I don't like to pick on a manufacturer, but Imation is an example of a confusing Where to Buy page. If you go to the page you'll see a list of places where you can buy Imation products. The list includes:
- Retail Superstores
- Office Supply Dealers
- Computer Supply/Data Specialty Dealers
- E-Commerce, Mail Order and Direct Response
I'm a channel guy so I have an expectation of the types of retailers I would expect to see in each of these categories. Let's see how I do...
Retail Superstores - that would be Target and Wal-mart, right? Wrong. Listed under this category are OfficeMax, Office Depot and Staples. Hmmm, I'm confused.
The next category of retailers are Office Supply Dealers - that would be OfficeMax, Office Depot and Staples, right? Partially right. It's those three guys plus Corporate Express, Forms & Supply and W.B. Mason.
Computer Supply is next. I'm really guessing now. I get computer supplies at online guys like CDW, PC Connection and Provantage. Is that right? No. Actually it's a list of the United States that leads me to find my friendly neighborhood Value Added Reseller (VAR).
Now E-Commerce, Mail Order and Direct Response. Direct Response!?! If I'm Joe Consumer my question is 'What is that?' Mail Order? Do they do Mail Order any more? E-Commerce I understand. That's Amazon and Buy.com. Oooh, I got that one right. Buy.com is on the page. So is CDW, Insight, PC Connection, Quill, Staples, Tiger Direct and Zones. But I have questions. Why doesn't Quill have a Web page when all the others do? Why is Staples listed but OfficeMax and Office Depot are not?
This is a Where to Buy experience that was created by a channel person that thinks their users understand Imation's channel strategy like Imation understands it. It's confusing. It's difficult. It doesn't help anyone figure out Where to Buy. Check your Where to Buy section to make sure you aren't making it difficult for consumers to find and buy your product.
Comments