Experts warn Morrisons of e-commerce pitfalls

Thursday, September 16, 2010 - 09:22 by Simon Crisp

Shortly after supermarket chain Morrisons announced that it would be trialling an e-commerce platform, to allow customers to shop for their groceries online, a number of industry insiders have said that it has a chance to create the best site on the net, providing it avoids the issues which plague its major rivals.

You can already get safe shopping online via Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and many other major stores, but some believe that these sites still need to be optimised, before consumers of all ages and abilities are able to use the tools, without hitting any speed bumps along the way.

Online marketing firm Dot Digital's Simon Bird, said that the best online grocery shopping experience is currently provided by Ocado, but he pointed out that when using the site it is clear there is room for improvement and a need for the platforms to be laid out in a more logical manner.

Mr Bird explained that the arrival of Amazon on the home grocery delivery market would make other retailers stop and reassess their current efforts, because this particular e-commerce firm is providing free delivery, while most others charge. For this reason, he believes that Morrisons would benefit from following this model, as well as refining their site to make using it a doddle.

E-commerce expert Emma Kane, concurred that delivery was an extremely important aspect of safe shopping online and urged Morrisons to look at being flexible in their scheduling of deliveries to make it convenient for the consumer.

Ms Kane said that the six years of development which online grocery shopping has undergone, have definitely improved the platforms. She told V3.co.uk that this evolution would allow Morrisons to get a head start with its own site.

Morrisons is investing heavily in all things related to IT, with a spend of more than £300 million planned for the next half a decade.