Play.com shopping process misses a trick

As the nights grow longer, the temperature drops and Christmas begins to close in, this year I decided to try and be organised and start my Christmas shopping early. Doing my shopping online has always been attractive because it allows me to get a few bargains and avoid going out in the cold weather. This way I can browse at my leisure from home, have everything delivered to a convenient address and it doesn't even have to cost me a penny extra in postage in some cases!

After a bit of browsing I decided the best option would be to shop with Play.com and noticed that they proudly display their recent title of 'Best Online Retailer 2008' which was awarded to them by Which? This certainly is warranted as I have shopped with Play many times and always enjoyed the experience. However, I have recently noticed that they have made one of the biggest mistakes in retailers terms when it comes to their shopping process. It appears that the site will not save any items added to your basket over a long period of time. Twice now I have added some Christmas presents and decided to go back the next day to either add some more or checkout and pay. Both times I have logged in to find my basket empty, leaving me with no other choice than to add each item all over again. This seems like a lost opportunity in increasing sales. It is not uncommon for customers to browse over a period of time, adding items each time they return to the site.

Grocery shopping sites in particular are aware of these customer habits and all ensure that any items added to a basket are saved. Without doing this, customers are less likely to remember which items they had in their basket from previous visits and as a result, unlikely to spend as much. From a personal point of view I find it irritating to have to add items each time I log in and although I will still shop with Play, this could put other customers off. It seems that no matter how successful online retailers are, there is always room for improvement!