Well….it's been said by the New York Times as Online Sales Lose Steam as Buyers Grow Web-Weary that "Online stores have continued to give shoppers a blasé experience"… which is partly why online retail sales are not growing as fast this year and ongoing as they have been.

"…Growth in online sales has also dropped dramatically in diverse categories like health and beauty products, computer peripherals and pet supplies. Analysts say it is a turning point and growth will continue to slow through the decade."

"…slowing down in numerous other segments as well, including appliances, sporting goods, auto parts, computer peripherals, and even music and videos. Forrester says that sales growth is pulling back in 18 of the 24 categories it measures."

Part of it, perhaps unforeseen, was physical, brink and mortar stores getting better.

"…retailers have livened up their stores to be more alluring.

They’re working a lot harder,” he said as he shopped at Book Passage in downtown San Francisco. “They’re not as stuffy. The lighting is better. You don’t get someone behind the counter who’s been there 40 years. They’re younger and hipper and much more with it.”

And a lot more of the reasons are traced back to lousy website experiences (earlier today I mentioned that Marketing and Branding are much more important than SEO, for example, as a generator of online sales).

"…Nancy F. Koehn, a professor at Harvard Business School who studies retailing and consumer habits, said that the leveling off of e-commerce reflected the practical and psychological limitations of shopping online."

"….online stores have continued to give shoppers a blasé experience. In addition, online shopping, because it involves a computer, feels like work."

The hybrid strategy of allowing consumers to research online and then buy in the store is something that I'm doing myself.  I researched almost everything I buy at Best Buy, Circuit City or CompUSA ahead of time on the web, and I'm not alone….and I like going over to the store in NYC and picking up what I bought …I'd much rather do that than order it (because I live in NYC …. if I lived somewhere else, maybe it would be different).

"…The bookseller Borders, for example, recently revamped its Web site to allow users to reserve books online and pick them up in the store. Similar services were started by companies like Best Buy and Sears. Other retailers are working to follow suit.

“You don’t realize how powerful of a phenomenon this new strategy has become,” Mr. Whaley said. “Nearly every big box retailer is opening it up.”

I think it all boils down to people moving past just going to a website - the online audience has evolved, become more sophisticated, if you will, and just having a website, even a well built one, is not enough.  The Game has changed, and people want a "frictionless" experience, which they are more likely to get, believe it or not, in a brick and mortar store, than on a website. People want re-assurance and some emotional context to happen before the hand over their cash…and that makes sense to me, because I want that too.  If the site can't give it (and it often doesn't) then I'd much rather deal with someone in person. 

With Web Analytics, I think it's becoming more important now to qualify the part Web Experience plays in driving people to the physical store (because in the majority of cases…that's where they're going when they buy … that want to talk to someone, see that person).  

If you want more sales online, you have to follow what the Eisenbergs are saying and lower the friction visitors feel on a site when they're interested in what your selling or offering (even if it's information or a free service) …and right now, it's hard to find good metrics for that, or how to measure the online experience - it's probably more likely to be Survey Data than anything else that you'd get that information.