Raising the bar

From the Internet Retailers Conference & Exhibition:
I had an interesting experience today when I engaged in an SMS promotion one of the speakers mentioned in his presentation. The SMS experience was fast and satisfying -- I had to type maybe a total of 15 characters over 3 fast-paced text messages that resulted in an order to be shipped to my home address (which has more than 15 characters in one address line alone). Impressive, and a powerful example. Until... I read the last message: "Your order will be shipped in 6-8 weeks." OK, this is a free sample, so the order lead time is consistent with that service. But still.

The fulfillment industry remains challenged as ever, and marketing will be able to move much quicker, and will set customer expectations that only the very dedicated suppliers will be able to meet (Amazon and Dell can be exemplary, but they have worked at it from the get-go). Thing is, if I can place an order in under 30 seconds, why should I have to wait even a week, when ground service is usually 3-5 days in the US?

Truth is, fulfillment is dull stuff. And yet - it overwhelmingly determines the final impression left on our customer.