eBay generates extra cash for Brits
Britons made £8.5 billion last year by trading goods online, according to a new survey. The research, by Orange Broadband, said UK citizens made an average of £341 in 2005 through auction sites such as eBay.
AOL and retailers are rubbish at customer service
Wow, what a week for customer services. First we had the now-infamous Vincent Ferrari call to AOL. Then we noticed a press release on E-consultancy that painted a bleak picture of online customer services among retail companies.
Vince wanted to cancel his account and having heard “the nightmare stories” decided to record his phone call to AOL Member Services. Some 21 frustrating minutes later he finally managed to achieve his goal… not entirely helpful.
International fame followed after the AOL tape went viral – the combination of Digg and the New York Times channelled 700,000 visitors to Vince’s site in rapid succession, forcing him to temporarily remove the recording (still offline).
If you didn’t hear it you can watch him being interviewed about his AOL experience on TV via YouTube – the interview has excerpts from the cancellation call. Too funny, unless you're an AOL executive...
eBay says no way to Google Checkout
Bang bang, eBay has - rather unsurprisingly - shot down Google Checkout, preventing people from using it to pay for auction items, according to a post on AuctionBytes.
PriceRunner teams up with 118118 to send price information to phones
The shopping comparison engine PriceRunner has this week launched a service which enables consumers to access pricing information from 118118 operators when they are out doing their shopping.Hope for etailers who are struggling with Comparison Shopping Optimisation
Many online retailers are failing to get the best possible returns from shopping comparison sites because of a failure to optimise this channel effectively, particularly in terms of the data feeds they are providing.
Help could be at hand however…
Social media: the best and worst of 2009
Email marketing: six steps to improving customer engagement in 2010
Web 2.0
Graham Charlton
Strategy & Planning
