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The seven deadly sins of e-tailers

Staff Writer
By Staff Writer, ITWeb
Johannesburg, 22 Nov 2002

The silly season is upon us, and for those who suffer from serious time constraints at this time of year, online shopping should be a blessing in disguise - if only the e-tailers would stop making life difficult for their customers.

Debbie Nelson, MD of iLAB Project Services, is a regular online shopper who believes that there are certain cardinal sins that an e-tailer should never commit.

"Certain local e-tailers not only make these errors, but actually seem to have implemented them as golden rules - which on the face of it is stupid, as there are always other sites that one can go to."

1. Hard-to-use system

Nelson says the first of the deadly sins is the hard-to-use system.

"It seems as though certain e-tailers expect you to jump through flaming hoops while balancing a bucket of petrol on your head, just for the privilege of buying from them," states Nelson.

"One site I visited required the user to print out a registration form, fill it in and then fax it to the company, then wait several days for confirmation before the user could log on. My question is: why is this company online, as they obviously have no idea what their customers want.

"There is just no way I would want my credit card details anywhere near that company`s database."

2. Non-standard access

The second sin is that there is no standard access for shopping sites.

"Every Web site has its own convention for logging on, which means that if I go to three different sites, I have to log on with three different username and password combinations - which for regular shoppers can mean a long list, which, of course, we cannot write down anywhere for security reasons."

She says that even though these sites do offer clever ways to help you remember your password, it still causes hassles. "My mother`s maiden name or that of my favourite pooch is not always at the top of my mind when I want to quickly buy groceries in between meetings."

3. Slow response

The third issue that causes concern for shoppers is the slow response times of Web sites.

"Sometimes it seems that the programmers have squeezed every possible script and application they can onto the homepage, leaving the shopper to ponder the meaning of life while waiting for it to download, pixel by pixel," continues Nelson.

"Of course, the one script they always seem to forget is the one that automatically saves the contents of your shopping basket, leaving you having to spend another couple of hours re-selecting your goods, should the site crash while you are busy."

4. Lack of call centre help

A fourth concern for e-tailers is the often less-than-helpful staff operating call centres.

"One particular company springs to mind here. I wanted to buy some groceries, but when I logged on as myself, someone else`s username appeared on the screen, along with some stranger`s profile.

"However, the call centre seemed to think it was my fault - the answers I was given included: restart your computer, shut down your browser, and you have the wrong browser.

"My question in reply was how can a browser or a restart possibly fix a critical database error that compromises the rules of privacy and security? I certainly won`t be shopping there again."

5. Delivery delays

Another crucial mistake a lot of online retailers make is not ensuring prompt delivery.

Nelson says it defeats the purpose if people who do not even have time to physically go to the shops - meaning that their purchases are probably last-minute buys - then have to wait three or four days before the groceries are delivered.

"These stores don`t seem to understand their customers` profile. If I had the time to go to the retailer and shop at leisure, I would - I shop online for speed and convenience, so is it too much to ask that they deliver the goods the following day?"

6. Sell-by date

Which leads to the sixth deadly sin: checking the sell-by date.

Surely it is not too much to ask e-tailers to ensure their staff check to make sure the sell-by date on products is not already past, or that fresh foods are still at their best, asks Nelson.

"I once had a package of fresh herbs - sealed in a clear plastic packet - delivered to me two months after the sell-by date, and the herbs were clearly shrivelled and mouldy. I cannot understand how shops can allow products like that to be delivered to buyers."

7. Lack of courtesy

The seventh deadly sin is that of lack of courtesy.

"While it is an unpleasant experience for the customer to have their groceries delivered late, it would not be quite as bad if the person delivering the goods was a bit more courteous," she says.

"More often than not, my deliveries are brought by a surly-faced, grumpy individual who not only arrives late, but then attempts to dump the goods and disappear without cross-checking the order. With service like that, it seems strange that these e-tailers ever get repeat customers.

"It`s fair to say that most local sites are well designed and well stocked, and attract people like me who want to shop online because of time constraints. Unfortunately, the operational support seems to let the sites down.

"If online stores in SA could match their back-end processes with the effectiveness of their front-end Web sites, not only would online shopping be a more pleasant affair, but more people would be doing it, meaning more revenue and profit. But there again, what do I know? I`m only a customer."

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