Imagine this: you're shopping for vitamins on drugemporium.com. You've registered, entered your shipping and payment details, and clicked "Express Checkout." Suddenly, you're looking at an order confirmation for Ester Levitts in Kentucky, complete with her Discover card information and order details. This isn't a hypothetical scenario - it happened to New York City restaurant broker Ray Tekosky on January 28. This incident, along with others, highlights the growing pains of e-commerce and the importance of robust website infrastructure.
Tekosky, a frequent online shopper, was surprised to find himself in the middle of a privacy breach. He wisely downloaded the incorrect order page and sent it to a reporter at The Wall Street Journal. The incident was significant enough to make the news, and drugemporium.com had to shut down for an afternoon to address its database issues.
Tekosky warns that we're still in the early stages of e-commerce, and larger mistakes are likely to occur. He raises the concern of such an error happening in a banking situation, which could lead to a crisis akin to the Mad Cow scare.
Another example of e-commerce gone awry involves web developer Ira Wexler and his wife, Barry, an attorney. They thought they'd found a great deal on petopia.com: prepay for three 40-pound bags of dog food, and receive three more for free. However, the second and third bags arrived much sooner than expected, leaving the Wexlers with 120 pounds of dog food in their small New York apartment. Petopia.com's solution? Donate the excess to charity.
Despite their attempts to contact Petopia, the Wexlers received no response. Eventually, they were informed that the remaining three bags in their order would be on hold until April 1st. However, given the date's association with pranks, the Wexlers remain skeptical.
These incidents suggest that drugemporium.com and petopia.com have issues with their secure server and shipping procedures, respectively. However, the underlying problem is likely the same: both companies may have rushed to get online, neglecting the back ends of their sites.
Companies selling online need to invest in e-commerce integrators to design and implement intelligent infrastructures for their sites. The era of having a tech-savvy relative design a site is over. As e-commerce stakes rise, budgets must follow suit.
Many companies launch a site and plan to enhance the back end once the revenue starts flowing. However, success can come faster than expected, leading to a variety of issues caused by poor planning. The solution? Plan for success from the start and build a system that can grow with your business. Otherwise, you may pay the price later, just like Ester in Kentucky and Duncan in New York City.
