Boom or bust: why ecommerce still has a long way to go.

Half of UK consumers would rather shop online than have to visit the high street, according to a recent survey from Gresham Computing.

Other research paints a similar picture. Alan Stevens, editor of Which? Magazine, said: "A recent survey by ourselves showed that 20 per cent of Web users are already using the Internet to shop."

But the problem remains that the high street shopping experience is head and shoulders above that available from most retail Web sites.

The reason is simple. Web sites tend to be looked at as technology products, and are designed by technically minded people. According to Stevens: "The Internet will not become a threat to the high street. [IT people] don't think in the same way [as other business colleagues]."

This focus on the technical at the expense of everything else was graphically demonstrated by the online shopping experiences of a Silicon.com reporter over the Christmas period.

On 18 December, a member of our team ordered a wine collection from Drinks Direct via the Shoppers Universe online shopping mall. The cash left his bank account - but the goods never arrived. When correspondence started between the reporter and Shoppers Universe, all he got was a series of automated mail responses. In the end the goods did turn up - 26 days late.

Another customer told Silicon.com he has threatened to report the retailers concerned under UK trades description laws to get his £35 worth of goods, while a Christmas order placed by a company for its clients with Drinks Direct has still not arrived.

Another customer was charged £29.99 for a £9.99 bottle of wine. Even though he emailed the company, some weeks later, he is yet to receive a reply.

Drinks Direct seems to be victim of its own success - it can't keep up with demand. But the knock-on effects of these types of story - which are by no means restricted to this one retailer - are damaging the reputation of ecommerce, and in the process that of IT departments. But it could be avoided if these projects were approached in the right way.

Robin Duke-Woolley, principal analyst at Schema, commented: "[Drinks Direct] is doing a disservice, not only to itself but to the public with its half-hearted attempt.

"It's started the process but hasn't finished it. Customers want a complete service, placing convenience and fast delivery at the top of the list of requirements."

Stephen Smith, administration and systems manager at Drinks Direct, admitted it had faced service problems over the holiday period and explained that the company normally sends out an order confirmation and tries to match the customer's request - if it can't, it calls them.

A spokesman for Web mall, Shoppers Universe wasn't happy about the failings of one of its virtual tenants. "We are very shocked by the problems facing customers. This could give [Shoppers Universe] a bad name, thus effecting business," he admitted.

A good example of the way forward is perhaps the Waitrose@work scheme. Bill Pratt, business marketing manager at Waitrose, explained: "We guarantee when goods will arrive and offer two daily deliveries. We have a personalised system and ask users to give us as much feedback as possible to deal with any problems they may face so we can continue the fine tuning that is needed to offer the complete service."

And that's the key word: service. Customers aren't impressed by technical elegance. The hype over hackers and credit card fraud will die down when the word finally gets out that using your credit card online is safer than using it in a restaurant. The biggest obstacle to the ecommerce boom is the online shopping experience itself.

This is the perfect opportunity for IT departments to prove their value in the modern business world - after all, you can't have ecommerce without technology. But if they act in isolation from sales and marketing personnel, any strategy is likely to fail.