Ecommerce: It’s time to change your approach.
We all love shopping. But when it comes to online shopping, we can’t keep calm! E-commerce websites lure us with many exciting offers and deals which is hard to say no. But are the products genuine in the offer? Is the question that every buyer have in mind. E-commerce websites display their products splendidly and we believe in them to be genuine and original.
But many times we are duped and provided with duplicate products. The experience is so agonizing. Last year, I purchased a lipstick online which had a great offer. I had already done research on the product and also checked if it matched my skin tone. Finally, the day had come! I received my lipstick. Without wasting any time further, when I opened my package, I was shocked! The product that I received was a duplicate. I checked some YouTube videos to be sure if the product was genuine. Thanks to YouTube and Google that saved me from a big danger.
Now that I was convinced about the product being duplicate, I immediately checked to return and ask for a refund. I also called the support team to complain about the product quality. The representative noted my complaint and assured me to call within 24 hrs. After waiting for 24hrs, since I didn’t receive any call-back, I promptly chose to call them and asked the status of my refund. The call was transferred to three different representatives where I was reciting the same story to all of them. My call was then transferred to the manager and again explaining to him my situation, just to hear that they cannot refund! I was angry and irritated. This followed up with a lot of arguments and the only thing I asked them to do was to take away the product, keep the money with them and cleared my thoughts that I would not purchase any product from them in future. They tried to retain me but I was simply annoyed by their calls. Later I get an email from the team asking for my bank details to refund. Finally, I get the refund and the product is taken away.
I would like to give a big shout to all the E-commerce websites, “We buy a product because we really want to buy and don’t buy for returning it. It takes hell lot of our time to select a product and we can’t really afford to waste time in returning. We understand what is fake and real. Remember every buyer does a lot of research before buying the product. Where the whole idea of E-commerce is to make shopping more fun and comfortable, this is only making our experience worst. Sometimes I feel it’s better to visit a store because at least you walk some miles and lose calories.
Cosmetics come in contact with skin directly and hence we are extra cautious to use them. If the product applied reacts to skin badly, I have to pay three times more to the cosmetologist then I actually paid for the product and the pain going through it can’t be measured in any kind. As per data from Statista, the annual growth of the global cosmetics market in 2016 was 4% which increased to 5% in 2017. In order to see a considerable growth in cosmetic markets, E-commerce has to keep up with its loyal customer.
Giving products or services which the buyer actually wants is the key to success for any business. Remember the purpose of a business is to create a customer who creates a customer. So the focus on them is a win-win situation. This beautiful quote by Steve Jobs sum up all my thoughts “Get closer than ever to your customer. So close that you tell them what they need well before they realize it themselves”.
Did you come across a similar situation? Share your thoughts to me in comments.
