05 December 2016

As an industry we bang-on about getting a smoother transition for the customer’s online experience to the showroom experience, so I thought I’d share with you a recent online-offline purchase I endured in a different sector.

Every year I get a flu jab from Boots. Normally I just phone up and book, or even drop-in and book. This year I didn’t get that chance so went online to sort everything out. There’s an online booking form which asked me all the usual medical declarations as well as the time and the location I wanted to have the jab. After a few technical issues I managed to book the appointment for Saturday morning.

On arrival the shop clearly had my appointment booked. Good news, I thought. However, I then had to fill out a paper medical declaration form that asked all the same information I’d submitted online. Unfortunately the daftness didn’t end there. After filling in the paper form with the pharmacist at the desk, the (different) pharmacist doing the injection then had to key all of the information on the paper form into a computer system!

I now imagine there are now two entries for me in the Boots database and that next year I’ll probably get two reminders. Although this may be a bit presumptuous, given the lack of joined up systems.

Things aren’t perfect in auto retail, but I’d wager the online experience is better than this. And with the news that Hyundai buyers now don’t need to visit a showroom at all and just choose a retailer for collection or delivery, it’s just as well.

Tristan Young

Editorial Director

Auto Retail Network

Tags: auto retailing, Boots, customer, Experience, offline, online, retail, service