3. Wishlist.com.au: Delivering e-commerce wishes
Category
Gifts
Overall impression and usability
The Wishlist site offers a very broad range of gifts for different occasions and individuals. It is virtually a department store online, with the only difference being that the site's focus is selling their products as gifts, even if they are gifts for oneself. The membership discount price is clearly shown, encouraging people to become members and take advantage of the savings.
Notably, Wishlist has an arrangement with BP service stations for delivery (with a saving) and returns. This is a clearly strong service for their customers' peace of mind.
The site was found to be simple to use, and contained some unique features to make the shopping experience even more enjoyable and hassle free.
Hits
- The site offers a number of imaginative ways to search for that perfect gift. The customer can use the gift finder search facility to search by occasion (e.g. birthday, wedding etc), relationship (e.g. father, wife etc), price range, and interest. It also allows the customer to search by personality (e.g. gadget freak or nature lover), although sometimes the gifts recommended for a personality did not seem to be appropriate to the field entered.
- You can create your own wishlist and send it to friends and family. Make it easy for others to buy what you actually want--and not the usual stuff you get.
- The site also categorises its gifts into three broader and more conventional categories--home gifts, wedding gifts, and corporate gifts. This facility is useful for shoppers who would prefer to have a more general browse of the merchandise on offer.
- For those customers with a specific gift idea in mind, a keyword search is also made available.
- Membership is free and offers discounts, gift registry (for when recommending gifts for yourself), newsletter updates, and gift reminders for when our friends and families' special occasions are coming up. Gifts can also be delivered and returned (if necessary) to BP outlets around Australia.
- Gift wrapping is offered for an additional fee. Uniquely, we could view and select from a range of different gift wrapping colours.
- A delivery calculator determines the time and cost of delivery. We could select from express, standard, or predated delivery. It is useful for the customer to know what additional costs they face in terms of delivery and how long it will take before having to commit to a purchase.
- Help is offered to first time online shoppers--explaining step by step the processes involved.
- We could make the purchase online using a credit card, but could also make an off-line purchase via phone or fax. This is important for customers who are willing to use the Internet for browsing and research, but for whatever reason are unwilling to make a purchase online.
Misses
- Some of the popular items, such as The Matrix, and Fifth Element, were not available in the DVD section.
- Cards can be selected from the card department of the site, or are offered for purchase during the buying process. However, the range of cards seems somewhat limited, and when searching for birthday cards, some of the suggested cards did not appear to be relevant to a birthday.
- Express delivery takes three days to metro areas interstate. Standard delivery takes one week. So there is little opportunity for sending last minute gifts.
Purchasing procedure
- The Purchasing procedure involves four steps: delivery, wrapping, payment, and receipt. This is amongst the simplest around.
Security
- Security, privacy, returns, and refunds policies are made clear, and the site uses SSL during credit card transactions.
ePharmacy currently has 3 staff members. It proves that you do not have to have a massive business structure to have a successful e-commerce business.