RATING: 7/10
E-Store claims to be Australia's Internet Super Store and not only has a broad range of product categories, from computers to whitegoods and sports gear, but it also has a wide range of goods within its computer category. E-Store is generally a great site with a design revealing clean lines and an easy-to-use navigation system, clear pictures, good product information and all-in-all, a pleasant buying experience. Their tagline is "Shop Around, Buy from Us", and it was noted that their prices did indeed seem very reasonable.
Hits
- Extensive methods of payment are available, including order on the Web and pay by phone, which provides the convenience of online shopping and allows customers to pay via phone if they are concerned about online payment security.
- Categories are clear and easy to understand.
- The addition of short explanations next to the product is welcomed. For example, "Click Here for Windows Me Full Version"--this then tells you who the product is suitable for, quickly and in simple terms. A definite plus.
- A Shopping Basket icon, with the value of the goods in it, is always shown at the top of the page. This allows you to keep an eye on how much you are spending and is a real bonus.
Misses
- The handy, yet flawed freight calculation tool gave three different prices for the same item, using the same delivery conditions. This is just plain confusing for the customer.
- There is currently a problem with customers being given incorrect phone order numbers. E-Store is working to solve it but until then customers may get confused.
- There is no "buy" button next to the item when viewing the full product description. It is only at the bottom of the page, sometimes requiring the customer to scroll down to find it. This made purchasing harder than it needed to be.
- When calling the service centre for assistance, we had to wait for nearly 10 minutes before the call was answered.
- Some items suggested "less than 5" in stock...that could mean there are anywhere between 4 and none.
Purchasing Process
- Purchasing the Palm m100 was easy, as it was a special on the homepage. The site also told us there were less than five available (though it would have been better to know exactly how many were left, in case "less than 5" meant "none").
- It is possible to shop online at E-Store and not enter your credit card number on the Web. This happens by putting everything in your shopping basket, as you normally would and at the final sales screen selecting the phone order option. Then you simply have to phone E-Store and tell them your order number and credit card details and they will process it for you. Points go to E-Store for addressing public concern and having this option.
- E-Store also helps you shop. When buying the Palm it gave links to two appropriate accessories. This is a great feature for the customer, as it is easy to see items that will complement your product.
- After we had decided what we wanted we clicked from the cart to the checkout. This was followed by three steps:
Step1 Create an account. We only needed to fill in basic details and no credit card number.
Step 2 Delivery, it wasn't hard to choose as there was only one option.
Step 3 Method of payment, we chose phone order. - Once we had finished we were presented with a phone number to call and an order number to quote. The order number was "0", and apparently E-Store has been having a couple of problems with giving incorrect numbers. We were able to work it out, however, by calling.
Member Benefits
- We could find no information telling us why we would want to create an account, even the e-account page doesn't tell us the benefits. We assume it is to speed up subsequent sales by having all your details stored, yet this was never made explicit.
- We created an account during the sale process but it wouldn't let us back in, for some reason, the next time we went to shop. We had to fill it all in again--a redundant and annoying step.
Search Facility
- The search facility was functional and easily accessible--it was in same place on every page.
- It was simple to use with a keyword. It did tend to find some generic names but not others; however, it was generally good.
- The results page presents a great range of information about the product making it easy to identify the one you are after. Information provided included price, manufacturer, stock level, and whether Rentwise services are available on that item. Further, links to buy the item or get freight costings for that item are available.
General Usability
- The homepage is well formatted and easy to navigate. Although it does waste some precious space at the top of the page with large graphic borders.
- The site gives good feedback when we made mistakes--for example, "you have not purchased anything up to this point". This was preferred to other error messages we have seen.
- Navigation throughout the site is very easy with clear category names and consistent menu structure to help make finding product categories easy.
- Products have clear photographs, and information is well formatted, allowing customers to find the information they need quickly and easily.
- Links are obvious using the standard hyperlink practice of underlining text, as this makes it easier for new customers to know what to click.
- The site does not comply with W3C accessibility guidelines.
15%
7%
