How Digital Planet can improve?

[Karyn]

Reply

I have never had a chance to buy from DP, but I just check out the website and it's really flashy and impressive! If I had just passed by the website and was interested in buying something, your site would attract me!

Hi DeFunct,

Thank you so much for the compliment! I am very glad that you like our website

I hope that you will purchase something from us one day. What kind of products interest you?

Thanks and Regards,
Karyn

 

[Freakboy]

I think answering simple e-mail queries within a week would be my suggestion. I usually give up and go somewhere else after that.

A week!!! No, simple email queries should be answered within 24hrs, stock queries within 36hrs. If a shop takes a week to reply to a simple email query I would have moved on and ordered from another shop.

 

[greggpb]

I don't need this anymore, thanks.
Can I suggest some sort of auto-reply be sent out, so we know you got it, along with a tracking number or NAME. There's nothing worse than waiting for mail that was never going to arrive.

Used to us DP quite alot, things that stopped me were,
- Dodgy search
- Bad Rep
- Bad Communication lead times(implusive buyer .. I want it now)

Sackboys suggestion is really a good one.. its sort of a confirmation that you email has not gone to /dev/null

 

[Ryansta]

I think it should take 1-2 hours max for a respones to come threw and then a further couple hours for stock. If i get no response for a day i'll find another shop.

My story wit DP isn't good, a bit of miscommunication, i placed an order for a mouse and keyboard for pick up, i then asked if it was possible to pay cash on pick up as well, as i didnt have internet banking. Cut a long story short i was told i can come in and get the goods any time i want. I went threw that day, and wen i got there they said theres no stock. The only reason i bought online was cause no shops had stock, so i was a bit irritated at driving out and getting nothing. I then cancelled the order. Strangest thing ever, they called about 2 months lata to say my stock has arrived and i can pick up, they called my brothers phone???? No idea how they got his number...

 

[ponder]

I really don't like your site layout and categorisation of stuff.

The site just looks to 'busy', there is to much going on on a page. Another word that comes to mind is 'cluttered'.

I don't like the way you categorise items, the drill down menus prevent me from quickly jumping to another sub category.

Search engine is bad. While typing this line I'm still waiting for a search to complete. Also no searching within categories which ends up giving me all kinds off stuff I'm not interested in.

I cannot buy from Newegg.com as they don't ship interntionally but I constantly surf there site when looking for products. It's a breeze to use and once I found what I'm looking for I will try and find a SA source. Have a look at newegg.com as they know how to make a functional site.

I have never purchased from you guys though as I find my local brick & mortar store is cheaper than online stores. They simply cannot be beaten for price although their variety is not that great.

 

[Karyn]

Feedback

How about offering specials specific to MyBB members and treat them with some priority channel?

Hi Penguin,

I had a meeting with mybroadband and we are in discussions on how to go forward with regards to giving MyBB members really nice deals.

Watch this space

Thanks
Karyn

 

[I am Penguin]

Hi Penguin,

I had a meeting with mybroadband and we are in discussions on how to go forward with regards to giving MyBB members really nice deals.

Watch this space

Thanks
Karyn

Great. We wait in anticipation! Maybe start with gaming gear like ....

Consoles
Peripherals
Game titles

whatever!

 

[Karyn]

Reply

I really don't like your site layout and categorisation of stuff.

The site just looks to 'busy', there is to much going on on a page. Another word that comes to mind is 'cluttered'.

I don't like the way you categorise items, the drill down menus prevent me from quickly jumping to another sub category.

Search engine is bad. While typing this line I'm still waiting for a search to complete. Also no searching within categories which ends up giving me all kinds off stuff I'm not interested in.

I cannot buy from Newegg.com as they don't ship interntionally but I constantly surf there site when looking for products. It's a breeze to use and once I found what I'm looking for I will try and find a SA source. Have a look at newegg.com as they know how to make a functional site.

I have never purchased from you guys though as I find my local brick & mortar store is cheaper than online stores. They simply cannot be beaten for price although their variety is not that great.

HI Ponder,

Thank you for sending through your feedback

I will take a look at the newegg site and put forward your suggestions through to our Directors and Developers.

Kind Regards,
Karyn

 

[Karyn]

Reply

I think it should take 1-2 hours max for a respones to come threw and then a further couple hours for stock. If i get no response for a day i'll find another shop.

My story wit DP isn't good, a bit of miscommunication, i placed an order for a mouse and keyboard for pick up, i then asked if it was possible to pay cash on pick up as well, as i didnt have internet banking. Cut a long story short i was told i can come in and get the goods any time i want. I went threw that day, and wen i got there they said theres no stock. The only reason i bought online was cause no shops had stock, so i was a bit irritated at driving out and getting nothing. I then cancelled the order. Strangest thing ever, they called about 2 months lata to say my stock has arrived and i can pick up, they called my brothers phone???? No idea how they got his number...

Hi Ryansta,

Thanks for sending through your feedback.

I understand that 1 - 2 hours would be fantastic but due to the amount of queries we have found it to be difficult to get all of the days queries done in in 2 hours. As soon as any query comes through to the service team they answer them, some queries take longer than others to sort out. They have 4 hours but sometimes they do respond much sooner. It just depends on the queries. I hope this explains it a bit better.

I am really sorry to hear about your bad experience and I do know of quite a few occasions in the past that these things have happened. I can say very confidently that it has not happened in the last year and I really hope that you will give us a chance to prove that.

Kind Regards,
Karyn

 

[Karyn]

Hi

Do what Kalahari used to do, send out vouchers every now and then...

I used to buy quite a lot from them when they still had decent service, and the vouchers encouraged me to buy more

Hi xrapidx,

I agree with you! Vouchers are very powerful. We used to send out alot of vouchers in the past, but we cut back on a few of them due to us decreasing the number of mailers that we send out.

Thank you for your suggestion, I will make sure to use a few more in upcoming promotions.

Kind Regards,
Karyn

 

[Karyn]

More info

Used to us DP quite alot, things that stopped me were,
- Dodgy search
- Bad Rep
- Bad Communication lead times(implusive buyer .. I want it now)

Sackboys suggestion is really a good one.. its sort of a confirmation that you email has not gone to /dev/null

Hi greggpb,

Thanks for sending this through.

Can you please elaborate on the dodgy search in order for me to look into it in more detail?

Have you checked out our 24 hour shipping section? We have also started buying in some of our top selling stock in order to make delivery quicker.

I am looking into Sackboys suggestion, my Dev guy has been swamped this week but as soon as he gets back to me I will send feedback.

Thanks alot!

Karyn

 

[Karyn]

HI guys,

I would like to say thank you for taking the time to send your valuable feedback. I am taking all feedback into consideration and putting plans into place.

I would however like to hear what you think about our service at this point in time. Those that are interested in an 8% discount voucher to use on the site please send me an email ([email protected]) and I will give you the voucher number.

Thanks and Regards,
Karyn

 

[dudewotevr]

Hat off to you Karyn! The lady certainly has great big balls (compliment ), and a high tolerance level!

Very interested to see how this all pans out over time..

2x Suggestions:

1. I don't expect you to match the very lowest prices of every item out there, but it is VERY important to at least not be far off the mark. There are a lot of people out there who do their research and simply will not pay an extra R100 - R200 when there is no need.

2. Prophecy (the only one I'm aware of at the moment) manages to maintain free shipping on orders over R1k, and I believe strongly that this should be the standard considering you want people ordering from all over the country and not have them worrying about excessive fees (in which case they might as well go with someone local)

 

[Karyn]

Reply

Hat off to you Karyn! The lady certainly has great big balls (compliment ), and a high tolerance level!

Very interested to see how this all pans out over time..

2x Suggestions:

1. I don't expect you to match the very lowest prices of every item out there, but it is VERY important to at least not be far off the mark. There are a lot of people out there who do their research and simply will not pay an extra R100 - R200 when there is no need.

2. Prophecy (the only one I'm aware of at the moment) manages to maintain free shipping on orders over R1k, and I believe strongly that this should be the standard considering you want people ordering from all over the country and not have them worrying about excessive fees (in which case they might as well go with someone local)

Hi dudewotevr,

Thanks for the compliment and for sending through your suggestions.

1. I agree with you and we are doing pricing analysis on our top brands and moving through the website to make sure that our pricing is fair. As I explained before, some of the newbies come in at such cut throat pricing that it is difficult to keep up with them. However, if you do come across pricing that you think is too high then please email me and I will gladly look into it and make sure that a) our pricing is fair and b) that our suppliers are giving us great pricing.

2. This is very interesting - I will look into it and send feedback.

Kind Regards,
Karyn

 

[dudewotevr]

Case in point:

From the MyBroadband article "cheapest online shops in SA"

"DigitalPlanet charges R 2118 for a blue 8GB iPod nano, slightly higher than the going rate at other prominent online stores."

Kalahari = R1949.95 for the same blue model

Just what exactly would compel me to buy from you when all of the other places mentioned are cheaper.. And shipping would just compound that problem.

I fail to see what your draw card is, why would I pay more to buy the same items I can get elsewhere for less AND free shipping over R1k!? You know, like how about a free Chomp or something!?

Since you are regarded as "prominent", which for one I can hardly believe considering all the justified flack you get. Shouldn't your stature and pull be able to secure better deals? It would seem you just choose to have higher prices and rely on people's ignorance and laziness. ie normal average business practise!

No personal offence obviously, but this is how someone of average intelligence like myself would most likely look at the situation.

 

[Karyn]

Reply

Case in point:

From the MyBroadband article "cheapest online shops in SA"

"DigitalPlanet charges R 2118 for a blue 8GB iPod nano, slightly higher than the going rate at other prominent online stores."

Kalahari = R1949.95 for the same blue model

Just what exactly would compel me to buy from you when all of the other places mentioned are cheaper.. And shipping would just compound that problem.

I fail to see what your draw card is, why would I pay more to buy the same items I can get elsewhere for less AND free shipping over R1k!? You know, like how about a free Chomp or something!?

Since you are regarded as "prominent", which for one I can hardly believe considering all the justified flack you get. Shouldn't your stature and pull be able to secure better deals? It would seem you just choose to have higher prices and rely on people's ignorance and laziness. ie normal average business practise!

No personal offence obviously, but this is how someone of average intelligence like myself would most likely look at the situation.

Hi dudewotevr,

I am very interested to know how Kalahari are selling the ipod that cheap. Could they possibly be grey products? I would not be able to beat their price, even though we get good pricing and hold stock, but I have added a special on this particular ipod for R1999 – this is extremely low margin and I would not be able to run this for very long. I will keep it until I can investigate pricing. Thanks for letting me know.

As for the better pricing on other items, we do many deals throughout the site and are constantly forming supplier relationships in order to better pricing. Are there particular brands that you are referring to that I could look into?

I must say that we are quite competitive on most of our items and we do not have outrageous margins. We are requested to use Recommended Retail Pricing (RRP’s) by some of our suppliers. Our Call Centre agents will do their best to beat any legal price so please feel free to contact them to request better pricing. You can email [email protected] you are also welcome to email me directly.

No personal offence taken. I am happy to get all feedback.

Kind Regards,
Karyn

 

[Decotey]

In SA the heavy price inflation occurs somewhere around the suppliers/importers im guessing, cant u guys look into shipping the products urselves instead of going through the middleman?

 

[xrapidx]

I am very interested to know how Kalahari are selling the ipod that cheap. Could they possibly be grey products? I would not be able to beat their price, even though we get good pricing and hold stock, but I have added a special on this particular ipod for R1999 – this is extremely low margin and I would not be able to run this for very long. I will keep it until I can investigate pricing. Thanks for letting me know.

I doubt Kalahari will sell gray market iPods. Products in question, it looks like they're just having a sale, not their regular price.

 

[Karyn]

HI guys,

Please note that I am on half day today and on leave on Monday so I will only be on the forums again on Tuesday.

Have a great weekend!

Kind Regards,
Karyn

 

[dudewotevr]

As for the better pricing on other items, we do many deals throughout the site and are constantly forming supplier relationships in order to better pricing. Are there particular brands that you are referring to that I could look into?

Well, I wasn't thinking of anything particular, but now that you mention it, I feel it would be wise to do the most work on items like the most popular brands/models of CPU's, motherboards, GPU's, PSU's, perhaps a few decent ram options, eg. etc.

So if someone happens across an item they want on your site at a good price while surfing multiple sites, and say they do a quick comparison: So first of all they look for and hopefully find most of the items they have decided upon and compare the basket prices (shipping included) to those of the other sites.
Perhaps then they will be inclined to go ahead and get all the items in one go from you, hypothetically, due to the overall price and convenience, compared to purchasing the items from multiple sites. Which is also a hassle due to possible warranty/guarantee issues in the near to rather more distant future.