However, a survey published by the Consumer Association’s Which?
Magazine found that the supposedly booming trade is not being
exploited by many high street stores who are failing to satisfy in
terms of customer service.
The survey found that the computer store Dixons offers the worst
standard of service, with only 16% of customers saying that they
were happy with the standard they received. PC World followed, with
only 32% of customers satisfied, while WH Smith fared slightly
better with 42%.
The survey suggested that high street stores had become
complacent in their web operations and hoped to rely on their well
known names to attract customers. The results of the study also
pointed out that the standard of service provided by the
on-line-only reatilers in competition with the high street stores
in question was much higher.
A survey by Amazon.com, which came top in the Which? customer
service survey, analyses the on-line shopping habits of European
consumers. The survey found that shoppers were, as a whole, more
likely to make purchases from home than at work, with 67% of
shoppers making purchases from home or a home office. It also
reveals that the French and British are among the most active
European shoppers, with 3 in 10 visiting e-commerce sites more than
10 times per month. One in 10 of the Irish were found to visit
on-line retailers over 20 times a month.
The positive outlook from these surveys is tempered by a word of
warning from the US National Consumer League’s Internet Fraud Watch
(IFW). The IFW warned of the proliferation of on-line fraud that
faces consumers. It claims that, in the first 10 months of this
year, US consumers have reported losses totalling $4.3 million, or
$636 per person, in internet fraud.
