Chat & Social > The Bar - General Chat
Hi-Lift Jacks
muddyweb:
--- Quote from: "Mace" ---I would have to dissagree with you on your comment that most UK customers would rather see a net price rather than a gross price.
--- End quote ---
I made no such comment... I said that I believed it was easier for people in the UK to understand their own VAT rules than for an overseas customer.
--- Quote from: "Mace" ---
As for the freedom of choice as to where you shop, how may users of MC believe for one minute that any UK on-line retailer of LR parts isn't based in this country and isn't supplying 95% of it's clients in this country.
--- End quote ---
I wouldn't like to presume what the MC members believe. But I do know a few of the companies who sell LR parts online quite well... and I have a fair idea of the proportion of export sales.
--- Quote from: "Mace" ---There any thousands of multinational web sites that offered tailored services out there, dependant on the country you live in.
--- End quote ---
True enough... but not everyone has Amazon or eBay's marketing budgets.
--- Quote from: "Mace" ---On-line stores have no idea who is browsing and who is not. Any feedback you get is usually from those who have battled through and actually bothered to say something. For every one of those there must be hundreds if not thousands of 'viewers' who turn away in disgust and never leave any comment.
--- End quote ---
Anonymously gathered web statistics actually give you quite a good idea of where your browsers come from, and what they looked at... and what products they looked at in what order... that's arguably better than a retail environment.
--- Quote from: "Mace" ---
I firmly believe constructive critisism works wonders to improve customer service / satisfaction. Anyone who doesn't listen is shooting themselves in their own foot.
--- End quote ---
Couldn't agree more.. which is precisely why I went and made some changes to our web shop immediately after having this discussion.
--- Quote from: "Mace" ---
I agree it's not always possible to be acurate with 100% of all your stock but I bet you any money that if I phoned Devon4x4 and asked how much carriage is on a D44 winch bumper for my Disco they could tell me over the phone.
--- End quote ---
Yes, so can the D44 webshop. What it can't do is make that human decision of knowing what you can and can't collate to reduce shipment costs... or at least, not without a massive amount of conditional programming.
--- Quote from: "Mace" ---Carriage is a nighmare but you still should give some indication to the consumer. If your system gets it right 99.99% of the time, how often do you lose out ? So why not display it ?
--- End quote ---
Um.. we do display it... but as I mentioned.. we cannot do so until the customer has told us where we are sending the item... and whether you believe it or not... 95% of our customers are not in the UK.
Is the system perfect ? Of course not... but it is an ongoing development process as is any form of retail marketing. Demands, regulations and responses will all change with time.
drum:
--- Quote from: "muddyweb" ---
Yes, so can the D44 webshop. What it can't do is make that human decision of knowing what you can and can't collate to reduce shipment costs... or at least, not without a massive amount of conditional programming.
--- End quote ---
I'm curious but only cos I do alot of work with Parcel\Pallet companies. :D What is it you can't collate?? You should be charged by weight up to a certain size (i.e 1 pallet), then number of pallets. The only exception to this are some things I would imagine have to go on a pallet. And ofcourse there will be things that you are not meant to ship like lead acid batteries (but I'm guessing Optimas should be alright :D
And ofcourse at the other end of the scale, you will probably have people that want one poly bush, so you probably have the set of bands for weight rather than a linear scale, then a switch over to a pallet, which is triggered either by weight or certain items been order.
Can you tell I've worked on these before :D
muddyweb:
--- Quote from: "drum" ---I'm curious but only cos I do alot of work with Parcel\Pallet companies. :D What is it you can't collate??
--- End quote ---
I'll give you an example... Someone buys an Optima Battery and a Discovery dashboard repair kit.
Now, I know that these two things need to go in separate boxes because if you pack them together you break one. So, these get wrapped separately and we get charged accordingly by the carrier.
Someone buys a dashboard repair kit and a headlight bowl... these can be packed together and so the carriage is cheaper.
I know these things... I make an instant decision.
So.. in order to work out the consignment details, you have to work out :
Actual Weight
Volumetric Weight
Number of packages in the consignment based on :
Individual item sizes
Individual item construction
You then need to make a decision about how to ship... will it be palletised, wil it go by TNT, Nightfreight, Post Office.. these choices are made on the above information and another human decision about which courier is least likely to break or lose the parts in question. (Yes, this really is a factor)
As I say... a computer can be taught how to make these decisions... but it isn't a quick process.
drum:
A lot of human customer struggle with Volumetic weights, but it is something computers, can judge instantly given the correct details. I have to admit the system I've done in the past didn't make use of volumetrics, as the packages we're always heavier than there size. I assumed this would be the same for your kit, but I now I think about maybe not :D
As for know which one is going to break something, I could tell you from the list you gave there. Work I did for a parcel sales force a while ago, used to keep records of the freight we were sending out with different couriers, and we used to have records of which couriers had problems with losses\damages in certain areas. Believe it or not we used to send empty\weighted power tools boxes, around the country, with photo paper in. If they got opened, or damaged the paper would get exposed to the light. I would not be at all surprised by the amount of damage from certain customers, by far the worst went to the wall last year, but even so I'm not naming names.
Mace:
--- Quote from: "muddyweb" ---
--- Quote from: "Mace" ---I would have to dissagree with you on your comment that most UK customers would rather see a net price rather than a gross price.
--- End quote ---
I made no such comment... I said that I believed it was easier for people in the UK to understand their own VAT rules than for an overseas customer.
--- End quote ---
Apologies, i now understand your original comment.
--- Quote from: "muddyweb" ---
--- Quote from: "Mace" ---
As for the freedom of choice as to where you shop, how may users of MC believe for one minute that any UK on-line retailer of LR parts isn't based in this country and isn't supplying 95% of it's clients in this country.
--- End quote ---
I wouldn't like to presume what the MC members believe. But I do know a few of the companies who sell LR parts online quite well... and I have a fair idea of the proportion of export sales.
--- End quote ---
I'm sure you have a better idea than I do. I don't work in your field, it's my hobby and as such I'm a potential customer to any online LR parts supplier. Yours or anyone elses export market is of no interest to me when I'm shopping for products for myself. I just want to buy the product. I honestly had no idea that 95% of Devon4x4's business was export, why should I ? (and by the way I think that is a fantastic achievement) However, that has no bearing on whether I buy from you or not. It doesn't stop me from wanting to know how much things cost without having to get a calculator out whilst browsing.
--- Quote from: "muddyweb" ---
--- Quote from: "Mace" ---On-line stores have no idea who is browsing and who is not. Any feedback you get is usually from those who have battled through and actually bothered to say something. For every one of those there must be hundreds if not thousands of 'viewers' who turn away in disgust and never leave any comment.
--- End quote ---
Anonymously gathered web statistics actually give you quite a good idea of where your browsers come from, and what they looked at... and what products they looked at in what order... that's arguably better than a retail environment.
--- End quote ---
I stand corrected if you have the correct information on who is browsing and who is not but this is down to public perception. Gathering information about browsers doesn't instill confidence in an already wary general public. Anonymously gathering web stats doesn't tell you why the consumer didn't press the button though.
--- Quote from: "muddyweb" ---
--- Quote from: "Mace" ---
I firmly believe constructive critisism works wonders to improve customer service / satisfaction. Anyone who doesn't listen is shooting themselves in their own foot.
--- End quote ---
Couldn't agree more.. which is precisely why I went and made some changes to our web shop immediately after having this discussion.
--- End quote ---
It wasn't a personal dig, I was generalising :D I wish more retailers would do the same as you do.
--- Quote from: "muddyweb" ---
--- Quote from: "Mace" ---Carriage is a nighmare but you still should give some indication to the consumer. If your system gets it right 99.99% of the time, how often do you lose out ? So why not display it ?
--- End quote ---
Um.. we do display it... but as I mentioned.. we cannot do so until the customer has told us where we are sending the item... and whether you believe it or not... 95% of our customers are not in the UK.
--- End quote ---
As I said before, good for you. But I can't pass comment on your webshop until I've seen it. As a UK customer buying goods from a UK supplier I still expect to know how much things cost before I buy. That was the basis of my comments. An inclusive of VAT price should be the norm for UK customers and an indication of carriage costs would be of great benefit for the UK consumer.
Each to their own Tim. I've got nothing against any particular company or their web site but I'm one of the paying, browsing consumers who get ever frustrated by on-line shopping. All of my comments apply to any on-line store in any retail sector. I've never bought a thing from Devon4x4 but I look forward to seeing your new webshop and if I feel comfortable using it I'll make a purchase. Simple as that. I'm Mr Joe Public and I'm not on my own.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[*] Previous page
Go to full version