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We are along established wholesaler of rental and retail visual product.This is the begining of our launch into e-retailing.One question "what do you look for in a web retailer "?5 best posts get retail dvd of their choice
Gary Green
Films First
Operations Director

Ordinarily, I`d be duty bound to delete your thread for advertising on the forums, but I like the cut of your jib, Sunny Jim :-)

It`s nice to see a company go to the people and to ask what they`d like to see.

Here`s my six of the best (incidentally, there`d be uproar if I gained out of this, so best restrict the prize-giving to non-Moderators/Admin, I think !)

(1) Free P & P
(2) On-line order tracking
(3) Swift response to e-mail queries
(4) Delivery within 4-5 days
(5) Weekly specials for popular titles that are slightly under the normal prices charged by other established etailers like CD Wow, Play or Splash (eg undercutting by say £1) - try and avoid the same old same old price cuts that other retailers trot out almost seamlessly, and concurrently :-)
(6) Maybe a loyalty scheme

(and my copy of the Clockwork Orange boxset I ordered last week would be cool too !).

Here`s hoping your venture is a success :-)

Clayts
Moderator
DVD Reviewer

This item was edited on Monday, 20th January 2003, 22:52

As a regular buyer of DVD`s of the net I thought I would ad my ideal for dvd supply.

Only charging a credit card on despatch of the dvd.
Email purchaser when item is despatched also when it is of stock and when it is expected to be in stock
Free P&P
clearly priced

five simple rules for happy dvd supply


I agree with Clyats a loyalty scheme would be a good idea lets face it if the supermarkets do it it must work

My ideas would be for a same country supplier price match guarantee on same region DVD's (excluding miss prices but not specific special offers run by competitors)

links to the main actors of the dvd and interest related sites like independent reviews.

Region review. showing the difference of content or sound transfer between the different regional realises.

Well Gary you`re a lucky man - either that or Clayts is in a good mood!!!

Can`t really add much to his list apart from expanding no 3 to telephone enquiries aswell - it`s a pain in the backside not being able to contact some of the companies - good customer service it vital.

It`s also good when people like yourself take the time to come onto these forums and join in the discussion - hope it`s not your last post!!

Again good luck - you got some stiff competition out there.

Much agree with those above.

Free P&P (ie included in the cost of the disc) makes is so much easier to compare prices. As we`ve seen with CD-Wow and Play, the prices can still be low with delivery included.

Charge card when film is despatched. This is quite an important one, firstly if the film doesn`t come in stock at least you haven`t been charged for it and there`s less hassle for both consumer and company. Secondly many don`t like to pay for stuff they haven`t yet received. I know CD-Wow charge on order but their customer service and delivery times more than make up for it.

Proper, well done summaries of the discs with customer submitted reviews. Reviews should be checked by some sort of admin before being put out to avoid stupid reviews. Include negative reviews as well, opinions are opinions. See techtronics.com for what I mean, they have product reviews submitted for most of their stuff and their summaries for their stuff is very detailed. Also important is quite big pictures of the front artwork of the DVD box. This is the visual link people have between the film and the disc that they see in shops. Too many sites have "no image available", but where there is an image (and an accurate one) you know what you`re getting.

Speedy delivery. Obviously the main bulk of the time is taken by the postal service but if you can cut the processing time down to a minimum and get discs out quickly, everyone is happy. Play.com are variable with this, some discs being sent out same day and others taking up to 4 days to be sent.

Possibly a points scheme so you can accrue loyalty points every time you buy something. This way those who buy a lot can get a free DVD after every 20 or so discs they buy. CD-Wow`s free 50p vouchers they sometimes include seem to be a great way of getting repeat custom as well. It irritates me to have one of them spare :)

Speedy email response and a well set up telephone enquiry line. Could also be complemented by an online chat facility where you can ask questions directly about products / orders. Obviously if site got very busy this could be hard to maintain, but at first it could be useful.

Accurate on-line order tracking. Play`s system works well but they sometimes don`t bother updating it, I`ve received discs before while they were still apparently in the "processing" stage. A&B Sound (www.absound.ca) I think had a good tracking system, it told you everything, right down to which warehouse your order was coming from, how long it would take to get there and when it was likely to be despatched.

Order system that stores your details securely. Play`s system of stroing your credit card details on their system is so easy to use. My address and card number are already saved so I`m basically 2 clicks away from ordering. As long as it`s secure (and there is the option of not storing the details for those squeamish about it) there is no problem.

Easy to use and quick searching facility. If you can quickly find the title you`re looking for it makes it so much easier. Also give the option to list without the images to make it faster loading. Play`s sale pages sometimes take a while to load with all the box art images on it.

I too wish you luck, there is a lot of competition out there.

At the end of the day, with me it comes down to price and customer service. When you order a lot from one company it`s inevitable that something will go wrong eventually, so the service is a big factor.

Clear links/searches for different genres.
Full listings of all DVD contents, (links to official sites)
Free P&P, or lower prices to compensate.
The most important thing is customer service though, give various ways to contact you (phone, fax, email, post). And if there is a problem with the order let your customers know asap, don`t wait for them to contact you if you know there`s a delay.

Customer service and price are your strongest weapons.

Again, have to agree with the above, are you starting to spot a trend here? ;-)

Free delivery, I personally find nothing more annoying than finding a new website, putting a few dvds in the basket, going to check out, and having a huge delivery charge tagged on for good measure! Play and cd-wow get my orders basically because of this. Also prompt delivery doesnt do any harm!

Keep us informed of what is going on, be honest on the website, if something is out of stock make sure it says so. I personally like the dabs.com system of number in stock now, and in 1-3 days, so you know how many they are expecting.

Loyalty scheme I like the idea of, I recently added up how much I have spent at play over the last couple of years, and almost fainted! As someone else said, the cd-wow vouchers work well, as I dont like to have them lying around, so I usually have atleast 1 dvd on order from them!

Only charge credit card on dispatch, as other people have said, this just saves problems.

The telephone response thing, I personally think is only an issue if you dont follow the things above, if you make it clear if something is in stock or when you expect them, dont hash up dispatch etc noone gets a chance to need to call you! So have good telephone / email support, but make sure we never need to use it!


Aaaaahhhhhhh Make the enter key hit the go button on the search box! I type in what I am looking for, hit enter, then wait while I am trying to work out what is happening, then realise that I need to move the mouse to click go! Easy to fix, and improves the usability greatly!

This item was edited on Wednesday, 22nd January 2003, 16:57

1. I agree with the others, good customer service is essential. A contact telephone number is always handy

2. Letting us know if a film is `in stock` or `on order` before we decide to buy

3. Competitive pricing, maybe a slightly cheaper price for pre-orders

4. I agree that not charging before despatch is much preferred by most customers

5. The opportunity to cancel your order easily before it enters the `processing` stage

6. Finally - free p+p

Good luck

1. Advertise availability then when orders are placed switch the status to out of stock ( that really winds them up. Always good for a laugh with the lads in dispatch )
2 Charge credit cards immediately ( Far better earning interest in your account )
3. Place orders that are in stock into a file called pending for 2 or 3 weeks. (Good for cash flow, takes the pressure off having to send them out on time , and it really keeps customers guessing )
4.Never EVER answer any email enquiries. ( Interferes with making sure you`ve been paid and checking profit projections )
5.A profit on P&P on every dvd sounds like good business. ( Every little helps )
6.Show low, low prices ( But only on dvds you don`t have in stock or won`t be released for 6 months (( think of all that lovely interest )) )
7.Generally treat your customers like idiots ( They`re only there to make sure you make loads of easy money )

Gary, ( tongue now out of cheek) be ethical, honest and fair.

Good luck.
Cheers P.

Here we go pop pickers, the top five run down of web site features!

1) Smart Search and organisable results. There is nothing more annoying than a site without a decent search feature. And results should always be able to be organised by price, name and possibly release date. It just makes life so much easier.

2) Online Order tracking. I hate it when it just says that your order has been processed. I like to see the stage its at. Awaiting dispatch, dispatched etc. There is still an air of nervousness around buying online and we, the consumer, like to have our heads stroked and reassured that we are not being ripped of, every step of the way. This also includes excellent consumer services. No one like the feeling of uncertainty 3 weeks after you ordered a disc and it still hasn't come.

3) Free standard postage and packaging is essential. With an option of paying for registered post, if that's your bag.

4) Exclusive reductions. I know I can get 'Universal' or 'MGM' dvds cheap at a million and one web sites, all of which offer fairly standard service. I want to be offered things which are never reduced or a whole genre. Maybe a 'Sci-Fi sale week' where all (or selected ;-)) sci-fi (or other genres, westerns, action, gangster, schwarzenegger, jackie chan etc, the list is endless) is cheap for a week or a few days. This would encourage frequent visitation of the site and give a unique position in the market.

5) Accurate DVD descriptions. Summaries off the back of the case are a bit lame. Special features sell a DVD so a full list of features, actors, tech specs and a good summary are essential. If you are offering a multi-region site, an option to view the region 1 (for example) disc would be handy. Or list the features together. Clearly label the price. And don't list the R.R.P, because no one believes it anyway ;-)

I don't think you can go wrong with those. Mines the Futurama Season 2 set ;-)