If a customer can’t find an item, there’s a pretty good chance they won’t be purchasing that item. Sure, some people will go out of their way to ask a sales rep for help, but I doubt that even 25% of shoppers fall into this category. Accordingly, simple logic dictates that when a product is […]

Despite the unseasonably hot weather on Saturday, I decided to take a detour on the way back home from some errands to check out the construction site for a new location of my favorite breakfast place. From what I could see through the windows, they have a long way to go before it opens. The […]

On the way to the grocery store, I often pass a particular restaurant space that seems to change hands every year. First, it was some nondescript expensive restaurant, then a slightly less expensive eco-conscious concept, and now it’s an upscale sushi place. And I doubt the location is the problem, since it’s close to numerous […]

I’m involved with a few committees in my building, and I’ve noticed something interesting during the recent meetings. When there’s a piece of text that needs to be refined, the task usually gets assigned to one of the most experienced group members. And each time, someone else in the group quietly scoffs at the work […]

As of today, there are basically zero breakfast restaurants within 2-3 blocks of where I live. In the spring or fall, this isn’t much of a problem: the weather is mild, and it’s nice to take a long walk on a Saturday or Sunday morning. But in the summer or winter, distance rules. Anything that’s […]

During my last few trips, I booked all of the hotel rooms with the same hotel chain, and racked up a decent number of reward points along the way. So when I needed to book a new trip, the first thing I did was go to the loyalty program site, choose the appropriate hotel, and […]

I recently needed to update my credit card info on several websites. I expected this process to be easy: find the existing card, click the Edit button, enter the new info, and click Save. However, the experience was anything but simple, and even the bigger e-commerce sites seem to have problems with this seemingly straightforward […]

While reviewing the terms for a new vendor contract, I needed to print several documents from the vendor’s website. The documents were provided in simple HTML form, which I generally prefer to something like PDF. But when I tried to print them, I ran into a problem. No matter how I scaled the page, the […]

Let’s say you sign up for a subscription that automatically renews every month, or maybe every 6 months or a year. While placing the initial order, you enter a discount code for 10% off. Should that same discount apply to each recurring order that follows the original one? There are several ways to handle this: […]

What’s the most important status indicator on a portable electronic device? Since the product can’t run without battery power, I would argue that the low battery light should get top billing. Yet when I look at some of the gadgets around the house — including such diverse items as a wireless mouse and one of […]