Genre Fluency Entry 3: Online Shopping Websites

Overview

Online shopping websites grow in popularity every year. They provide a larger selection than you can find in any store, and they can sometimes give you a better price than you can find in a store. However, they have disadvantages:

• You can't try the item before you purchase it.
• You have to wait for the item to be shipped to you, and you have to pay for the shipping.
• You might not trust giving payment information to someone that you've never met.

Example Websites

There are many different types of websites that provide online shopping services. Here are three examples:

• Amazon.com is the largest general-purpose shopping website. It originally offered books, but now offers a wider range of products: its 32 product categories include electronics, gourmet food, and musical instruments.
• eBay is the largest online auction website. Users post items on the website for sale, and set up a deadline. Other users can bid on the item until the deadline, and the user that bids highest wins the item (after paying for it, of course).
• newegg.com is a more specific shopping website. It focuses on computers and electronics, and serves as a model for many of the other websites with a more specific focus.

Overcoming Concerns

Any shopping website has to overcome the three concerns that I listed above. Each website has its own method, but they all address these points in some way.

Try Before you Buy

Having only a website to use to determine if a product suits you is a major barrier. People love to be able to reach out and grab something, try it out (or on), and see how it looks from different angles. It simply isn't physically possible to accomplish this through a website. However, online shopping websites help to describe at least part of the product.

All three websites have photos to show off their products. Newegg.com has the most pictures of all of the websites, on average. For most products, it shows multiple angles and details, typically 5-9 photos. There is no single standard for photos or descriptions on eBay, because each seller provides exactly as much information he wants. However, there are usually at least two or three photos provided for each item. Amazon.com typically only has one photo for a product, which is often annoying. However, because they are on the Internet, customers worried about how a product looks can always search other websites for more photos; they are the 800 pound gorilla of their industry, so they can afford to get away with only one photo.

The websites all also provide descriptions. Amazon.com is the leader in this category. It reliably provides descriptions for all of its items, including a summary, and physical statistics or technical details, if applicable. Newegg.com provides technical details for all of its products, but its summaries are generally lacking. Again, eBay is inconsistent in this field—some sellers provide a lot of information, some provide very little. Providing loads of information helps customers decide what products suit them.

Shipping

Not having a physical storefront for users to visit also presents another problem: they can't have it now. Shipping items can take time and be expensive for users. Online shopping websites have to address these concerns and provide varying options for their different customers.

Amazon.com is again the leader in this area. Not only do they provide various shipping possibilities, they have special options for both the impatient and the frugal. Many orders of $20 or more are eligible for free shipping, which usually takes about a week. Amazon.com also offers Amazon Prime for "All You Can Eat Express Shipping." For $79 per year, users can get free two-day shipping and $3.99 overnight shipping on as many items they want. Not only can this help people that frequently need something fast, it helps Amazon.com's sales by encouraging users to make spur-of-the-moment purchases.

Newegg.com provides several different options for shipping. They typically offer choices from UPS, FedEx, and the US Postal Service. Customers with a bias toward (or against) a particular shipping company will no doubt be satisfied with newegg.com's shipping choices. EBay, again, will vary from seller to seller. Typically only one shipping option is available to the customer, and the shipping costs typically involve relatively large handling fees. However, people are willing to pay these because eBay offers used items that can't be found anywhere else or for extremely low prices.

Trust

All online shopping websites have to address the following questions of trust:

• How can a user be sure that he will receive the item he purchased?
• How can a user know the item he purchased will do what he expects?
• How can a user know that he won't be overcharged or scammed?

Amazon.com and Newegg both address these issues in the same manner. They have a reputation that would be ruined if customers became unhappy, and if they lose their reputation, they lose their customers. Also, they allow customers to write reviews of their products, so future customers can see what experiences others had in the past. Finally, both sites let users view detailed tracking information for their packages. These procedures allow customers to trust the shopping websites.

EBay has its own set of concerns. As eBay is a giant online auction block, buyers typically are buying from different sellers each time. Buyers, therefore, can't be satisfied only by a trust of eBay, they must trust the individual sellers. EBay provides a feedback system, where buyers and sellers can rate each other when they make transactions. When someone wants to buy something from a seller on eBay, he can simply look at the previous feedback that the seller has received. Also, a few different payment systems have sprung up to address the problem of payment on eBay. PayPal and BidPay are services that let users send specific payment amounts to others. These permit users to avoid worrying about giving their credit card information to strangers.

Summary

Amazon.com, newegg.com, and eBay, as well as other shopping websites, employ different methods to overcome the barriers to online shopping. Each has its strengths and weaknesses, but they all bring a giant selection of products to your living room cheaply and efficiently.