Surfing Waves

Afternoon all,

At the risk of being strung up and flogged by the moderators I'd like to ask a few opinions.....

I am in the process of setting up a website flogging all manner of boardsports clothing.... nothing too "niche", got some fairly big commercial names on board like Quiksilver, Ripcurl, Vans, DC and Billabong to name a few....

What I'd really like to get the forum opinion on is this:

What makes you go to and then keeps you going back to a site to buy more stuff?

Is it just the stock they carry? The easy ordering? Discounts and loyalty schemes? Scores of bikini-clad babes? Fast delivery? Good old-fashioned customer service???

We're looking to launch in the next few weeks so I just want to make sure we have all the bases covered - I'd really appreciate your opininons on this..... There'll be healthy discounts for all (constructive) responses!

Cheers chaps,
Paul

The big one for me is ease and simplicity - if the website takes you through loads of windows to order, refuses to take a type of card, or if delivery is a pain, then Im not coming back, ever...

If there's an easy to navigate list of stock with a picture, description, and price all in one place, and then a payment window thats just one simple screen, then my money is as good as yours

drowningbitbybit wrote:The big one for me is ease and simplicity - if the website takes you through loads of windows to order, refuses to take a type of card, or if delivery is a pain, then Im not coming back, ever...

If there's an easy to navigate list of stock with a picture, description, and price all in one place, and then a payment window thats just one simple screen, then my money is as good as yours

I agree with the delivery thing ^^ I bought a new Mac in December, could have bought it from a local re-seller but the guarantee wasnt upto much (if it goes wrong, do this, do that...then send it to Apple direct), so bought it direct from Apple. Took 6 weeks to deliver it from the UK mainland to Jersey, even though id been quoted 5 days from payment, very poor communication and service from both Apple and the delivery company, and when it did finally arrive they tried telling me that I wasnt in when they came round (id taken a week off work to sort the office out and was at home solidly for that time).

Most important things for me...
Delivery - if it says within 5 days then id expect it within 5 days.
Communication - good communication is really important, as is good customer service.
Ease of use - not saying that it needs to be 5 year old simple, but as long as when you go to do a search you get the results straight away instead of having to trawl through pages of stuff you dont want... Same goes for stock availability, if possible, could you have a feature whereby the customer can see straight away that you havent got it in a particular colour or size (like when they choose the product, have something flash up that says ''sorry, not in stock''). It annoys me no end when I order something, pay for it and then get an email a couple of days later telling me that its either out of stock or discontinued...

Not really into the bikini clad babes thing... maybe a few very underdressed men?? lol

I'll see what I can do on the men front....

Thanks for the responses - all helps us build a picture of what drives people to a site and what keeps them there....

I'll be sure to chuck discounts your way once we're live....

If it's a bit cheaper on the net to get the stuff... otherwise Id rather go to a store where I can try things on and see it in person. Not to sound cheap, but if it's a good deal, then Im in, esp since there is always S&H to pay for as well.

REDUCTIONS REDUCTIONS REDUCTIONS!

competitive prices and free shipping. shipping in my opinion is the one thing that makes me not buy online more frequently.

Simplicity and stock are major factors, but the one thing that let an e-tailer I've used before down (I work in IT) is delivery and customer service.

If you're buying computer bits online in the UK, ebuyer.co.uk IS the cheapest, no two ways about it, and the range of stock they carry is breath taking, BUT the stuff is NEVER delivered on time and the customer service is appalling which is why they were voted worst IT reseller of 2005 in a survey.

When I go to a website to shop I want to see things that are not normally offered in a store / hard to find items/ or other wise less cost than a traditional store.

also important things for me (not being a computer/online gooru) would be ease of return/exchange if the wrong size/item was accidently ordered. An emailed order confirmation is also nice, to know everything went smoothly. I also like the sites that let you endter your order # somewhere to check up on the status - see if it shipped, is backordered, etc. anything to make the process easier/simpler is always good for me. I also like to see lots of images of the product, maybe with measurements if applicable to know exactly what I am buying.

Wooooops!!

Seems I fell foul of the moderators... just want to apologise - my last post that was removed must have looked like a blatant spam ad...

It wasn't - well, not spam, was an ad.... but in response to the feedback I recieved from some of the forum members on this thread a few weeks back, I wanted to let everyone know that the site was finished and running.... and also say a little thank you by offering a discount to the forum.

Apologies once again......

So, for those who missed the earlier post, the site is fakie-store.co.uk and please feel free to use EL01 at checkout for a discount....

Thanks again for the feedback....

Thanks for being a little more tactfull about it!

I'm glad some people are learning :p

PapaWoolacombe wrote:Thanks for being a little more tactfull about it!

I'm glad some people are learning :p

Yeah sorry.... I should have tagged on this thread in the first place....

Thanks for the understanding - hope you like the site, if theres anything you are specifically looking for that we haven't got let me know and I'll see what we can do...

if i see something on a website i buy it...im really bad about impulse shopping on the web

REDUCTIONS REDUCTIONS REDUCTIONS!

..and naked pictures of Spam in natural settings .. i.e ..spam playfully caressing a couple of radishes ..you know the sort of thing ..

Oh and ..clear , concise ordering ..no after jive ...i hate after jive

and heres a massive tip for you my man ..if your selling anything to a community based customer i.e .. surfers, snowboarders etc etc ..make sure you use real people in the advertising as much as poss' ..nothing annoys us all more than " fake bake" tanned skinny ass models and totally ripped twats that blatantly have never seen the ocean/snow etc etc ..

The Personal touch and the little things, like an option for phone ordering or the confirmation email that isn't a mailmerge thing, with an accurate time of delivery, oh oh and cheap postage. Places that charge £8 postage for a can of beans (poor example but you know what i mean). Perhaps discounts on postage or products for large orders.

yep .. going with Red' .. postage annoys the hell outta me as i know how much it costs us to send stuff and it gets my backup when someone is blatantly ripping extra cash from the postage costs