E-Commerce in Australia - A customer perspective - News - Business

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This story was printed from ZDNet Australia.
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E-Commerce in Australia - A customer perspective

By Richard Talbot, Special to ZDNet Australia
September 27, 2001
URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/business/soa/E-Commerce-in-Australia-A-customer-perspective/0,139023166,120260761,00.htm

OPINION: Since its inception, e-commerce has promised much, but has it delivered? Depending on who you ask, online trading has been both a godsend to the retail sector and a nuisance that's more trouble than it's worth. One Sydneysider offers his real-life experiences of shopping online, along with his list of e-commerce winners and losers.

B2C e-commerce, it's such a great idea if you're a 20 something male like me that hates shopping centres. The idea of logging on from home, buying what you want and then going back to playing on the Playstation whilst the postie lugs your purchase to your house is great. "Have credit card, will shop", as my girlfriend always says.

The problem is that the reality doesn't match the promise. Out of the many B2C sites in Australia, there are so few that that deliver a basic level of service that I am looking for, which is not much. Here are a list of rules I think B2C companies really need to learn before they start to win the public over:

Deliver what you promise
If you have a Web site advertising next day delivery, then deliver it THE NEXT DAY. If you can only get it out in five days, then say that and don't exaggerate about it.

Accurately represent your products
If you are selling products on the Web, don't exaggerate the claims. If you do so, when I get the substandard item you have sold me, I wont visit your site again.

Actually stock the items you list on your site
Online wine retailers take particular note here, because so many times I have ordered products online, only to phone a week later when my order has not arrived, only to find you are out of stock and can't deliver it for five weeks.

Web sites that failed me so far include :-

Innovations
The worst online shopping experience I've had to date. Not only did the delivery eventually take 3 weeks, but the customer service staff were rude and unhelpful, blaming me for its fulfilment problem. The product has now stopped working after 4 months and I don't want to deal with this particular site again, even to get it replaced.

Dstore
Nice site and friendly staff. I ordered two radios which, according to the site, "normally ship in 24 hours". After a week of waiting, I called them to find out where the products were, only to be informed that they only had one in stock. Dstore said it would send the first radio out and refund my credit card with the money I had already paid for the second . It turned up after another week.

Wineplanet
Out of the 12 bottles I ordered, they only had two in stock. It did, however, help me choose some more. The point still is, why advertise them for sale if it din't have them in stock ?

Adultshop
Poor delivery but good customer service skills. Still shipped my order after 10 days instead of the "Next Day" as the Web site promised. It took three emails from me before they finally shipped it, the delay being due to a "Warehouse problem".

Promises kept

Sanity Music
A gold star should be awarded to this site, which provided a great service, delivered my CD in 48 hours without me having to call and chase it up. I now buy all of my CD's through this site.

It's not rocket science to make money in the retail marketplace, and there are plenty of customers keen to start shoping on the Internet. Many of the current online retail outlets, however, still seem determined to ruin the experience and drive customers away.

There are 1,000's of people like me who are online all day - no kids, high disposable income - who would use B2C business more if it worked. Why is this so hard for E-Tailers to understand ?

My name is Richard Talbot and I live in Sydney. I work in the CBD for a Recruitment Company and I spend all day online via a broadband Internet connection for my work (like most people I know). I work hard, often 12 hours or more a day in the office, and my spare time is in very short supply, hence I would prefer to shop online during the day and free up more time for fishing and spending time with my girlfriend.