Hello esteemed FPN members,

As I may have hinted in the recent past, I am in the process of migrating all of the Pear Tree Pen Company's shopping cart functions to a new host and new software. The process is slow and tedious, but we are making progress. One of the new features of this cart is the ability to offer a "hidden" sale price. This is very useful as several of the pen companies whose products I sell (such as Visconti and Omas) do not permit their authorized retailers to advertise discounts on their products (with certain exceptions). I've currently handled this situation by asking shoppers to email me for a better price. I think that has been a workable solution, but far from convenient or easy.

This new "hidden price" option would allow the software either to send an automatic email price quote, or could display the price once the product has been entered into the cart. My question to you pen buyers is: Would you prefer to receive an email price quote, or simply to be able to see the item's price once it has been added to the cart? What is the reason for your preference?

I would greatly appreciate any help you can give me to help make your shopping experience a more enjoyable one.

Thank you!

Regards,

James Partridge

Cart.

Because then I can just take it out of the cart. No need to log into webmail or switch to Outlook and hit send and receive.

You also avoid the whole spam filter/junk mail problem.

I'd vote for the cart also. Much simpler. This is the process Amazon.com uses and they have been moderately successful...

I'm in full agreement. The proposed cart function is a far more user friendly way to get the info to your customers.

Thanks for asking!

Tara

I would rather see the price in the cart because it is less hassle, more instant and eliminates any privacy concerns for a new buyer reticent to give out their email address.

Good luck with the migration James. Is your developer able to map some of the things from your current database to the database of the new software? Years ago we went the route of a custom system and a dedicated server and our developer was able to map many things over to the new system.

We are now designing and building a new shopping interface for our future websites, the first of which will be leather products designed around the Moleskine, Rhodia and Clairfontaine stuff. It will use the new Ajax programming which loads pages much faster.

One question... with the new software are you able to migrate your database so that customers will still be able to log into their account, view history and stuff like that?

Hi James,

It will be exciting to see your new shopping site.

In terms of your question, my preference would be to show the price upon adding the item to the cart. Having used both types of systems at different times, the cart option will ensure that you have the most opportunity to make sales as your potential customers get instant feedback.

While sending a price through email should be almost as fast, email systems can and do go down at times. If this were to happen, the potential customer would have to call or try to contact you in some other way to make the sale.

Wish you well and am very much enjoying the Pelikan you sold me recently.

Alec

Definitely the cart. You see it what you want immediately, while you're in shopping mode. The very slight inconvenience of having to remove it from the cart is trivial, especially when compared to the time delays and task switching required by the email approach.

The cart. One less step in the transaction.

another vote for cart. As others have mentioned Amazon.com uses it, with some level of success. It should also hopefully make your life easier as you will have fewer emails to respond to.

Good luck,
french

I like the cart.

I get email quotes from FPH but have lost some because of email filters, and I have to remember to look for the email.

Joi

I'm easy either way. Psychologically, I think the cart will be more effective as some folks may do a "what the heck" and leave it there.

Cart. Just like Amazon.

Cart.

People may also not want to give you their email address unless they are ready to order to prevent unwanted email.

Another vote for the cart. Several sites have this feature and usually say "Special pricing, add this item to your cart to see your price." which is a tiny bit annoying, but makes total sense if you're locked down to display prices by the manufacturer.

Definitively cart!

What he said. Could not have said it better myself. I actually tend to avoid online vendors to whom you have to submit an email and await a reply to get a price, rather than having the price available if I put the item in the cart. That being said, would the "hidden price" be construed by your vendors as a violation of the advertising lower prices ban? As I learned in the Navy, it is usually easier to get forgiveness than permission, so I would recommend against asking Omas etc if this would be alright, and just do it, and only stop if they insist it violates their advertising standards. Not a hill I would die on.

Donnie

Another vote for the cart.

mehitabel

Thanks for all of the input so far. One thing I think needs some clarification, although from what I'm reading I'm not sure it would alter anyone's opinion:

The "email for price" option requires only that the customer click a button, and fill in their email address, and then hit send. Within seconds, an automatic reply to their inquiry would be returned that contains the item's price - Once I set up the initial message, no more involvement is necessary from my end, and all customers would receive the same price quote.

I have to admit I am a little surprised at how many of you favor the cart option - it's not what I would have guessed. As a consumer, I personally prefer the email, this way I can have a record of the quoted price for comparison shopping (but none of you do that, right (comparision shop)?). So I sure am glad I asked, because all of your points are well taken and many mentioned things I wouldn't have considered.

James

James,

My biggest problem with the email quotes is that by the time I go to my email box, I typically find 10 other messages that interest me and I get off on some tangent visiting 10 other websites doing something else, and forget all about the watch/pen/widget I was getting the quote for. The saving grace is a few days later when I see the price quote email, I may go back to the site and buy.

If I had an instant quote, though, I wouldn't go to my email box until AFTER I've bought (to see the confirmation/invoice/receipt), and the tangent wouldn't distract me away from my business with you!

Just a thought.

~~King

From a customer perspective, they do not have the benefit of clarification. All they have is a button sitting in front of them with a box to fill in their email address. And, like someone else said, freely giving away an email address invites unwanted emails in the minds of many, including this one, online shoppers.
Best to go with everyones initial gut reaction because that is exactly what people will do when faced with this situation. Adding something to a cart is instantaneous and as another person pointed out, it can be removed.
Something else to consider from a business standpoint... once it is in the cart, it is also one step closer to being purchased.

I vote for the cart. If I need to save a copy of the quote for comparison shopping I just make a PDF of the the page. "Email for price" implies that I am going to need to wait for the vendor to reply, which will take some unknown amount of time.

I have to agree with the cart feedback. It's such a standard procedure that most everyone has seen it before. I haven't seen a site with an option to enter my email for instant quote.

My question is why not do both? Add to cart or enter email for instant quote?

Thanks everyone - keep the feedback coming (although I think I've got enough to make an informed decision now!).

Several companies use the "email for price" option, some are pen-related, some are not. Fahrneys (I believe) and World-Lux both use it rather than the "add-to-cart" method. One of the big NY camera companies also uses "email for price" (Adorama?) while another (B&H Photo?) uses the add-to-cart option.

I have to pick one, because my cart software only allows me to choose one method - I can't choose both. Maybe in the next version.

James

I prefer the cart method.

Edited to remove what I said that didn't make sense for this .

I've seen what you're talking about at Fahrneys and other places with similar email price indications. I haven't really shopped World-Lux. I would assume that Fahrneys needs to get my email and send me an email back, meaning a delay. If you do end up choosing email, I'd strongly suggest making it clear the email will be instant.

Cart is my thought too.

And another vote for the cart. Good luck with the transition. Hope to see tou in Philly...
Best,
Daniel

I also vote for the cart. I don't have a problem with comparison shopping - I just use my handy fountain pen that I have next to me and write down the price!

There's something wrong here...

A whole lot of FPNers, unanimously agreeing on a point?

PS, I would go for the cart, too.

Cart. Personally, if I need to submit an email to get information (for anything), I'll always waffle on whether or not to send it. And when I do, it means going back to the email inbox and wading through messages (and sometimes my "need" for something has cooled by then). But if I submit via cart, then get a discounted price to boot, the seller and I are that much closer to sealing the deal

Thanks, James, and I look forward to shopping at Pear Tree Pens again soon!

Cart please .

I personally like the emails, for no other reason than comparision shopping. I sometimes research a pen for a couple weeks before committing. I don't always remember or record prices from sites, but I can save the emails in a Thunderbird folder.

I'm OK with either cart, or e-mail, as long as the cart can accept addresses outside the US

The ability to accept international orders, and accurately calculate shipping rates, was a prime consideration in the selection of my newsoftware. Unless I screw something up big-time (not out of the realm of possibilities, I might add), or the developer lied to me (less likely), that's a given!

James

definately cart

Cart.

And I just put something in it and checked out, damn you!



Fred