Kelly Mooney's blog about the online shopping experience from the customer's point of view -- MooneyThinks.com

Sears' Wish Book Returns to Mailboxes and Sends Consumers Online

While I've already deposited a few stacks of holiday catalogs in the recycling bin this season, there's one still on its way that I bet will have some staying power. Sears' Wish Book, an old favorite, is back. And not just the same old hefty tome, but a sleeker (since it went away in 1993, the catalog decreased from 700 pages down to 188), restructured, and, I'll say it, hipper version. I haven't received the hard copy yet, but the online version looks promising.

Just the fact that Sears brought Wish Book back shows that Sears recognizes that shoppers don't live all online or off, that we migrate between channels. They also demonstrate this with combined CTAs to go online, call or visit a store. Sears might be a little late coming to this realization, but at least they're there.

I was pleasantly surprised to see how hard Wish Book is working to send consumers online. Featured catalog images include reviews from online customers (good ones, of course). I think that's great, especially how prominent the reviews are. It is a bit odd that the customers aren't named or even described by where they're from or what they buy to help me understand why I should care what they think, or make them believable, but they're engaging and they do remind me of more decision support help online. The intention is a good one. And to book does mention on many pages to checkout online reviews.

Wish Book also lets consumers know (in contextually relevant ways) that they can go online to find more options, fast ordering, and tools like wishlists. In fact, the first page even says, "Before you buy, go to sears.com to check for the lowest new prices and special promotions."

Congrats, Sears fans. Enjoy your Wish Book, your site and the ability to shop them together.

Wildfire Updates Twittering Across California

Sometimes I'm overwhelmed with the vast array of information channels available to me. Call. Email. Chat. Blog. Facebook. Text. Twitter. Digg. Or, oh my, speak face-to-face.

But I keep discovering (personally and through news accounts like the one I'm about to share) the value of this expanding network. And from what I can tell, a lot of southern California residents were pretty thankful as well. Earlier last week as the wildfires burned around San Diego, the mainstream media couldn't always provide the most up-to-date information.

Individuals were using Twitter, the microblogging application, to share news about evacuations, meeting points and supplies, and local NPR station KPBS turned to it as well when its site went down due to web traffic that was 36 times the normal amount.

Resourceful reporters sent news updates via Twitter and built a Google Maps mashup to plot and track fires, evacuations and updates on shelters and hospitals.

Kudos to the creative folks at KPBS for keeping the much-needed information flowing.

Loyalty Pays at BustedTees.com

Ever wish the brands you were loyal to were loyal right back? Ever heard of BustedTees.com?

The e-retailer of jokey, retro-styled T-shirts doesn't just want you to buy their tees, they want you to love them--love them enough to sell them on your Facebook page. Don't worry, they know that's premier real estate, so they're willing to pay you for it--$5 for every shirt purchased from your page.

But wait--there's more. BustedTees.com knows that, collectively, your friends are worth even more than your Facebook page, so they're paying YOU $1 for every shirt YOUR FRIENDS sell on their Facebook pages! Now that's a profitable network.

If BustedTees.com's jokes are on you (and your Facebook page), you may make money. They call it the T-shirt Money Maker. I call it tapping the exponential potential of individual consumers and online niche communities. No joke.

MSNBC Serves Up Political Cheat Sheet

How do you get a ton of information into a cohesive, engaging and useful (and open) digital experience?

Check out MSNBC's Candidates + Issues matrix. It's essentially a CliffsNotes for the 2008 presidential election. It's a launching point for the person who's been hiding from the news/political media, or even for someone who wants a high-level or comparative view. And, more significantly, it's a wealth of content packed into a tight little space.

The matrix gives you a brief overview of each candidate and each of 5 key issues. Roll across the matrix with your mouse and click in a square to find out what Candidate X thinks about the economy or energy, for example. You can view video of that candidate speaking on that issue or click on links that take you to more information (at that point you'd be leaving the site to go to the candidate's site).

In addition to the informational aspect, you can participate by voting how much you agree or disagree with that person's stance. You can also look at all users' ratings--how much they agree or disagree with each candidate's POV. Rather than a matrix full of black squares, you can see a popular view across a spectrum of green (other voters' agreement) and red (other voters' disagreement).

I don't think I've ever had so much fun reading about political candidates. Now if we could just eliminate all their obnoxious TV ads.

Are you an iCitizen?

We are no longer simply a society of consumers. We're not just consuming information and products. Rather, 86% of the U.S. adult online population is already sharing, creating and influencing others online -- using one or more of the digital DIY tools from blogs to ratings and reviews to email passalong and more. This is a sea-change in how we interact with one another and more important, for how companies need to interact with consumers and the influential communities they are aligned with.

Turns out, however, that many of us in our day-to-day jobs read a lot about this web-made world. Web 2.0. Sharing, creating, influencing. But many don't have time, confidence or any idea about where to get started. How to "hang" in this ever-evolving cultural landscape. Well, this is important in order to plan marketing, media, and develop consumer experiences that are relevant. So, our LAB developed just the remedy for the time-pressed marketing executive: Becoming an iCitizen workshop -- where you learn to build your own social networking page, set up your own blog, create an avatar, social bookmark, and more. Sounds like it's a hit with this particular client, er, newly formed icitizen! Have a look at the October 10th entry and consider developing your own program to ramp up your internal teams on the social web. It's easy and fun...besides, it's a great excuse to expense some nike+ gear. ;)

Alternative Commerce from an Alternative Band

A fellow Resourcian sent me a link to the site where the band Radiohead is selling its new album, and according to the site, it's the only place the album is available.

The site experience takes simplicity to a new level, which was surprising, but I have to say rather enjoyable. That's what I thought he wanted me to see at first, but then I followed his direction to pre-order the album--the download, not the discbox.

What I found was after you add the download to your basket and click the view basket button, you get a screen that shows the contents of your basket--what you're ordering, but not how much--the price (in pounds) is a text box. You get to fill in the amount you want to pay.

Of course I clicked on the hyperlink "?" next to the text box, because surely I couldn't choose what I wanted to pay. Yep. I can. The succinct response is, "IT'S UP TO YOU." And if you click the "?" on that page you get, "NO REALLY, IT'S UP TO YOU."

Clearly, for Radiohead, creativity isn't reserved solely for music. This approach is likely to drive lots of traffic, lots of downloads, and lots of chatter. If the music good, this band will soar. Give it a try.

Bigger (or Newer) Isn't Always Better at BN.com

Like an over-grown hairdo, the Barnes & Noble web site was over-due for a refresh. Ends were split, roots were showing, it was starting to look out-of-date, particularly as Amazon.com has continued to innovate on numerous fronts. So they re-launched. And here's how I think it may have unfolded:

User testing, market research, maybe even some persona work. They probably found that their audience is taxed by the cluttered experience with Amazon and has reading-glasses eyes to boot. Over-forty eyes. I-can't-see-that-small-type eyes. (Hey, wait, that's me!) So perhaps their usability folks went to their creative team and said, bigger buttons, bigger fonts, bigger everything. (If you're in the demographic, you're nodding. Right?)

This advice, in and of itself, is not bad. In fact, it was probably quite good given that boomers are doling out big money on books and entertainment. Many squint and complain about small type and subtle contrasts on web sites, making it unnecessarily difficult to click with confidence.

However, it's the execution on the advice that's lacking.

While some of the larger font and buttons were refreshing, time spent going deeper into the site was fraught with an overabundance of bold text, exclamation points and drop-shadows. Overall, it's clunky. Seem to lack the sophistication I've grown to love about Barnes & Noble over the years. But hey, legibility, deep content, interactivity and high design require skillful talent to pull off.

A few other nits:

• The big feature that knocks you over on the homepage is their picks, not mine, not people like me or people of my choosing. Not very Web 2.0. If something catches your eye and then passes by, you have to wait a while for it to cycle back. Who has time for that? Visibility -- Great idea with the tag cloud, but it's just not located anywhere I might happen across it. BN Media -- There may actually be some good content in there, but it feels buried under the design

I could go on, but you should experience it for yourself. .

Online Retailers Shoppers Like Most

I often share my favorite and not-so-favorite experiences about top retail sites. But, you might want to know what other people think too. Take this list of the top 50 consumer favorites from this month's Stores magazine. Not surprisingly Amazon.com ranks at the top, followed by eBay.com and Wal-Mart.com. Personally, I'm surprised that Gap.com is only 26 and that FashionBug.com even made the list. ; ) Check it out for your favs.

Brands Need to Think B-to-We as i-citizens Enter the Marketing Love Triangle

While it'll be a handful of months before The Open Brand comes out, some of the key ideas are available now. Matter of fact, today's AdAge enewsletter featured a piece I wrote about how brands need to connect not just with consumers, but with consumers' communities in order to be culturally relevant. (Note: if you happened to get the newsletter, it's just below the article about Sir Martin of WPP.) It's about the triangulation of communication that's required between the brand, the consumer and communities. It's about finding the intersection of shared passion. We call this new relationship model The Love Triangle. The article also talks about how some brands are starting to get it right, like PINK. Check it out and feel free to post your feedback, your ideas at our wiki.