What do you purchase online and why?

thelimitlesscafe · Jul 4, 2009

Taking the title from the personal perspective rather than the business perspective; as my partners and I are in the developmental stages of forming our on-line e-commerce site which specialises in home entertainment.

We would therefore like an understanding of what products you purchase on-line and how frequently you purchase home entertainment items.

Which websites do you currently purchase from?

Has your purchasing decreased since the economic downturn?

In relation to the above question is purely down to price why your purchasing has decreased?

Do you tend to look for the best "price" for home entertainment?

Do you feel the UK overcharges on home entertainment products, this includes items like: Gaming Consoles, Video Games, Plasma Monitors - TV's etc.

Your responses to this brief study would be very much appreciated.

Thank you for your time and input.

Kindest regards,

Martin

ginantonic · Jul 4, 2009

So many are already doing this, what is your SSP?

thelimitlesscafe · Jul 4, 2009

Excuse me for being thick here but what is SSP?

ginantonic · Jul 4, 2009

Special Selling Point...sorry, it's been a long week and my brain only wants to speak in abbreviations!
Special Selling Point as in "why are you different from all the others?

thelimitlesscafe · Jul 4, 2009

Thanks for that. It makes sense now. To give our SSP at this stage would be commercial suicide.

You may even be a competitor.

Planck · Jul 4, 2009

ginantonic said:
So many are already doing this, what is your SSP?

I don't understand this obsession with SSPs or USPs. People are always ready to jump in with "what is your USP?".

The fact is, you don't need a USP, ever. Most successful businesses don't have USPs; they just do what they do well.

In many ways a USP is a dangerous thing - you're exploring a new/different business model. Far easier to simply replicate a business model which you know works well, and take a share of that market.

I'm not saying innovation is bad; far from it. Just that it is by no means necessary to the success of a new enterprise.

AndyP · Jul 4, 2009

SSP??....never heard of that either....shouldn't that be USP, as in unique selling point?

ginantonic · Jul 4, 2009

Good point. (I'm not.)
In answer to your original question, I usually go for "best price" - using one of the comparison sites.
Often buy from Amazon, Dabs, Argos...depends wholly on who has the best deal, also taking into account the shipping fees/length of delivery time.
Yes, purchasing has decreased in line with income decreasing, so searching for a good deal is more important.
The UK hugely overcharges for entertainment products, always has. There is the temptation to buy abroad (e.g. China) but you have no guarantee the items are compatible with UK systems, or if they are illegal copies.
I think consumers are just more careful when they are buying now, they will still want to buy games consoles, HD TV's etc, but want more competitive prices.

powerofpricing · Jul 4, 2009

people purchase from online because of 2 reasons... one is cost saving perspective, the other one is convenience.

consumers tend to see online products as cheap due to cost saving from setting up shops, rental, staff salary etc. so with this perception, they think the products are offered at lower price hence believing this is the best offer.

also, there are some dont prefer to spend time to survey the prices anywhere, hence willing to spend extra just for convenience.

so its up to you, how u devise your pricing strategy.

thelimitlesscafe · Jul 4, 2009

Powerofpricing...We've made it essential to monitor our competitors pricing; purely based on the fact that we wanted to obtain there profit margins; and to observe if we could at least shade their pricing for the same products and not dent our profit margins substantially.

We are a diverse business in the making, this is purely due to the type of business premises which we are intending to purchase; so home entertainment isn't our main functionality.

Yet the same rule applies to our other business interests; pricing has to be monitored in order to be competitive. And having the understanding of how much people are prepared to pay.

AndyP · Jul 5, 2009

powerofpricing said:
consumers tend to see online products as cheap due to cost saving from setting up shops, rental, staff salary etc. so with this perception, they think the products are offered at lower price hence believing this is the best offer.

Whilst I don't entirely disagree with this statement I do think that it is generally a somewhat old and out of date concept. Yes, this may have been true five or six years ago but the internet and ecommerce in particular has grown enormously in that time. Today's buyer is far more sophisticated.

I believe that the "cheaper online" theorum is still valid among an ever decreasing market sector.

Ease of purchase, speed of research, best value, excellence of customer service. In my view these are the primary driving factors in ecommerce today.

TotallySport · Jul 5, 2009

Although I agree with the above post, I think the OP is asking the wrong people, the question is based at comsumers, and the question is asked at business therefore the answers maybe very different. The original questions should be asked to the target market to get the right market research. IMO anyway.

Jul 5, 2009

AndyP said:
Whilst I don't entirely disagree with this statement I do think that it is generally a somewhat old and out of date concept. Yes, this may have been true five or six years ago but the internet and ecommerce in particular has grown enormously in that time. Today's buyer is far more sophisticated.

Is that a new name for stupid.?:|

Customers go for the cheapest price for a given product,service is taken as being all in place in 99.9% of cases.

Earl

TotallySport · Jul 5, 2009

sirearl said:
Is that a new name for stupid.?:|

Customers go for the cheapest price for a given product,service is taken as being all in place in 99.9% of cases.

Earl

So all the products you sell online are the cheapest?

TopShopper · Jul 5, 2009

Hi,

I normally look in Dixons, Currys and Comet to find what I want. Then shop around to get best price. As long as the company has generally good reviews, I buy from them. Recently bought a 42" TV.
Simples

Mike

wizzard · Jul 5, 2009

Planck said:
I don't understand this obsession with SSPs or USPs. People are always ready to jump in with "what is your USP?".

The fact is, you don't need a USP, ever. Most successful businesses don't have USPs; they just do what they do well.

In many ways a USP is a dangerous thing - you're exploring a new/different business model. Far easier to simply replicate a business model which you know works well, and take a share of that market.

I'm not saying innovation is bad; far from it. Just that it is by no means necessary to the success of a new enterprise.

USPs are ideal in the current climate, with everyone hustling for business.

Most successful business do have a USP, it could be that they're not exploiting it as such, or they just aren't aware they actually have one.

Jul 5, 2009

TotallySport said:
So all the products you sell online are the cheapest?

well thats what we aim for where possible.But some markets are niche areas or areas where the price is dictated by the manufacturer.( yes I know thats illegal but very common as price cutting can result in withdrawel of supply.)

Can't always be the cheapest,but it is the most common reason customers say they buy from us allied to our excellent and knowledgeable service.

Earl

AndyP · Jul 5, 2009

sirearl said:
Is that a new name for stupid.?:|

Customers go for the cheapest price for a given product,service is taken as being all in place in 99.9% of cases.

Earl

Firstly, why do so many of your posts border on the abusive?

Secondly, I totally disagree with this statement. Yes, there is an element that will always go for the cheapest price but this is far from true in many cases and, certainly percentage-wise, a much hgher percentage of buyers will go for mid-range pricing by choice. I am guessing that your view is based on your experience with your own customer base. I am basing my view on our customer bases which differ insofar as we work with two distinct markets plus a wider knowledge based on both quantitive and qualitative research carried out by a customer relationship management organisation.

TotallySport · Jul 5, 2009

sirearl said:
well thats what we aim for where possible.But some markets are niche areas or areas where the price is dictated by the manufacturer.( yes I know thats illegal but very common as price cutting can result in withdrawel of supply.)

Can't always be the cheapest,but it is the most common reason customers say they buy from us allied to our excellent and knowledgeable service.

Earl

I agree to a point that price has a big impact, but IMO over the next few years price will be less important, and trust and reliability with be more.

your point out delivery is understood, is a fair one but what people percieve and what is given is another, hence my comments above.

if price was the be all and end all then places like John Lewis wouldn't exist, and everyone would be there shaving off another 2% to make sure they got the sale.

cjd · Jul 5, 2009

I'm a bit bothered about your questions. Polls don't work here, the sample size is too small and the population you are sampling from is too biased.

It's better to talk about what you're thinking of doing and asking specific questions.

What's really on your mind?

edmondscommerce · Jul 6, 2009

the issue is that you generally only find out the service level after you make the purchase. unless you are regularly making repeat purchases you might only make one purchase for a particular item anyway.

price is no doubt the biggest factor. that said a site that displays its stock level will win out over a site that doesnt (assuming its in stock of course!)

also the site needs to look trustworthy in general (eg phone number clearly displayed etc)

Jul 6, 2009

AndyP said:
Firstly, why do so many of your posts border on the abusive?

Much more about a little humor than abuse.

I would agree many of my posts may be a tad pragmatic ,but then I do practise economy of words.

saves ink.

Earl

staffjam · Jul 6, 2009

I mainly purchase books online.
Apart from that the off Television and Ipod off Amazon - they are pretty cheap and always reliable.

edmondscommerce · Jul 7, 2009

back to the OP I buy everything online including groceries.

don't buy clothes though or shoes though. Need to be able to try those on.

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What do you purchase online and why?

thelimitlesscafe

ginantonic

thelimitlesscafe

ginantonic

thelimitlesscafe

Planck

AndyP

ginantonic

powerofpricing

thelimitlesscafe

AndyP

TotallySport

TotallySport

TopShopper

wizzard

AndyP

TotallySport

cjd

edmondscommerce

staffjam

edmondscommerce

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