I like shopping, and I like shopping online. But buying a computer in SA is, frankly, a terrible experience. If that's what consumers experience when they go online, I'm not surprised we're behind the curve: it's not because demand is lagging, it's because the experience is awful.
There are a few exceptions: some few that aren't completely dreadful. But they are rare, hard to find, and even then not up to scratch against the high expectations set by slick international operations.
It's bad enough as a techie - we at least know what we're looking for. I can only imagine the bafflement and despair that faces a non-technical consumer.
This was sparked by a recent buying experience - I was called on to help someone buy a laptop. Nothing glamorous: just a home computer for everyday computing and Internet applications. You'd think that would be simple enough, wouldn't you? Easy enough to nail down a base spec that meets the requirement, and set a budget. And on the supply side, we surely should have this down: thousands of people buy computers every day, and we are after all the tech industry: we thrive on optimising processes and creating slick Web experiences. We are masters of efficiency and lead the way in user experience. Right?
Wrong. We are none of these things, and as an industry we should be ashamed of ourselves. Surprised that my friend was having such a hard time choosing a laptop, I tried an experiment. I switched off my geek hindbrain and played the role of consumer for a few days to see what it was like. It hurt.
Caveat emptor
I started offline, walking into retailer outlets and a variety of brand-owned "experience stores". An experience is certainly what it was, but not a good one. From the bored sales staff who either ignored me completely or were clearly only interested in pushing more expensive models (hint: when I say I specifically want a 15-inch screen, that is not a cue to lead me to 17-inch models), an almost impenetrable wall of acronyms (pop quiz: which is better, a 2020M, 1007U, or 3217U processor?), and a vast array of models with tiny differences, apparently unrelated to the spectrum of prices on offer.
Given a fairly specific budget actually compounded the problem: you're now left wondering which of the many models and permutations of features available at that price point actually offers the best bang for buck.
OK, scrap retail. This is the 21st century after all, so I moved the shopping process online with roughly the same strategy: visiting online retailers and the local Web sites of major manufacturers.
Last time I bought a consumer laptop online it was several years ago and overseas; the experience was a pleasant one of slick drop-down menus guiding me through options and I was delighted with the end result.
I was eager to see how further advances in Web technology had improved online shopping and how South Africans had embraced them to bring local consumers the same experience.
Reality, I'm sorry to say, set in with a thud. With few exceptions, the South African sites I tried are simply abysmal. Sorry, but they are, and the vendors are the worst of the lot. Sites are unresponsive, unhelpful, often out of date, and even if you can identify a product which meets your needs, you can't actually buy the darned thing. Some of them deign to offer links to retailers (who may or may not stock that product at all, and whose online experiences make the vendors look good by comparison), but many don't even bother to do that. I'd been disappointed with the poor levels of customer service in the experience stores, but I now realised they'd only faithfully replicated the dismal standards of their principals. Finding a limited subset of their product ranges available to local consumers only made matters worse, since online reviews are rendered less useful as a result.
I can only imagine the bafflement and despair that faces a non-technical consumer.
Why bother, you might be asking? Most consumers would just go and buy something close enough to what they need, and probably be happy enough. If the information available was up to scratch, I might go along with that, but for the number of times I found - at top retail chains - products which were clearly misaligned in terms of pricing, or had outright mistakes in their claimed specifications. That's no way to shop. It's no way to craft a shopping experience, either.
At best, you'll find an online retailer which allows you to narrow your selection by selecting technical criteria (have you answered that processor question yet?) and so, with geek hat back on, I did so, and selected a system which ticked all the right boxes including the budget. My friend, I can safely say, would not have found it, except purely by chance. And even then she wouldn't have bought it because it wasn't a well-known outlet. (If I'd known the after-sales support issues she'd have, I might not have recommended it either, but that's a rant for another day.)
But that, right there, is the problem. If your customers can't find you, can't identify which product to buy, and can't understand your selling process, you aren't going to compete effectively. Right now, the easy way out is to drive to the mall and buy something from the obvious large retailers, because while the problems are no less evident there, there is at least a degree of comfort and familiarity in the process.
It's not all awful. In some niches, SA's e-commerce scene is right up there: there are pockets of excellence which consistently delight me and keep me coming back for more. But tech? Not so much.
At least fix your Web sites. That's just embarrassing.
Share