When Saturday comes…

Chris Dolan on how the e-commerce revolution might prevent men being dragged shopping by their partners! Hallelujah. When Saturday morning arrives and you are free to wake-up on your own accord – and not when the dreaded alarm clock deems it necessary (unless you’re a parent, I’m thankfully not) – there is no better feeling than casually planning out the day’s activities.

Mine, this Saturday, consisted of a greasy brunch; strolling over to the pub to watch my football team on the big screen; followed by a beer or two, before crashing out in front of the television. A pretty lazy day for a pretty lazy boy. Perfect. That was 10am. By 10.30am it wasn’t looking so rosy. My girlfriend – arguing that being the weekend we should be spending more time together – burst my bubble by ‘deciding’ that ‘we’ were going shopping. (Sigh). I gave my side of the argument; and we weighed up the pros and cons; before she ‘decided’ that ‘we’ were definitely going.

During the five-hour duration of the shopping trip – and in between my standard “yeah, that top looks great on you” generic response – I did snap out of my zombie-like auto-pilot stance for a few minutes to observe that this particular shopping centre wasn’t very busy. Aside from tracksuit-wearing youths holing up in the door of the local McDonalds, the shops were indeed eerily quiet – I appreciate there is a recession on, but I was pretty sure this could not be the only reason behind the quiet aisles – the same ones that are usually rammed full during the week’s optimum day for shopping.

Then something sprang into my mind – are people preferring to shop online? You hear a constant stream of people claiming that children prefer playing football on their PlayStation rather down the park with an actual ball, so maybe this trend is shifting to shopping as well. Maybe it might be down to laziness, maybe people are becoming more computer literate, maybe more retailers are improving their online channels, or maybe shoppers are finding the ‘best price’ on the Internet – I suspect it is a culmination of all of these.

I’m not a big online shopper myself. I prefer browsing. I like to have my bank statements in hard form, and, most recently, I decided to go to the shop to buy a video game on the day of release rather than order it online. It was cheaper online, so why did I go to the shop? I knew that if I went to the shops I was guaranteed to have it in my hands that day, but with online delivery there was always that doubt that I could end up Royal-ly annoyed – and, from what I read on the manufacturers’ forum, some people were.

I think it is fair to say that more and more consumers now prefer to shop from their homes, but some are wary of the consequences of strike action. So, in true business fashion, cue a flurry of online marketing campaigns from top companies promising to deliver without fail – and without Royal Mail. First up was this offering from House of Fraser:

Yes, they are highlighting Royal Mail’s current troubles through marketing to reassure their customers. This was also the key for Amazon when they produced this:

But it’s not just the traditional retailers – banks are using this tactic too! Usually the motive behind online banking advertising resolves around saving trees – not anymore, as Barclaycard can testify:

Although it might seem a little unfair on Royal Mail that these companies are playing off its plight – you have to look after number one in business. And, to be fair, such businesses are trying to protect and improve the efficiency of the e-commerce market – I might even convert myself.

So, next Saturday I will be perched on my couch, greasy brunch in one hand, beer can in the other; watching my football team lose again; whilst my girlfriend sits next to me, on the laptop, doing her shopping. And if she moans, I can argue that she is contributing to the e-commerce revolution – and more importantly, ‘we’ are still spending time together.