For me, when I shop for things online I like to read the feedback of what other people thought of the product, customer service or seller. Even when you choose a restaurant or decide where to get your haircut, you tend to ask your friends, family or colleagues, for recommendations on where to go. Similarly, shopping online is no different and therefore blogs and feedback comments are ever so important in equipping the online shopper.
When I shop for textbooks online, I read others comments on the seller, to determine if that seller is reliable or not. Even to shop for electronic items such as digital camera’s the comments people place on the products are invaluable, to determine whether that camera might be right for me.
Example of Best Buy User Comments on Digital Cameras
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?type=product&tab=7&id=1170290185792&skuId=8266208&childSku=null&count=null#headerCustomerReviews
The simple ratings, for example, out of five yellow stars for a camera on walmart.com, are not enough as it does not provide the detailed feedback of what makes the camera special and who would it be suitable for eg. a leisure picture taker or professional.
Walmart Link: http://www.walmart.com/search/browse-ng.do?ic=48_0&ref=125875.137971+500566.501090&catNavId=3959
Blogs are greatly improving the information available on products out there. It makes companies more accountable and customers can provide their input on how to improve a product. By discovering the opinion of others, we can better gauage whether a product might be suitable for us. For example, a comment like the one below reflects on the product bought as well as on Best Buy:
Customer Rating: 1
Not good... 01/23/2008
By amyd Read all my reviews
Cons: Batteries
"I bought this camera and as soon as I got it I put in the batteries and immediately a low battery signal appears. The camera shortly turned off. I sent it in to get repaired not one...but TWICE! Canon sent me back the camera without anything changing. I tried 4 brand new sets of batteries and rechargable batteries...no change. I reseached and found that others are having the same problem. Luckly Best Buy refunded my money. Good Luck!"
However, I believe that some aspects of e-tailing cannot mimic shopping at physical stores, especially for products such as clothing, where you want to feel the texture of material or to try the clothes and see if they look good on you. However with blogs, it provides more information on products and services from actual users, and so it gives us extra sets of eyes and opinions to help us in our decision-making process. Through an online community, we are able be more knowledgeable about the things we buy. Thank goodness for blogs, as it makes shopping online so much easier.
3 comments:
Why wouldn't anyone want to check an item and its feedback before actually buying it online? It definitely would not be a smart idea to buy an item without checking its history or the sellers history online. I completely agree with the fact that blogging is beneficial in that matter for both the buyer and the seller. The buyer can look up reviews on personal blogs where people post opinions on products. From there he can determine his whether or not to purchase the item. On the other hand, the seller or company can look up reviews for their own self interest and see how they can improve the quality and reliability of their product.
I am exactly the same way. When I shop I always look up the history of the item and the seller. If he is not reliable why would I want to get ripped off? The fact of the matter is that blogs really do help out in this matter and in a sense, they are for our own good.
I think it depends of where you are buying the product from. Personally whenever I have bought a product from, for example, Amazon or Best Buy I have never had a problem with the product. The user in the example you talked about ended up having a problem with their Canon camera. I own a Canon camera and absolutely love it. I've not had a problem with it yet and when I mom had a problem with hers, the store where we bought it from fixed it and gave us no trouble.
Although if I were buying a product from a user I had never heard before or was a used product, I would definitely look at the comments on the user. I don't believe that is always actuate because I bought a book for a class from a user that had a very high rating and the book didn't get to me for 2 to 3 months. I think it is based on a good user, as well as luck in some situations, on how well the provider is at sending a reliable product to the customer and getting it to them on time.
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