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Thursday
- July 20, 2000
800.COM Fends Off Amazon
and Buy.com in Electronics
An easy-to-use Web site and excellent customer service
helped 800.COM emerge as the No. 1 electronics site in the
latest PowerRankings announced today by Forrester Research,
Inc.. Forrester PowerRankings combine survey data from online
consumers and unbiased shopping tests to provide objective
rankings of leading eCommerce sites. Following 800.COM are
Amazon.com, buy.com, and Egghead.com.
"800.COM's keys to victory
were its quick and simple shopping experience and first-rate
customer service," said Tom Rhinelander, senior analyst
at Forrester. "But despite the win, the company can't
rest -- Amazon.com and buy.com are nipping at its heels.
To stay on top, 800.COM should address its greatest weakness,
which is delivery and returns."
By a narrow margin, Amazon.com
and buy.com take second and third place. Shoppers are most
impressed with Amazon.com's top-notch search engine and
clear return policy, but the site's lack of inventory information
can leave customers frustrated. buy.com has a reputation
for excellent prices, and it also earns high marks in customer
service. Its glaring weakness continues to be the absence
of convenience features like address book and gift wrapping.
Egghead.com is well off the pace; its scores reflect problems
like an ineffectual search engine and dead ends during
the first-time checkout process.
"The top three electronics
sites are in a pitched battle, with any site capable of
victory given a few improvements. The real laggard was
Egghead.com," added Rhinelander. "Consumers ranked
the site last in all criteria but one, and the Forrester
shopper wasn't impressed with many characteristics including
its restrictive return policy and restocking fees."
For the updated PowerRankings,
Forrester surveyed 19,000 consumers from Greenfield Online's
600,000-person online panel. These consumers identified
the eCommerce sites that they had purchased from most recently
and rated their experiences. A team of Forrester shoppers
then evaluated the shopping experience for sites with a
statistically valid number of consumer respondents, performing
a series of rigorous tests in six areas. The consumer data
and Forrester shopper scores were then synthesized and
weighted, with consumer views accounting for two-thirds
of the overall PowerRanking. A complete set of PowerRankings
results -- both consumer and Forrester shopper data --
are made available to all ranked companies for no charge.
Tax Free Internet is a Factor
in Purchasing Online
Fifty-seven percent of home Internet users said that
the tax-free status of the web was a factor in their recent
decisions to purchase online, according to a survey conducted
by PC Data Online. The remaining 43 percent said it was not
a factor.
An even larger number – nearly
80 percent – said they believe that online purchases should
remain tax-free. Nine percent said they believed that web
purchases should be taxed and 13 percent said they were
not sure.
The survey of 1,656 home Internet
users was conducted by PC Data Online from May 25-29, 2000
to gauge home Internet users' perspective on the tax free
status of etail and its impact on their decision where
to buy.
"It's no surprise that
most home Internet buyers favor a tax-free Internet. Still,
43 percent indicated that the absence of a sales tax was
not a factor in their purchase," said Cameron Meierhoefer,
Internet analyst for PC Data Online. "This difference
between what Internet consumers want and what they do online
could be a determining factor in whether the net is eventually
taxed."
Other results of the survey
follow:
- 74 percent of respondents
said they purchased items online during the past six
months. Forty-four percent said they spent between
$100-$499, 31 percent spent less than $100, nine percent
between $1,000-$4,999, and two percent $5,000 or more.
- 71 percent of respondents
said they were not aware of the current five-year Congressional
moratorium on Internet taxes, while 29 percent were
aware.
- Half of the respondents
said they supported the moratorium, while 23 percent
said they did not support it. Twenty-seven percent
said they were undecided.
- A majority (54 percent)
said that if Internet purchases were taxed, the state
government should have jurisdiction. Forty-six percent
said the federal government and 21 percent said the
local governing bodies should have jurisdiction. Thirty-five
percent said that no jurisdiction should be allowed
to tax the Internet, and 30 percent said they were
not sure.
- A majority (63 percent)
said that state and local municipalities would not
be harmed if Internet purchasing remains untaxed, while
20 percent said they would be harmed. Seventeen percent
were not sure.
The sample was weighted by age,
gender and income to represent the U.S. home Internet population.
At a 95 percent confidence level, it has a margin of error
of +/- 3 percent.
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