The Leading Online Stores Based in the UK - Book Report/Review Example

Ecommerce Stores Analysis An in-depth analysis of four big online stores of the UK [Type the company Table of Contents Executive Summary: 3 Introduction: 4 Boden: 4 General Information about the Website: 5 Our Review based on the Five Categories: 5 Suggestions and Advice: 5 ASOS: 6 General Information about the Website 7 Our Review based on the Five Categories: 7 Suggestions and Advice: 8 Topshop: 8 General Information about the Website: 9 Our Review based on the Five Categories: 10 Suggestions and Advice: 10 NEXT: 11 General Information about the Website: 12 Our Review based on the Five Categories: 12 Suggestions and Advice: 12 Analysis and Rating: 13 First Look Rating: 13 Search Accuracy Points: 14 Product Range: 14 Shopping basket: 14 Support: 15 Key: 15 User Reviews: 16 Boden 16 Next 16 Topshop 16 Works Cited 18 Executive Summary: We have carried out a detailed analysis on four of the leading online stores based in the UK. Our evaluations have concluded that the ASOS store wears the crown for being on top. The four online markets included in our analysis are: 1. Boden 2. ASOS 3. Topshop 4. Next We have asked ourselves various questions that a user tends to observe in an online store and then answered them respectively for each choice. Our evaluation bases itself on five wide classifications that are as follows: 1. The First Look (Ratings based on the first impression of the website) 2. Search Accuracy (How relevant the search results are) 3. Available Products (Variety and quality of the collection) 4. Shopping Basket (Pricing strategy and the friendliness of the shopping interface) 5. Support (The way a customer is treated and services are provided) Apart from ASOS, the other three stores have been advised of various recommendations that can help them make their websites more customer-oriented and make a more prominent position in the online UK market. Introduction: As mentioned, our current investigation includes the reviews for the following four online stores: 1. Boden (www.boden.co.uk) 2. ASOS (www.asos.com) 3. Topshop (www.topshop.com) 4. Next (www.next.co.uk) Boden: General Information about the Website: Although Boden started out as menswear initially, it now offers a variety of seasonal clothes for ladies, gents and kids. The outfits are geared towards classy customers and thus are not so cheaply priced. It often initiates mid season sales and other offers but sources (Reviewcenter.com, n.d.) say that Boden prices are still too high even after the sale offers are implemented. Our Review based on the Five Categories: Prices charged by Boden are too high bearing in mind the quality that they provide. Many past users have complained that the prices have remained almost the same since the beginning but fabric quality is diminishing day by day. (Reviewcenter.com, n.d.) Girls, especially teens, are often flattered by the gratifying clothing designs but reject any buying plans because of the unworthiness after looking at the price. On the other hand, Boden takes an active part in creative ideas for designing their outfits. There is no competition between Boden and other online furniture-selling stores because of the expensive prices charged by Boden. Although the website has a separate named collection after each occasion but criticism shows there is no big change in the seasonal makeovers and prices almost remain unchanged. Furthermore even if there is change, stocks do not last that long. Suggestions and Advice: Customers often leave Boden due to their extreme prices. If Boden considers this barrier properly and takes effective measures to get back into the competition, this could lead to creating an extremely strong position of Boden against its competitors. Recommendations to rectify this include keeping a low profit margin for some time and investing in producing clothes for middle class residents of the UK. Boden’s innovation in the market could lead to better results if the creativity is supported with a lower pricing factor. The customer support should be improved to create a greater goodwill in the market and derive consumer satisfaction. Boden should also enhance order facilities and lower mailing charges. ASOS: General Information about the Website ASOS.com is an online clothing shop operating in the UK, Germany and parts of France that provides a wide variety of fabrics for ladies and gents making deliveries to all over the world free of charge. There is no minimum amount that has to be spent to avail this offer. Furthermore, it often initiates mid season outfit deals on special occasions. The NUS students are offered a special 10% discount on whatever they buy. The matchless innovation provides ASOS with the ability to capture the online market. It provides its customers with new deals and trendy fabrics for a competitive edge. Their user-friendly website allows customers to easily browse through their favourite items easily. ASOS stocks a large variety of clothes and makes itself gain more customer satisfaction. In addition, the outfits are quite cheap as compared to other eCommerce stores and products are geared towards normal households rather than the higher class. The best part of ASOS is its extraordinary customer support that allows consumers to book orders beforehand and gain quality discounts. Mail charges are quite negligible. Our Review based on the Five Categories: ASOS keeps no physical storage of any clothing stock but just an online marketplace where people can order for their favourite items. This is beneficial in ASOS’s point of view as they can enjoy greater profits by not having to maintain a physical record of stocks. However, this creates a negative impression in the minds of the customers who are not ensured of the availability of stock at all times. In addition, not keeping of any physical stock causes ASOS to sell branded clothes and charge already-set prices instead of their own. This sometimes leads to expensive clothing for customers. (Ciao.co.uk, n.d.) Once bought, the process of returning your goods is a hassle. In this case, you have to create a return ticket and then ASOS contacts the brand where the goods were purchased. The procedure is timely and annoying. Experienced and loyal ASOS customers rank them the toppers of their league especially because of their fast delivery and unmatched prices. An ordinary resident of the UK can spend a lot because of the variety choices that are available. Suggestions and Advice: ASOS should think to initiate its own brand after the great customer feedback they have got over the years. Charging their own prices would make the goods more likely to be cheap and worthwhile matching their quality. This would attract more customers who have shifted to competitors. Topshop: General Information about the Website: Topshop currently operates in large parts of the UK as well as the USA. The online store provides a large variety of exclusive gifts, fashion ornaments, clothing and makeup accessories for women. Free delivery is offered but only in the UK and on a minimum shopping of £75. Return of any inventory is not charged anything and any purchase can be easily sent back if damaged or not up to the mark. Students holding any valid identification can avail an easy 10% shopping discount on all materials. In addition, this online store has introduced a new feature of a royalty card where common shoppers will be able to avail further discounts if a minimum shopping expense is reached. Our Review based on the Five Categories: Topshop has a large variety of accessories for women but their product search results are not that relevant. Interlinks in the website consist of all the favourite products inside the website but the online store can lose many customers when the customers are not able to find the product they are searching for. (tripadvisor.com, n.d.) A disadvantage of Topshop is that it markets products of their own brand only. With proper planning and the introduction of external brands in their online store, Topshop can convert a large part of the market to their favour. Sharing of products is quite limited. All of the customers that it gets currently is out of the own brand image it has created over the years, product marketing has no support in this. Random products are offered on a discount and Topshop does not take the time to make it clear in the shopping basket. It would prove beneficial for them because many individuals go for lower prices during special occasions. Although all the products available can be viewed without registering for the website, Topshop makes it compulsory that customers create a valid account before proceeding to the checkout. Suggestions and Advice: Our foremost recommendation for Topshop would be to change their search script on the website and enhance search accuracy by showing more results to their customers. This would not only attract more customers but also benefit them when their variety is actually made ready for sale. Introducing other external clothing and accessory brands into their product list will guarantee a greater level of customer satisfaction. The buyer will have an increased amount of variety to search from and thus less people will leave the website without shopping. Discounted products should be properly highlighted and other incentive schemes should be introduced to attract more customers. More customers can be attracted by commencing wide discounts from time to time. This will drop their profits for some time but will gain loyal customers in the end. A final suggestion to the Topshop administration would be to allow non-registered members to buy products. NEXT: General Information about the Website: Next is a UK-based online store that offers a wide variety of household goods and clothing. The product range lies from flowers and electrical appliances to sports goods and gifts. Although not having competitive prices in the market, rates charged by Next are somewhat low as compared to Boden. They both almost contain the same quality of fabric and outfit designs but Next captures a large portion of Boden’s market by offering customer-oriented products with lower prices. Our Review based on the Five Categories: Delivery charges for purchases done through Next’s portal are unknown until the customer is charged. Customers often have complained about buying stuff from Next and still not knowing what amount they would be charged for the store delivering goods to their residence. (Ciao.co.uk, n.d.) Unlike ASOS, Next has large stores in many parts of the UK. Buyers prefer to go to their physical store in order to purchase their favourite goods. This is because of the high delivery charges that are mixed up in the bill as hidden charges when a customer makes a an online purchase. Suggestions and Advice: Keeping in mind of the ineffective shopping basket feature, we would like to recommend Next to enhance their shopping cart online in such a way that it shows the amount of time and money it would take for the home delivery to complete. After properly rectifying the barrier of the shopping cart, Next should try to lower its rates of delivery. This would make it even more prominent among the leading online stores because it is already better than its competitors in many different ways. Plus, its regular customers would avoid the hassle of going to their physical stores to purchase their products; consumer satisfaction will again increase. Analysis and Rating: First Look Rating: BODEN ASOS NEXT TOPSHOP Speed of Load 3 4 3 2 Site of security 1 3 2 1 Understanding of help facilities 2 3 3 3 Promotions and offers 3 3 3 2 Ease of navigation 2 3 4 3 Overall impression 2 3 3 3 Total 13 19 18 14 The above figures clearly show that ASOS beats its competitors where the first impression of the store is concerned. This means that new online customers will prefer to buy through ASOS than other networks because of the first brilliant idea that they are able to provide to their customers. Search Accuracy Points: The search relevance factor distributes equal points to Topshop and ASOS in the first place. Users would be able to better find their favourite items on these websites as compared to other online markets. Product Range: BODEN ASOS NEXT TOPSHOP Range 3 4 4 4 Variety and Choice 2 4 3 3 Pricing of products 3 3 3 3 Total 8 11 10 10 ASOS aces in the product variety department as well. ASOS thus has the ability to hold its customers for a longer period of time, allowing them to involve themselves in the selection of a larger range of goods. Shopping basket: BODEN ASOS NEXT TOPSHOP Ease to change/add/delete 2 4 4 4 Descriptions 2 4 4 3 Clear pricing 3 3 3 2 Secure site warnings 2 2 1 2 Ability to return to shopping basket/check items 2 4 4 4 Delivery time-scale 4 3 2 1 Delivery costs 2 3 2 1 Total 17 23 20 17 Support: BODEN ASOS NEXT TOPSHOP Feedback 3 4 4 3 After sales services 2 3 3 3 Delivery periods 3 4 2 2 Total 8 11 9 8 Customer loyalty is one of the main things that enable a business to prosper. ASOS shows that it does not leave its customer alone by providing better customer services. Key: Excellent Good Satisfactory Poor Very Poor 4 3 2 1 0 User Reviews: Boden The following suggestions will help Boden in the future: 1. The webmaster should consider purchasing an SSL certificate to verify the site’s identification and validity. 2. It should be made easy for the customer to interact with the support staff and it would be best if a live chat feature were introduced. 3. The website structure should be improvised by fixing navigation problems and website loading time should be reduced to a minimum. 4. The main page should carry more information about different products instead of advertising one product with loads of images. Next Customer feedback shows that the following things needed to be done to improve Next’s service: 1. Website navigation should be improved to a certain extent and there should be minimum security issues for customers while they checkout. 2. Delivery periods should be shortened and delivery charges should be lowered a bit. Topshop Topshop services can be improved by the following methods: 1. Customers should be safely dealt with by providing better security while they’re shopping or viewing products. 2. Discounts and incentives should be properly displayed to attain maximum benefit from them. Works Cited Ciao.co.uk, n.d. Asos.com - Read Reviews. [Online] Available at: http://www.ciao.co.uk/Reviews/Asos_com__5643070. Ciao.co.uk, n.d. Next.co.uk - Review - Whos NEXT? [Online] Available at: http://www.ciao.co.uk/next_co_uk__Review_5475281. Reviewcenter.com, n.d. Boden www.boden.co.uk Reviews | Online Clothing and Accessory Shops | Review Centre. [Online] Available at: http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews61226.html. tripadvisor.com, n.d. Topshop - London - Reviews of Topshop. [Online] Available at: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g186338-d188814-Reviews-Topshop-London_England.html. Read More