How can retailers help us, the consumer.

[Xevious]

Re: How can retailers help us, the consumer.

As above, that one transaction doesn't make a massive profit, but the continued business does. We do this at work - I work for a large electrical retailer, and we'll special order items in for people - It won't be the cheapest (since we're special ordering one rather than a bulk purchase) and it won't be the quickest (since it'll have to be shipped to us), but for the customer it's incredibly convienient, and because of this I now have a large number of customers that will ONLY purchase off of our store (and frequently only off of me personally), because they liked the service we provided and therefore use us again for all the small bits and any other large purchases.

[millar_7]

Re: How can retailers help us, the consumer.

fox, any chance you could pm me the guys webby?

shaun.

[Marwood]

Re: How can retailers help us, the consumer.

I'm a business consultant by day and I have done some work with online retailers. I see some really common mistakes being made by a lot of the airsoft vendors. The biggest is making it hard for people to buy. I recently bought an ICS Sig and had a search around for accessories. Not one shop had a link where I could look for accessories by gun, or even find out which upgrade bits would suit.

It is also often the case that more general products are badly organised and hard to find. For a good example look at fleck. There I can browse what I want by type, country of origin or I can search (and the search actually works). Compare that to most AEG listings I can possibly get a list by manufacturer, or by type (Rifle, SMG, Pistol) but what if I want to look at all the options for M4s, or every Russian AEG? It's just not an option.

Finally service is key. I get the impression that the majority of the online retailers are very small businesses, perhaps not even a full time job. If that is the case then why not outsource your stock and order fullfillment? It's probably going to be cheaper than employing packers and paying rent for storage and they'll probably do a much better job of it than you will.

The important things that retailers, especially small niche ones, can offer are service, product knowledge, uncommon items and most importantly trust. If the website, physical shop, processes etc do not support this then there's a problem.

[Abbadon101]

Re: How can retailers help us, the consumer.

fox, any chance you could pm me the guys webby?

shaun.

I would be interested to know too.

[murta369]

Re: How can retailers help us, the consumer.

Goes back to the whole good service = Profit.

Something I feel is important regardless of the situation. Retailer, Sites, Restaurants, you name it.

resturants have a very low profit margin compaired other buisness. so resturants need to have good service or they loose money spend on food staff electricity and gas bills ect.


again Stock levels how can retailers say there isnt the demand when people cannot order a product from them online when its out of stock all the time.
variety of kit i would like to see more acm kit and pantac and flyee kit in the uk rather than an odd helmet in one shop a molle belt in another

and prices are sometimes stupid , shipping is dreadful.

i ordered a barrel from hk at 12 o clock on friday night i arrived it on monday morning and i payed 4 dollars more than normal shipping which works out at about 18 quid , same as zeroins saterday service if i remember.

[jfox61]

Re: How can retailers help us, the consumer.

Again, what I am saying is, it isn't so much that stock levels are zero, but that when you ask them to order because it does read zero, they won't.

So a suggestion would be if there's no intent to stock the item then remove the items they no longer wish to sell. Having a catologue of items 150 pages long, but only stocking 20% of them doesn't look good.

Rather you have a catalogue 15 pages long with 80-100% availability. State somewhere you will order special items on next overseas order or whther you will special order or not.

I for one would be prepared to wait if I knew a UK retailer will actually get the item for you. As for saying why should they? Most people will eventually want to buy spares or accessories but are unable to. So the retailer should be looking at selling spares and accessories relative to the guns he sells basically a one stop shop.

[Sci Fi Steve]

Re: How can retailers help us, the consumer.

Better Communication and Delivery Times.

I am still waiting for a Warrior Vest that I ordered (in Stock) 17 days ago, without any further comms beyond the original Order Confirmation.

Zero One and as few other sites give you updates or the ability to check yourself what stage your order is at. A lot do not and you are left twiddling your thumbs wondering if and when you are going to get your Item.

Dispatch speed in the U.K leaves much to be desired when items from HK/U.S/Croatia gets to you before something from the next county .

[GLORYBOY21]

Re: How can retailers help us, the consumer.

this whole thing has turned into a big moan because you dont always get what you want, it the UK we have problems with this what ever your in. I deal with this every day as i deal with shipping and dispatch for companies transporting all over the world.

Also when it comes to all these little things on there sites like shipping time orr different pics its called google and using the tracking codes you get when you buy the it.

Its plain to see most of you cant grasp what these things are or the simple facts of logistics.