Why won’t your mommy order that present online for you this Christmas?

December 17, 2006

As Christmas nears, many of us including myself have yet to kick into full shopping mode. We have the choice; do we crawl through the maze of shoppers at the nearest mall? Or do we order the gifts online and hope they arrive in time?

The numbers continuously shift each year from the amount of dollars spent at brick and mortar stores to spent online during Christmas season. So you’d think launching an e-store would be a safe bet.

There just happens to be one big issue. Adults.

As my parents ask what I’d like for Christmas, I yank ‘em over to my monitor, and pull up a few websites that just so happen to be in my bookmark toolbar (wink wink). I mention all the techy details in an ecstatic display in hopes of sealing the present deal and wait for their reaction.

Nine out of ten times I’ll hear, “can we get that at the store?� or “I don’t want my credit card to get hacked�. I’m not too sure exactly how a credit card would get “hacked�, but I cut them some slack.

This is the point where I have to defend credit card companies, big name online stores, and the whole industry of online shopping. It makes me feel like a defense attorney in the people vs. e-commerce.

It’s been like this with adults (aka older folk) since Amazon’s early days and frankly, I don’t think it’ll ever change.

With our media being fueled by emotionally ripping negative stories, any time online fraud, eBay scamming, or online bank mishap takes place, CNN and the rest of the wolves pounce on it making it that day’s “end of the world as we know it�.

Being that those media vehicles are targeted at our parents and they don’t read the clarifications on digg or techmeme, those BIG BOLD ONLINE SHOPPERS BEWARE tickers stick with them for a very long time. I’m talking years and years if not forever.

If you’re looking to create an online store, or convince your parents to shed their fear, what should you do? I’m not sure yet.

I’ve just begun working on developing an e-commerce store for a client that targets a market of older adults. So over the next three months, hopefully I’ll be able to figure out how to leap over this hurdle, document and make sense of solutions. Luckily, their competitor’s sites/stores are stuck in 2000, so there’s a lot of room to innovate, not just improve.

I’d like to hear what you think young go getters can do to create a sense of security in the minds of older consumers. I think a lot of it comes down to the design and usability of the site, but those are useless if you don’t follow through on your delivery, customer service, and product.

So, why won’t your mommy order that present online for you this Christmas? : )

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