Sept/Oct 2003

Offline ordering for home shopping customers "definitely still has a future," says Andrew Day, chief executive of Unipower, the software house that created the offline ordering CD for Tesco.

Although the Tesco implementation of the system is due to be withdrawn in November, other retailers and e-tailers remain enthusiastic users, Day told e.logistics Magazine, and development work on the product continues. Iceland recently upgraded from the original software to a new and much more flexible browser-based version, and catalogue retail group Shop Direct is about to introduce the system.

The idea behind the concept is that a complete, self-contained version of the retailer's online shopping environment, including a full product catalogue, is distributed on a CD-ROM disk to shoppers - either via high street stores, or more usually by door drop, mail or magazine inserts. Users install it on their PCs, then pre-select required items offline before submitting their order - in itself a transparent process that does not even require them to go through the normal dial-up routine.

Day admits that Unipower's original software was relatively rigid in look and feel. It used a hard-coded interface that could be customised only in branding and other superficial detail, and therefore had little or nothing in common with the host retailer's online Web store.

By contrast, he points out that by using a standard Web browser interface, the latest implementation can replicate the retailer's own Web site more or less down to the last detail, as well as copying its functionality. "So shoppers don't have to learn two different systems." Unipower can also develop the Web site itself, although this is not a standard feature.

Some e-tailers using early offline ordering systems were reportedly worried that these restricted their ability to present special offers and discounts to shoppers. Day refutes this, pointing out that Unipower's system has always been updateable, allowing new products and prices to be downloaded to users' PCs more or less transparently. But he says the latest system is even more flexible. "Any changes in prices or graphics are brought over automatically," he says. "The installation is never static."

Day feels that the system is particularly appealing to catalogue retailers. "It can cost £4 to £5 to print a catalogue," he says, "whereas a CD comes out at 15p, including printing and packaging. That's a fantastic saving - and on top of it there will be the transactional savings of taking orders via the Internet rather than through a call centre."

Whilst the biggest beneficiaries are consumers using dial-up modems, Day maintains that the CD system also offers attractions in a broadband environment. "Broadband takes away the constraint on transmission time, but this simply puts far more burden on the e-tailer's servers. So consumers can still find themselves waiting for product searches.

"Our system is enormously scaleable, since the processing power resides in consumers' PCs, not at the server end. As home shopping grows, this will becoming increasingly an issue."

Day says prices for an offline ordering system have fallen significantly, and now start at around £100,000. While clearly ruling out very small retailers, such a price tag could have strong appeal for both medium-sized and bigger e-tailers and catalogue retailers.