I sell Books. A book can be either bought as a paperback or as an E-Book. Currently, to sell a book title, I must make two separate sales listings based on buying format in my shop; one listing is needed for the paperback and a second is needed for the E-book version (same title, same story…but double listings = repetition).
Sellers have no way of avoiding these double listings due to the way in which the background coding is set up, yes (?), easily explained to me as, “it simply doesn’t work any other way”. I got it.
Meanwhile, look around and we see that most often ‘variations’ or ‘options’ of the same sales item (which are not books, obviously) are usually based on features, such as colour or size, and the customer can choose the yes/no/binary option for anyone of these types of choices, and then go straight to the checkout.
So why can’t a webshop’s coding and functions be modified to enable customers to choose a ‘variation’ of an item that is either a digital or a non-digital version?
As I’ve observed and stated previously, with the webshop functionality currently available to sellers, this still cannot be done even if I wanted it. So now I ask politely and nicely, is this limitation due to the possibilities of technical coding or is it due to the marketers, designers or technicians not knowing what specific changes in webshop function could really benefit different sellers. There is a lot of advice given on colours/fonts/connections to social media/layouts, but there is very little conversation about the more specific webshop functions.
What are the benefits for offering digital and non-digital ‘variations’ of an item as alternative choices available to the customer from within the SAME sales listing?
Using my books as an example. Firstly, this would enable a customer to view and choose to purchase either a paperback or an E-book from the same sales listing. They wouldn’t need to be given links to follow or be encouraged towards the other different buying formats. Less clicks and trails to follow = less distraction and a direct path to purchasing.
Secondly, as it stands at the moment, if a bookshop is forced to have books listed in a ‘digital section’ AND a ‘non-digital section’, realistically there is no guarantee that a customer who found their way into the shop actually arrives in the sales section that matches their preferred buying format (possibly 50% chance they do)…this means near 50% of customers need to be re-routed one way or the other around the website. It’s messy and sellers loose potential, why? Imagine a tired impatient ‘paperback’ customer perchance arrives in my E-book section and is immediately repulsed by the words E-book and leaves just because they don’t want to follow the trail of (even pretty) obvious links to buy the paperback. Customers lost when it could be so much easier for them.
Thirdly, because all the books need two sales listings the whole number of catalogue items is falsely inflated …which often leads to customer disappointment because at some frustrating point they realise that everything is just listed twice and some still don’t even realise why.
The source of these three bookshop examples is repeated customer feedback and comments!
Summary:
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Forcing sellers to make shops full of double sales listings, due to digital + non-digital variations, is messy, time consuming to manage and frustrates customers.
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Frustrated customers don’t buy and even few return later, therefore changes are needed.
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The described changes to webshop functionality can also benefit sellers of: books (paperback or E-book), artworks and maps (printed paper & canvas /or digital image to print at home), and the HUGE market for sewing patterns (choose paper pattern or a PDF pattern).
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Website design trends such as colours/image/social media connections/fonts and layouts come and go with trends in taste, however, the sellers I am discussing here would benefit from some additional webshop functionality that better suits their specific product formats = easier buying experience, more sales.
Call to action (for want of a better phrase)… can the technical side of things here on Shopify, make some noises towards to designers and marketing side to see if these functions can be improved for sellers like me.
Thank you for listening. Bea3