Woolworths’ Dick Smith New Zealand division suffered an embarrassing digital mistake this morning after it listed a number of gadgets including television sets for free, with some users checking out of the site without paying.
The incident echoes those that have plagued a number of online retailers such as Dell and Amazon and serves as a warning to smaller companies that they must be vigilant in monitoring sites at all times and ensuring that prices are correct.
“There needs to be a shift in trading mentality,” says Telsyte senior research manager Sam Yip. “Your website is trading 24 hours a day and you are constantly marketing to an audience.”
The Dick Smith issue was revealed early this morning when a number of users on a web forum said they had purchased goods from the site for practically nothing.
The device was a 46-inch Panasonic television which is usually worth more than $NZ3000 but buyers were charged only the shipping fee.
Dick Smith was quickly off the mark, notifying users on its Twitter feed that the mistake was a glitch, that the site had been repaired and that prices are back to usual levels.
It said staff would contact users who bought the items to see if they still wanted them, but at the full price.
Amazon and Dell have mistakenly put stock on their websites for free or for very cheap prices, with some glitches not fixed for several hours.
Yip says the nature of social media means information about “discounts” will spread more rapidly than before and could end up presenting a substantial nuisance to a business if it needs to contact every customer who bought something to explain the situation.
“There are also aggregators that trawl your website and magnify any issues you have as well,” he says, noting that many shopping aggregate sites will be the first port of call where customers notice an unusual discount.
“These aggregator sites encourage users to tweet and distribute deals among friends,” he warns.
“It’s extremely important to have your pricing right and site right because of that audience that is constantly looking.”
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
