The MacAlba

Angus & Robertson (the booksellers) have a brand new web site. It’s a vast improvement over the previous one – and that’s great – except … they’ve not transferred any of the previously registered users, or records of those users’ previous purchases. From their signin page:

“PLEASE NOTE: If you used the old Angus & Robertson web site you will need to re-register your details below. Our new site does not contain any information you registered with us previously and does not have any information about any orders you may have placed previously.”

There’s no apology, no explanation, no conciliatory statement, just a cold announcement of fact. They’ve made a (hopefully calculated) business decision here, that it would be cheaper and/or easier to leave the flotsam or jetsam behind and start afresh, but at what overall cost?

Do you see the problem with their customer relationship management? Can you imagine, from a customer’s perspective, the outcry if Amazon did exactly this?

[I acknowledge that my comment makes the assumption that they previously had a nontrivial number of customers who registered and who made purchases].