Many online wine retailers in the US are changing over from proprietary POS systems to plug ins like Shopify, because they offer a frictionless check out experience. But I fear customer service is being sacrificed on the altar of expediency. Friction is not always bad. 1/6

I buy a lot of wine for me and for clients from numerous stores. I call or email someone I know directly to open a dialogue about an order. And then I simply get a Shopify link to complete the order. It feels a bit inhuman. 2/6

There is a sense of the salesperson getting rid of you because they have more important things to do. And for my part, I'm not going to add any more wines to my order - which I might have done if someone had talked to me. And without a personal connection, I'm not racing back.3/6

Additionally, the total homogeneity of the check out experience Shopify offers makes it hard to tell one store apart from another. Receipts look identical, follow up emails with shipping look identical etc. Imagine an email from a real person!! 4/6

I'm almost at the point of not using stores that use Shopify. Wine is a product that opens up conversation, not closes it down, and I think I'm objecting to the automation of the process because it violates that rule. 5/6

Of course, often you just want to check out quickly, but if you call/email, salespeople should not just assume that is your desire. Dispatch the order and you risk dispatching the customer at the same time. 6/6 @pmabray @SpitbucketBlog