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The Multi-Channel Web Shop

Written by on January 14, 2011

Yesterday, The Telegraph posted an interesting article about how electronic retailer "Dixons" lost £15 million in sales because of glitches on their web shop - in just three days!

A problem with its technology platform meant that its websites crashed for prolonged periods on December 26, 27, and 28, some of its busiest trading days of the year. John Browett, chief executive of the PC World and Currys-owner, said that the outages cost Dixons £15m in lost sales.

Downtime is something that everyone should pay attention to. We are all getting used to sites like Twitter are unavailable at times, and we are starting to think that it isn't really that big of a deal. Losing £15 million (about $24 million USD) in just three days, that's gotta hurt.

However, buried in this article is an even bigger story. One that shows how people are moving away from single source destinations.

Mr Browett said that sales were down on Dixons' stand-alone websites as shoppers were increasingly using the "multi-channel" websites of its PC World and Currys shops instead. Sales through these channels rose 8%.

This is just a continuation of the trend, we see all around us. Be where people are, and sell where people are. You are a source, not a destination.

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Thomas Baekdal

Thomas Baekdal

Founder of Baekdal, author, writer, strategic consultant, and new media advocate.

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