Shopping Online for Gifts
Added by Dave : my point of view on this “I’d rather pay a little more to amazon.com, than daves-gift-store.. just because I believe that Amazon will deliver the goods before Christmas and not go bust !!”
Online retailers of gifts like books,toys, music and games are set to make a killing this year in the lead up to Christmas. The major player’s such as Amazon.com steal the limelight and leave many other online gift shops in the shade. Is this because of their outstanding levels of customer service we ask ? Taken at random allgiftsonline.com what chance do they have competing with the likes of Amazon.com ?
After my recent experience of buying online at Empire Direct and the total let down with delivery and poor customer service I would certainly think twice about trying to secure Christmas presents online this year. What if the product simply doesn’t turn up ? If the large online retailers have problems outside of the seasonal online shopping rush, what chance do they have of fulfilling shoppers requirements at peak times?
Dan Horton SEO
Dudibob 1702 days ago
Empire Direct give you poor customer service and you give them a followed link
Dudibob 1702 days ago
pressed enter far too quickly there, I sound a bit narky :s from experience Amazon have done pretty good for expectations but with the illusions of the web some retailers are one man bands and simply can’t cope with the amount of work
Dan Horton SEO 1702 days ago
Hey its ok Dudi…good to see you here, point taken, and actioned…
Vinay 1702 days ago
http://www.juretic.comFree Supersaver Delivery on products £5 & above, Amazon.co.uk is sure to steal the market this Xmas!
Chris Pearson 1702 days ago
http://www.yourslice.co.ukif you want anything for christmas give me a shout
Ben McKay 1701 days ago
http://www.justmeandmy.comChristmas isn’t about buying your friends and family presents, it’s about recycling last year’s rubbish one’s!
Now who wants a walkman for their stocking? (remember those?!)
steve 1701 days ago
http://toylocator.co.uk/products/138/Peppa_Pigs_Spaceship.aspxI agree; Amazon have been doing pretty well for me in the sparse summer months, so I think that more people are using it on a more regular basis than in previous years.
The moment Halloween has gone, I fully expect the hordes to descend on Amazon (I would include play.com as well) as a reliable place to get Christmas goodies from.
That’s if the credit cards keep working…
Simon 1700 days ago
Whilst Amazon are reliable and have served me well for many years now, they do not serve all their sales from their warehouse and often source from other shops who front themselves through the Amazon site. Whilst 99% of these external shops have provided the same service as I would expect from Amazon, I’ve had one delivery several days after expected. Nothing major but it depends how urgently you needed the purchased item. I always end up looking to see if the item is from Amazon or another shop. This hasn’t put me off from buying anything yet though.
John_Mac 1700 days ago
Didn’t you place your order with Empire Direct by telephone? Can’t do that with Amazon. Didn’t you contact their Customer Service by telephone? Can’t do that with Amazon. Not defending Empire in any way – after messing up your delivery, their ‘Customer Service’ did sound abysmal – but at least they offer telephone ordering and provide telephone contact for CS. That’s one level of human interaction more than the entirely automated service that Amazon provides. So how do you compete with Amazon? Make your service more human. It won’t scale (at least, not easily), but its a real point of differentiation that could keep you in the game.
Chris 1699 days ago
@Simon that really really annoys me – and they don’t make it obvious at all that it won’t be coming from themselves but from a third party.
I accidentally bought something like that not realising it wasn’t from amazon and ended up paying two lots of postage (as I ordered two of the items) and was unable to cancel the order. I usually use play.com now partly due to this fact and I also like the look, feel and useability of the site better.
Another thing with amazon that annoys me is that they have loads of identical products with different prices – wtf is that all about?!
John_Mac 1699 days ago
@Chris
” they have loads of identical products with different prices”
Are you talking about Amazon Marketplace? (Where sellers get their products listed on the Amazon site). I agree, they don’t seem to make enough of a distinction between their own products and those of MarketPlace sellers.
Irish Jewelry 1697 days ago
http://www.celticbydesign.comI agree with you to an extent, but I also think that smaller merchants offer services that the likes of Amazon cannot. A purchase is often about a relationship (tougher online) as well as the ability to talk to someone that has a real vested interest in their customers.
As far as trust goes (i.e. will they deliver on time), I do think that the online merchant community has a way to go in that area. After all, it does not cost much to hang your shingle out, so the web is full of “merchants” that cannot perform as a result.
Chris 1695 days ago
@John
Not sure it’s Marketplace really – where they put in small writing “Sold and dispatched by ‘someone else’”. So it looks like it’s in stock and you don’t have to go to that Marketplace screen, but you end up buying it from someone else.
The ” they have loads of identical products with different prices” statement was to do with when you do a search for, say, a particular album, you get a load of results which all look the same but have different prices.
Cheapo 1609 days ago
You might want to take a look at http://www.discount-hunt.com. I use it to discover Amazon discounts and filler items
Online Shopping Centre 1517 days ago
http://www.shoppershub.co.uk/Amazon have been here long enough to realize what efficient customer service demands. That said, they are also not immune from complaints. There are many other retailers out there offering top class customer service and super fast delivery. All I would suggest is, do not try out a new retailer for urgent orders unless they have had unsurpassed reviews.