip code. There are no emails to hassle me about what I wasn't going to buy.

It seems to me that some of the most brilliant people in business forget that they shop like this. These same people will go over contracts and proposals with the finest tooth combs, and still not sign, but express exasperation when someone puts back a $3 item at the checkout counter, or abandon a $10 online purchase.

What they should understand is that if people will drive another mile or two to save a nickel per gallon on gasoline, they'll have no problem abandoning merchandise before a purchased.

Especially if all their customers wanted to know was the price.