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Shopping online – a matter of trust. If you’ve driven into one of our larger cities lately, you’ll have noticed that the roadside billboards and poster ‘super-sites’ have changed. No longer are they displaying the familiar messages from credit card and insurance companies, or promoting new cars and designer sneakers. They’re now promoting online shopping sites. If their name is catchy enough, the advertisers hope you’ll remember it next time you sit down at the office computer or connect to the Internet from your home. Just type the address line into your web browser, and suddenly you’ll be tempted by fabulous bargains. Who are they kidding? Do they really think that
they can change the way you shop? If you don’t have a computer and an
Internet account, the answer is ‘probably not’. But if you’re one of
the people to who checking your email messages five times a day has become
essential, you’re ready for the next step, buying products online. The reason that there are so many unfamiliar names on those roadside advertisements is because these stores are not built of bricks and mortar. You’ve never driven past them because they only exist on a website and perhaps in an office or two with links to the manufacturer or distributors of the products they promote. If you order a product from their pages, the order is passed on to the manufacturer who is often then responsible for shipping it directly to you. The profit on the sale stays with the online store who didn’t have to stock, wrap and ship anything, and can therefore offer you prices that are lower than the real world stores. Whether they’re a success or not depends on
how they can attract you and then win your trust. If you’re buying a
product sight unseen and giving someone your credit card number, then it
is critical that the service you get makes you want to do it again. (See
our online shopping sidebar for some tips.) If you’re like me, you’d gladly give up the
weekly supermarket shop where we all charge down aisles with a prepared
shopping list, buying the same brands as last week (because we like them)
so that we can pick a daughter up from dance lessons. All on the way home
from work. Fred Harden |
The top 10 product areas online last year
were, in order, Leisure Travel, Apparel, Food and wine, Automobiles,
Computer hardware, Consumer Electronics, Health & Beauty, Tools and
Garden, Appliances & Furniture, and Household Goods. There means that there are many more American Internet based companies with size and online experience, and often the differences in their low selling prices make up for the cost of shipping to Australia. The pioneer of them all is Amazon.com, who began as a virtual bookshop and now offer almost every kind of product. Order with them and you’ll get a prompt email thanking you and giving you stock availability and an estimate of the days you’ll wait. If there’s any reason why this can’t happen, you’ll get another email offering to cancel your order. It’s this feeling of service that is important to look for. Even with our smaller numbers in Australia,
it’s still attractive enough for new online stores to open everyday.
Without recognisable brand names and images, they rely on banner ads on
websites, press, billboard and TV advertising. You’ll probably see the
TV ads for Dstore.com.au and they’re a good place to start. Dstore are
trying hard to make their site a one-stop source of a wide range of
products. They have joined with wishlist.com.au, travel.com.au,
greengrocer.com.au and wineplanet.com.au , all worth a visit. Where to start? http://www.amazon.com
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