Evan Schuman's StorefrontBacktalk

A study released this month (Aug. 13) reports that almost 90 percent of surveyed large retail sites did not choose to chase after customers that had abandoned their shopping carts during E-Commerce visits. Although the idea of chasing such potential customers with E-mail is hardly new, the high percentage of retailers not pursuing them was worthy of note. For that matter, also worthy of note is who did the survey and how.

For matters of credibility, we overwhelmingly avoid reporting on studies that are actually vendor marketing departments pushing studies whose results were likely determined before the first question was asked. This gets us into a thorny editorial debate. If the idea or results are valid, should the source matter? The answer is that it probably shouldn't, as long as the methodology seems valid and fair. The premise of the report—which is that retailers should use the data they have to push for more sales—is a valid one, but we just wish the messenger didn't have such an obvious incentive to come to that conclusion.

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