Study Says 25% of Online Transactions Go Wrong 124
TheKodiak writes "According to this article in the Dallas Morning News, a study by Andersen Consulting, one fourth of all online transactions fail..." The story's a little vague; at one point it claims 25% of all online purchases have some sort of problem, at another it says, "More than 25 percent of the [tested] sites were blocked, crashed during the transaction or under construction." Maybe it's best that you read and intepret this for yourself. It left me puzzled.
Technical Problems aren't the main part.. (Score:2)
greetings
Cyberstar
My take (Score:1)
Just my take.
Damn first posters. read the freakin' article. *sigh*
-Andy Martin
is it really the websites' fault? (Score:2)
As for things being late...wouldn't that be EXPECTED around the holidays? Even Xmas cards can take weeks!
It will be interesting to see which sites were "tested" and exactly what problems occured...like if they counted user problems, like information not being correctly entered
The result is random. (Score:1)
Why was the sample size so low?
Over how many weeks did they check each site?
Did they exclude error factors like their own LAN?
I think AC just wanted those results for some purpose and just made the study to make them.
No doubt a few
Sounds identical to catalog orders (Score:2)
Just a Thought (Score:1)
Delivery not the only problem (Score:1)
The surveyors particularly said that Amazon had a good business model that should be emulated. Now, while this is likely to flood the courts with more patent disputes, this just means that Amazon has more experience with the heavy customer load of Christmas
"The answer is it may not be better to go to the Web . . . yet."
The yet is the important part. E-commerce is still new, and the bugs are being worked out.
I only take a drink on two occasions - when I'm thirsty and when I'm not.
Re:is it really the websites' fault? (Score:1)
Yeah, no kidding. Another post says the whole study being bogus, but I wouldn't go that far. It does sound a little hastily done tho...
I only take a drink on two occasions - when I'm thirsty and when I'm not.
Re:Sounds identical to catalog orders (Score:1)
I only take a drink on two occasions - when I'm thirsty and when I'm not.
Para-sites (Score:3)
The real problem with online shopping is all the middlemen that have inserted themselves into the clickstream between buyer and vendor to skim the top off e-commerce. Claiming to provide valuable services for the vendors, such as demographics, fancy web design, and first choice on the broker-owned portal search engine (for an extra fee), all they really provide is poor quality web forms, out of date listings, and lost orders.
I as a client don't need any of the services they are providing to the vendor. In fact, I may even object to the fact that they are collecting demographics and I certainly object to the way that various portals reorder their search results according to the vendors they have on special that day (AltaVista and Yahoo are both guilty here -- I use only Google now).
I don't live in the US, and I have been faced with stupid web forms put up by these para-sites that let you choose any country from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, and then require a State and 5 digit zip code (postal codes in Japan are 7 digits, and there are no States) or they'll refuse to process your order (* required field).
These sites are often out of date. This has bitten me twice this year, once severely (a hotel refused to honor a reservation because the price on the agent's web page was out of date). And I had a toy company email me 3 days after I submitted a form to tell me they were out of stock.
Another hotel never got my reservation (the agent was supposed to FAX it to them!).
I have no sympathy for vendors that can't write their own web pages. Only a year or two ago, before all these portal sites crawled out of the ether, buying on-line was just like the normal mail-order catalog model of buying. Now it's a maze of bad code and bad service, and I for one now refuse to shop at any company that can't take the time to update their own web pages, and I don't use portal sites that get paid to order their search results.
Journalists and Christmas (Score:1)
From my perspective as a purchaser, the hit rate, whilst not 100%, is not low enough to stop me buying online, and is certainly not 25%.
From my perspective working for a financial organization doing E-Commerce, the failure rate I see is very small fraction of the figure quoted.
Am I just lucky?? (Score:1)
geek77
25% definately a vague number... (Score:1)
Re:Just a Thought (Score:1)
-Andy Martin
Re:is it really the websites' fault? (Score:1)
Having said that, I think it raises a point that the above post might be missing. It doesn't matter if the problem is the web site, or the web server, or the delivery service, or the guy that drives the forklift, the point is that things aren't working perfectly every time. Tech people are used to networks going down and hard drives crashing. Normal people who don't wear black plastic watches like to turn on their washing machines and have them work EVERY time exactly like they were expecting. Until every part of the ordering/ delivery process is completely seamless, it needs work. And I think the bottom line of the article is that there is a lot of work to be done in a lot of areas before e-commerce is really where it needs to be.
One thing that I found funny about the article was when they said that other online retailers should take a cue from Amazon.com. Don't take too much of a cue, like one click ordering, or they'll sue the pants off you.
-Barry
Playing with numbers (Score:5)
No surprise there, but 80-90% of online transactions probably occur at the top 50 or so sites right now. The fact that some random retailer's site still says "Under construction" doesn't mean that lots of people are getting failed transactions, it means that their online dollar is going elsewhere until that vendor get its act together.
They're ignoring delivery issues, so it looks like the main thing they're pointing out is that lots of retail outlets don't really have professional web sites yet. This is news?
Order a book from fatbrain. Now try to order a book from www.somerandomcompany.com. Did one fail? Does that mean that 50% of online transactions fail?
Personally, the fact that ridiculously conceived studies like this actually make news really annoys me.
Re:is it really the websites' fault? (Score:1)
These are probably people who don't buy using mail order either, and forget that just because it's online shopping doesn't mean that there's no courier or postal service involved. I bet that a lot of the problems caused with delayed deliveries this time of year are down to overloaded postal systems.
Personally, I ordered a product from a UK site on Saturday evening at 6pm. I never really expected it to arrive before Xmas but it was with me on Tuesday morning. Online shopping can work - people just need to be educated in what to expect from it.
How does this compare with telephone ordering? (Score:3)
Many of the same things can go wrong with the orders there and yet I'd bet that nobody would think to somehow "blame" the telephone. Because there is a computer involved this becomes news.
I personally have ordered many goods and services over the internet both from the UK where I live and the USA and have never had any serious problems at all. On a related topic I use a new internet bank and I have had a few problems with their systems. When I've contacted them they have all been sorted out efficiently though. The real issue is how many online 'transactions' fail and can't easily be resolved.
Perhaps a little responsibility? (Score:1)
Sure, a few problems crop up during the order process, but any store that's got its act together will tell you -at order time- that there's a problem. At the -very- least, I've seen them send out one of those confirmation emails that say 'We're out of stock, sorry!' or somesuch.
Just my opinion, but people that order things (even if they're listed as 'in stock') anytime this week, and expect to get it, need to be cleansed from the gene pool.
I want a rock.
Ulterior motives? (Score:4)
Rupert.
Re:Am I just lucky?? (Score:1)
BTW. I absolutly love the People Who Bought This Book Also Bought and People Who Bought This Book Also Bought This Author on Amazon. In the spirit of Google search, literary democracy.
Some of the local bookstores have been playing The Mombo Kings when I shop. All I can say is think "Cleaning Woman" from Deadmen Don't Wear Plaid...
Todd Stewart
Re:Just a Thought (Score:2)
Now it could be that Dallas is playing it up a bit because of their mayor (probably true, since it's not much of a study), but that's another thing.
sounds right to me (Score:1)
Compaq (Score:1)
Apropos the big scuzzy about Amazon lately, this seemd to be a rather amusing remark:
Andersen did not list any problem Web retailers, but the consulting company did highlight Amazon.com as a company that others should imitate.
Re:sounds right to me (Score:1)
Lovely lampshades (Score:1)
What exactly is a gameboy computer game? There's gameboy and there's computers. I see no mutant gameboy-computer hybrid on the horizon or anywhere else, for that matter.
I hope this doesn't spread, or my parents will start saying, "You spend too much time on that gameboy." That would just be annoying. So please, join me in writing the author of that article with a demand that she complete the sixth grade or higher before she continues to write her little news--oh, it's The Dallas Morning News. Nevermind about the whole letter thing then;
they don't teach sixth grade in Dallas.
Pay first.....and they can suck us ?? (Score:1)
Bull-Loney! (Score:1)
I have an absolute 100% success rate.
I hit the site, they deliver the goods within an hour, if they don't they come back with it! that simple! same thing with WebVan.com If you don't get it during delivery, you don't pay for it or they can bring it later on.
Chances are the 25% number comes from Newbies and massive stores like Amazon and B&N and all.
Anyone know where I can order Maudite or Chimay online?
Never had problems (Score:2)
And, I have bought not only from major vendors, but from all kinds, both in the US, UK, Germany, Denmark and the far east.
So, all in all, no bad experiences for me, and a 100% succes ratio.
[RANT!] The most common problem for me (Score:4)
I usually email them about this, and I usually get a reply saying "We know there's a world outside the U.S., honest! In fact, we know all about the Global Economy and will be shipping internationally in just x weeks!".
But I wasn't complaining that they weren't prepared to do business with me. I was complaining that they didn't say so in bigass blinking neon letters at the top of the order form!
Hopefully I've learned by now to check first, but sometimes that isn't even possible due to the way some sites split up their order forms.
Another thing: Why does the typical order form have separate fields for "Address 1", "Address 2", "Address 3", "City", "State/Region", "ZIP/Postal Code", and "Country"? Why can't it just give me a text box labelled "mailing address"? The people who wrote the software that will feed this information to the printer have no idea how to format a mailing address in my country. My country doesn't have states, it is a state, and we don't divide it into regions. So what am I supposed to put in that field? I try to leave it empty, but often the scripts will complain and I'll have to put "N/A", which the scripts will proceed to print on my package between the city and country lines.
--
Disaster inflation (Score:2)
I've been making deals over the Internet for about 2 years and maybe I'm just careful but of all the eBay stuff (a Bandai FriskyTom! Gimme gimme!!) and cheapbyte CD's and about 10 books from Book Exchange [abebooks.com] and deal arranged on mailing lists - maybe *2* have gone wrong: one was an Error 404 on tigerdirect.com last xmas trying to buy a Lego Mindstorm (ok, so just drive the 5 miles to ToysR'us) and once a guys sent me the wrong signal generator - that's IT. I'm actually amazed at the integrity of the people I've delt with considering the opportunity for wire fraud.
Boojum
Online Shopping (Score:2)
Re:That means: 25% of merchant sites running MS so (Score:1)
Moderators: what's up? The post was both ontopic and funny, not a troll. Looks like AC discrimination at work again.
ToysRus.com (Score:1)
Andersen comments:
All you AC people out there (the newbiees that is). Your getting screwed. AC is charging you out at > $250/hour and you're getting shit. Don't buy into their "AC is family" bullshit and get out while the getting is good. AC will suck you dry.
And to all the companies that are using AC....suckers you are getting screwed. Andersen misrepresents its consultants as experienced when the most experience they have is through training at the boot camp in St. Charles IL.
Should anyone listen to Anderson Consulting ? (Score:3)
They somehow manage to get contracts in many fields, including technology, but are rarely skilled in those areas (even the people who work specifically in technology).
Granted, they are normally smart people, but you can't commission people to do work on the premise that they will pick it up as they go along, they should know the stuff at the start, this is apparently why large corporations pay around $2000 a day for anything over a junior consultant.
In a similar way, can we really listen to their reports on eCommerce? Surprising isn't it that 25% of transactions fail!? If I was sceptical I would say that this is very similar to the tried and tested Anderson trick of convincing people that something is wrong when it isn't really, and then also managing to persuade people to pay them to write a full report on the subject, and then pay them more to fix it. I myself buy all books online, electronic products, flights, etc and have never had a problem. Maybe Anderson thought that a representative sample might contain several jackassforless.com sites run by 1 person out to make a quick buck, but then, do they really know any better?
With all these problems in the world of eCommerce its refreshing to know that we have AC getting to the root of the problem - I bet they are just the people the fix it for us.
Stores getting it wrong/right (Score:2)
Compare that to, say, Victoria's Secret where I was also shopping. When I selected the detail for items, not only did it say "This item will ship on XX date", if the item was out, it offered recommendations for similar items. I was quite impressed with that engine. Of course, after I ordered something I got a card in the mail saying "This item cannot be shipped on the expected date." D'oh. (But it still showed up!)
I ordered something from thinkgeek once pretty much as it was being slashdotted. Right at the final click to submit my order the site seemed to go down. What to do, what to do? You never resubmit, everybody knows that. Don't wanna get charged twice! So, I let the first one stand and then emailed them the timestamp (roughly) and what I'd ordered as a way of alerting them to my dilemma. I didn't hear back via email, but my package did arrive within a few days (if anything, it was even earlier than I would have expected). So whatever they're doing over there, it's pretty robust in my eyes.
d
Re:is it really the websites' fault? (Score:1)
| was when they said that other online retailers
| should take a cue from Amazon.com.
Interestingly enough, I was discussing Christmas shopping with someone over lunch. She'd mentioned that she was having problems with (guess who?) Amazon not shipping her order out on time. She's now going to a brick and mortar store to get the book.
Guess Amazon is one of the 25% that are broken, not the 75% that work.
The Real Villan in This Story (Score:1)
fault tolerant consumers retry until success (Score:1)
It might have been a failed transaction for Hello Direct, but I found what I needed. So it wasn't a failed purchase for me.
Just Stupid (Score:2)
This Christmas season, I did all my shopping last week. All of my items were delivered, on time. I got confirmation e-mails when my order was processed, and when it was shipped. (Granted, with overnight shipping, some sites didn't inform me of shipping status until the product was already there, but I won't bitch about that.) Staples managed to send me 2 of an item I ordered, but took care of it in a prompt, professional manner.
All of the web sites I ordered off of told me whether or not an item I was looking at was in stock. None of them didn't know what was in stock or took a week to find out what was in stock. Maybe that's the way it works on www.shadyecommerce.com, but I experienced no such problems.
Granted, there are glitches. I have been double-billed, both by catalogs and web sites. The only difference between the two is that on a web site, a polite email gets my card reimbursed, and I never have to wait on hold for someone.
I have had items destroyed in shipping, (a copy of freeBSD, in fact) and a polite email was enough to insure that the replacement was delivered overnight.
I have had items run out of stock. I knew the next day, and had no problem modifying my order.
If that record, over 3 years of impulsive internet shopping, turns into a 25% failure rate, than Anderson counts differently than me. Anderson seems to forget that catalog orders and in-store purchases fail too
sounds like FUD (Score:1)
(i didn't appreciate having my CC info redirected from a secure link to an non-secure link)
thor
listen to WBER [monroe.edu] online
Perhaps 25% of the Web is Under Construction? (Score:1)
Did it ever occur to anyone that it seems like at least 25% of all web sites are under construction? If so then probably about 25% of all sites with e-commerce would be under construction and therefore qualify as having bad transactions.
Also did the sites actually crash during the transaction? It seems much more likely that either the browser or OS crashed. (especially if they're running IE on Windoze)
Re:Para-sites (Score:1)
I hate when sites do this! I'm in the UK and my address hardly ever fits into the required format for a site that's so obviously been created in the US. I guess the problem here is that in order to get good delivery times, companies like to have Zip / Postal codes and complete addresses, but to find out the format for every country from A-Z would just be too much effort.
I had a similar experience to your Fax episode. I placed an order at a site which I then had problems with. After checking it out, I found that the form simply sent an email to a person who filled in a paper order form using the details I supplied, and then posted it to another company for processing!!!
Re:The result is random. (Score:2)
They did have some broad criteria for failure. I wonder what a similar study in brick-and-mortar would turn up. How many such transactions fail because you get there after closing time, they don't have the particular Furby you want, or the shopper gets a flat tire on the way to the mall?
Re:is it really the websites' fault? (Score:2)
Regardless, there are plenty of problems with this study. I would say many of the problems they reported were problems with mail-order in general.
Example: How is it different if I call in or click-in an order for dishes and they arrive broken? Mail-order business has been around for YEARS and has dealt with these problems repeatedly.
Other problem with the study: You can't count a site that is under construction as "an online transaction gone wrong." It's just a site that isn't online yet....nobody is ordering from a site that isn't even there, so why is that a transaction gone wrong?
Problem? What problem? (Score:2)
Then, there was Fox Store's hiccup. They had all their Doctor Who and Blackadder videos marked at around $1.50 each, by accident. This is certainly a transaction gone wrong, from Fox' perspective, but hardly from mine. My perspective said that this was one of the best transactions I've ever done online!
So, the question should be passed back to this study - from who's perspective? Without that, the study is meaningless, even if the figures have any validity in the first place.
I believe no study I haven't faked myself (Score:1)
I'd wager the real problem with the study was the luser sitting in front of the screen clicking madly on anything that might be a clickable target, especially "Reload" and "Stop"
Re:Should anyone listen to Anderson Consulting ? (Score:1)
Andersen and Marketing (Score:5)
I decided to do my shopping online this year... (Score:2)
Another one sent 3 different messages saying that the order had gone through, hadn't gone through and had been rejected. I finally called customer support and was told they had no record of the order. I ordered over the phone.
The third was Amazon, I ordered a 3-pack of MST movies with Manos. They sent three different movies, no Manos. I sent them several emails telling them what had gone wrong, so they sent me another package. It was the same 3 wrong movies. I sent them another email, which resulted in them asking me to return everything, since they don't really stock the stuff I'd ordered, and they had already credited my credit card. No "How would you like to handle this," no "Would you like to keep these movies instead," nothing.
Still, I've done my shopping from the office at lunch and everything was delivered there. Despite the hassle, it was still better than doing the Road Warrior thing in the parking lot at the mall.
Re:[RANT!] The most common problem for me (Score:1)
But in answert to your question of "why do sites split up addresses in multiple fields rather than having a single text box"-- I can't speak for all sites, but I do it because if I do it that way, browser AutoFill features like the ones in MSIE and iCab will work, whereas they won't work in a TEXTAREA.
Browser AutoFill is the best feature added to web browsers since tables, and nobody will talk me out of that opinion. I probably enter my name, e-mail address, or zip code into one site or another around 30 times per week. AutoFill makes that a lot less painful.
Re:Sounds identical to catalog orders (Score:1)
And you bet Andersen has a reason to publish this "study" as they are a consulting firm and would love to be able to say to a potential client "Look, 25% of all online transactions fail. We can get your business online and help you avoid these problems (or fix them if you already are online)." Make them think that without you they are losing money and you've got them paying you money for your services.
Re:Sounds identical to catalog orders (Score:1)
You mean, they have the gall to send me a receipt with my purchase? Give me a break. This isn't a problem, it's a good thing. And if I order a gift for someone online and have it shipped directly to them, I should realize that they'll be getting the receipt. And that they should, if it's broken (or some other problem, etc.) and they are halfway across the country, they should be able to return it. And for that my friends we need a frickin' receipt.
Re:Sounds identical to catalog orders - maybe not (Score:1)
The backorder scenario you lay out also introduces a little legal problem. You can take an order without inventory, no problem. But you can't charge the credit card of the customer until you can actually ship the product -- or send notification by first class mail (a hassle -- its easier to just ship something).
I do believe that you are dead on about Andersen's motives -- it would match up with their actions in the past.
Bleh.. (Score:1)
Well, I'm at 100% Failure Rate Right Now.... (Score:1)
There was the confirmation email from Sears that the products were on the way, but following it up through their web site order tracking mechanism I discovered that they were unable to verify my Sears credit card (with over $1,000 free on it for a $250 order) so, in reality, it was not ordered nor coming.
The Spiegel order hiccuped and died on the web site upon hitting the "Purchase Now" button, and J.C. Penney repeatedly stated on the web site that the desired items were available, but follow-up indicated they were always back-ordered. Hey...if I know up front it's back-ordered and still make the purchase, I don't care. But the reverse....I'm not happy.
Discussions above regarding the integrity of Andersen Consulting and the use of NT servers aside, the bottom line is that it just hasn't worked for me yet.
Re:what?! (Score:1)
I've been shoping on the Internet for over 5 years and I have NEVER.. and I mean NEVER gotten something I didn't order, or got over charged or a late shipment. But then again I go into it with the mind set of not needing it RIGHT NOW. I can wait the 2-7 days before it arrives instead of having to deal with the crowds and the unhelpfull clerks in the local mall.
I did all my x-mas shopping over the internet this year.. and everything came just as I wanted.
Ex-Nt-User
It's expected (Score:1)
It's still so early on in the Internet Revolution. While the web as we know it today is, for all practical purposes, about four years old, the concept of ecommerce was still a glint in most people's eyes three years ago, and the necessary evolution of seat-of-the-pants standards such as the shopping cart metaphor, broad acceptance of cookies, etc. is maybe one-two years old. Next we need to wait for all those users - even the dummies - to learn and understand these common concepts, and for coders to develop tools to put them into use, etc.
Re:Should anyone listen to Anderson Consulting ? (Score:1)
Right On.
Although I disagree with that accustation of intelligence. I mean would anyone intelligent accept what in the computer industry is minimum wage and work an average 60 hours a week while their employer charges $2000 plus per day!
Having been in the "clean-up crew" trying to salvage something meaningful from AndersEn managed projects I am very surprised that they managed a 75% success rate in something as complex as on line shopping. These guys don't fart, struggle over chewing gum and certainly couldn't do both at the same time.
Re:[RANT!] The most common problem for me (Score:1)
Let's see, you are in Iceland, right? so your format (as I look it up) is:
name line
address line(s)
delivery line (postal code + locality)
ICELAND
-- an example
Helgi Helgason
Laugavegi 312
IS-105 REYKJAVIK
ICELAND
It's really not that hard if you think it out. And those of us who have to ship overseas all the time generally have. The difficult part is often making sure that not only do we have the right address and format, but that we are properly interfacing with not only the express company, but its local subcontractors. (you don't think FedEx actualy delivers all over the world itself, did you?)
Andersen maybe a tad ``biased'', eh? (Score:2)
``Business-to-business Internet marketplaces are becoming the next red-hot E-commerce market. A flurry of year-end, big-ticket deals last week shows that major players such as Andersen Consulting, Ariba, and SAP are banking on huge volumes of business transactions moving to the Web next year.''
Think this report may be just a tad biased?
Nah, couldn't be.
25% of transactions fail... An explanation... (Score:4)
I have easily seen 25% of online orders fail. Why? Declined credit cards. I realize this is not what the article is talking about, but not a day goes by that we do not get a bum credit card number.
The site I work for does not do online inventory because it is simply too expensive right now (we are not even running a POS system at the store, so putting inventory online would require doing that and inventorying everything). When we get an order that specifies somehting we do not have, we:
a) immediately place an order for the product. No sense in not having it next time.
b) call or email the person immediately to give them the choice of waiting for it to come in or alternates.
c) try to work it out with the customer. Frequently we do a "next best thing" approach where we will provide the better item for the price of the (not in stock) ordered item.
Some other problems:
a) My manager, in charge of the online site, is getting fed up with UPS. The current shipping software that they gave him does not do email confirmation. We would love to do this (I have received nice shipping confirmation notices via USP Shipping software from other companies, so we know it exists). The UPS rep that I spoke with concerning this said "Wow. That would be a cool feature." I tried to explain to him that it already exists and is working.
b) UPS and FedEx are not guaranteeing shipping this season. We, as a site, cannot say when your package will get to you because USP will not assure us of a date. We can make sure your order goes out the day you place it, but that does not mean anything if it gets hung up at the UPS processing center for two days.
Re:[RANT!] The most common problem for me (Score:1)
Re:My take (Score:1)
-Andy Martin
Re:Ulterior motives? (Score:1)
Re:Playing with numbers (Score:1)
I'm willing to bet a good number of these companies are on a make-money-fast business plan, and have invested far more in television commercials than in information systems. But on the Internet, how do you know? Anyone with a big ad budget and a flashy site design looks just as competent as Amazon. The local news had a piece about some company that would take on-line orders, print them out, and then phone in the order to a middleman. Yeah, that's e-commerce all right.
So, considering the large number of companies showing up late and underprepared for the gold rush, and the large number of newbie Internet users that don't have loyalties to existing sites, I would imagine that more goes wrong than you and I would see from ordering from the old standbys.
(My only bad experience was a series of repeated attempts to buy a 21" monitor from buy.com. Each attempted transaction ended in the black hole of a MS-ODBC ASP error. Furthermore, their phone representative couldn't take a telephone order, and couldn't confirm if my order had even been placed or not. I had to call my credit card to make sure that I wasn't charged. Bottom line -- it was a pain in the ass, and there's $1100 that buy.com didn't make.)
--
It's still better than retail (Score:1)
Peapod [peapod.com], which offers online grocery ordering and delivery, ran into this. Peapod does fulfilment by sending people into Safeway with pick lists. This has Safeway's full co-operation, and Peapod's product list is from Safeway's product list. Despite this, 40% of ordered items aren't found on the shelf. Safeway thought it would be 5%.
Still, many online retailers are botching the ordering process. Competition will fix this rapidly. Here's a startup suggestion: a service like Web Site Garage [websitegarage.com] that monitors retail sites, testing the ordering process.
Re:is it really the websites' fault? (Score:1)
Guess whoever wrote this falls in the "using clueless criteria" category?
Zontar The Mindless,
Re:Playing with numbers (Score:3)
-Rich
Ahhhh...i see (Score:1)
sorry if it's OT
bye,
-jimbo
I belive it. (Score:1)
Technophobic e-commerce reporting (Score:1)
Re:Pay first.....and they can suck us ?? (Score:1)
My own experience--about 100 purchases made through the web from merchants ranging from brick-and-mortar shops to online auctions to Amazon (boo) and eToys (hiss), I've only had 2 bad experiences and both were due to deliberate deception by the merchant. (One claimed the product had features it did not, and the other charged me twice.)
Why I believe it ... (Score:1)
I've conducted [6] online transactions in the last six weeks. I had some sort of problem with _each and every_ transaction. (Maybe I just have bad luck?)
In one case, the computer system on the other end rejected my address. They called to complain, left me a voice mail message, and for two weeks my attempts to call them back were greeted with "we're sorry all circuits are busy". Eventually I emailed them, the issue got cleared up, and the shipment was sent --- except they forgot to bill my credit card.
In another case, only half of the items I ordered were actually in stock despite the fact that the web site claimed all of them were.
In a third case, I was overcharged, complained, and was then credited the amount.
In a fourth case, the delivery agent was unable to ship to my PO box (not indicated on their web site, but it was an international shipment, so maybe that's not too bad), called my housemate, obtained my work address, and shipped it there.
In a fifth case, delivery --- using the most expensive delivery option --- for inexplicable reasons took six weeks.
Why I believe it ... (Score:1)
I've conducted [6] online transactions in the last two months. I had some sort of problem with _each and every_ transaction. (Maybe I just have bad luck?)
In one case, the computer system on the other end rejected my address. They called to complain, left me a voice mail message, and for two weeks my attempts to call them back were greeted with "we're sorry all circuits are busy". Eventually I emailed them, the issue got cleared up, and the shipment was sent --- except they forgot to bill my credit card.
In another case, only half of the items I ordered were actually in stock despite the fact that the web site claimed all of them were.
In a third case, I was overcharged, complained, and was then credited the amount.
In a fourth case, the delivery agent was unable to ship to my PO box (not indicated on their web site, but it was an international shipment, so maybe that's not too bad), called my housemate, obtained my work address, and shipped it there.
In a fifth case, delivery --- using the most expensive delivery option --- for inexplicable reasons took six weeks.
Bad advice? Slightly offtopic. (Score:1)
Andersen did not list any problem Web retailers, but the consulting company did highlight Amazon.com as a company that others should imitate.
Seems like this is a good way to knock off the 75% of sites that are functional, after Amazon sues them. Bring on the OFFTOPIC and FLAMEBAIT moderation.
Sometimes its good when they mess up. (Score:1)
Nope - my story (Score:1)
So in the end, it wasn't the site's fault, rather a lack of planning by the people runnin it.
Re:Ulterior motives? (Score:1)
Definitely
Andersen are running a marketing campaign at present which implies that most e-commerce solutions are dodgy veneers sprayed on. This study just "proves" it doesn't it :-)
Don't forget NSI! (Score:1)
Buy.com has reverse-screwed me twice HeHe (Score:1)
What I do know is that my Appian Pro Multi monitor card is getting a pair of monitors. Perfect for tracking bids at ubid.com at closing time while reading slashdot on the other. I know NT supports the 2 monitors, now I'll have to see how X runs on it.
The other time they sent 3 hard drives in response to 1 order (billed all 3). They credited my account for one of them. If they keep sending bonus stuff, I'll keep ordering
I can feel the Geek factor increasing already
the "study" (Score:1)
they give out concerning details: which sites ?
and any other specific inofrmation.
these "firms" make up numbers on most of these
studies, but the actual numbers are probably
higher since you hear about all of the hype of
"e commerce" but it just so happens to leave out the truth.
Re:Playing with numbers - batting 1.125 (Score:1)
9 packages delivered today.
They sent me an extra (free) monitor, so actually I'm batting 1.125.
No lines, excellent selection, shipped on time.
So for me, -12.5 % of orders fail.
Re:Should anyone listen to Anderson Consulting ? (Score:1)
Re:solution (Score:1)
AC (Score:1)
AC = Anonymous Coward
Coincidence?
Statistics (Score:1)
Anderson Has No Clue (Score:1)
Happy Secular Days Off
Re:[RANT!] The most common problem for me (Score:1)
This might work for Iceland, but what about places such as Canada, where the postal code usually follows the country?
This is what Canadian addresses look like AFAIK:
John Q. Public
145 Main Street
Anytown, Alberta
Canada A1B 2C3
In this case, you can't just stick the post code after the "state" (province in this case).
(And yes, I too hate having to enter a bogus state for those who have heard that Germany has "Länder" -- Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany is one Hamburg too many.)
Re:[RANT!] The most common problem for me (Score:1)