[saket77]

Ordered a USB flash drive from flipkart- WS Retail. Even after 8-9 days it was not delivered against the promised 3-4 days though the status said it was shipped. There was apparently some transit issues regarding the shipment & finally I cancelled the order later as it was getting too late. I mailed to customer care and they 'accepted the full responsibility of the mistake' and confirmed me the cancellation of order.

Later, again I ordered the same flash drive and it was delivered to me via blue dart in 4-5 days.

However, must add that the Blue Dart, despite being a 'good' courier service supposedly (& partners of DHL in India), have pretty bad online tracking. The moment the shipment was trackable on its website, it kept on saying 'Flight/ train delayed, contact customer service'. I contacted the CS where I was again told to wait as the flight/ train was delayed!

I received the item that very day, lol.

By the way, one SMS I received from Blue Dart was like ' your shipment would be delivered ON or AFTER 16/12/2013!' 'On' I can understand but after?? When is that after supposed to come as it can be until eternity!

And another one read as 'your shipment will be attempted (?) before 7PM today'! Really? Attempted??
I am wondering who has written these templates for Bluedart?

[LonelyPlanet]

I tried ordering 8 GB pen-drive from flipkart (2 nos). The portal doesn't allow me to order more than 1 nos at a time. I find it strange , they only allow if I place 2 different orders where delivery charges are charged on each.

[drmohitg]

Originally Posted by saket77

By the way, one SMS I received from Blue Dart was like ' your shipment would be delivered ON or AFTER 16/12/2013!' 'On' I can understand but after?? When is that after supposed to come as it can be until eternity!

And another one read as 'your shipment will be attempted (?) before 7PM today'! Really? Attempted??
I am wondering who has written these templates for Bluedart?

These have become standard SMS lingo for courier companies. Even I got similar messages after I ordered some stuff from Jabong during the GOSF.

BTW I have one query. How do these online companies manage to offer such a huge discount? For example I saw the same shoes from Clarks at there exclusive outlet here listed at full price and ordered the same from Jabong at 40% off. I hope they are not selling defective or really old stock or stock that has been rejected by quality control units of these companies.

[saket77]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

These have become standard SMS lingo for courier companies. Even I got similar messages after I ordered some stuff from Jabong during the GOSF.

BTW I have one query. How do these online companies manage to offer such a huge discount? For example I saw the same shoes from Clarks at there exclusive outlet here listed at full price and ordered the same from Jabong at 40% off. I hope they are not selling defective or really old stock or stock that has been rejected by quality control units of these companies.

I believe not. These may be products directly sourced from manufacturers, thus by-passing the chain and hence saving add-on costs at every link in the chain.
I bought a pair of Lee Cooper Shoes from flipkart earlier at 40% discount and they are perfect.

[Mr_Bean]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

BTW I have one query. How do these online companies manage to offer such a huge discount? For example I saw the same shoes from Clarks at there exclusive outlet here listed at full price and ordered the same from Jabong at 40% off. I hope they are not selling defective or really old stock or stock that has been rejected by quality control units of these companies.

Originally Posted by saket77

I believe not. These may be products directly sourced from manufacturers, thus by-passing the chain and hence saving add-on costs at every link in the chain.
I bought a pair of Lee Cooper Shoes from flipkart earlier at 40% discount and they are perfect.

+1

One need to factor in the following for a store:
1.) Initial investment (e.g.) setting up the showroom
2.) Rental cost
3.) Salesmen salary
4.) Transportation cost (Factory to the store)

One who incurs expenses on the above would expect decent profits on the items sold. I think online retailers don't have such overheads and hence are able to lower cost to drive up volumes and make profit.

[drmohitg]

Originally Posted by Mr_Bean

+1

One need to factor in the following for a store:
1.) Initial investment (e.g.) setting up the showroom
2.) Rental cost
3.) Salesmen salary
4.) Transportation cost (Factory to the store)

One who incurs expenses on the above would expect decent profits on the items sold. I think online retailers don't have such overheads and hence are able to lower cost to drive up volumes and make profit.

But even they have store houses for such a large number of items. Plus would need manpower to handle those too. Then there are courier costs, call centre costs etc etc.

Anyways got my first shipment of jabong order today. Had ordered converse shoes, crocs and a belt. The foot wear was of top quality but the belt was worn out and had some rough patches on the leather. No Hassle at all in returning the same and they took it back. Overall nice experience. Regretting that didn't order another pair of slippers from crocs.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

But even they have store houses for such a large number of items.

A physical store selling 5 items per day would need exactly the same size of storage as an online store selling 5 items per day. If you are saying that an online store is selling more items than a physical store, and hence it would need more storage, then obviously the storage cost is distributed over higher number of items & hence at worst, cost of storage per item would be the same. In reality, as number of items of items, the cost of storage per item decreases.

Plus, the store needs to have atleast part of it's storage in an expensive area (a mall, a shopping area etc). The online store can have it's warehouse in the cheapest possible area.

Originally Posted by drmohitg

Plus would need manpower to handle those too.

Again, you need to calculate cost of manpower per item handled & not cost of man power per se.

Originally Posted by drmohitg

Then there are courier costs, call centre costs etc etc.

Call center costs would be less than sales man costs for the same volume sold. Courier costs would pale in comparison to the difference in real estate costs, I think.

[Gannu_1]

Thanks to the GOSF which concluded recently, picked up a pair of formal shirts for 50% discount from Basics’ online store. I own a dozen shirts from both Basics and Genesis (which is their sister brand) so fitting wasn’t a concern. The shirts were shipped from Chennai, through Blue Dart and they were delivered on time. The best part is, they send a cover along the package so in case we aren’t satisfied with the shirt or its fitting, we can return it back in this cover within 30 days of receipt. The courier charges incurred, will be credited back in the form of discount vouchers.









Link for the store if anyone's interested - http://www.basicslife.com/

Also, picked up a Plantronics ML2 bluetooth headset from Flipkart. Excellent reception and the range is exceptionally good! Looks like these buggers have jacked up the price. The price was Rs. 800 when I bought it a few days back.

[ThePunter]

Hoping to stay relevant! Does any one have know how of a site called zauba.com? This one has sprang up in some of my G searches (which had specific model numbers of say appliances like vacuum cleaner, telephone or such and such) and I was curious what this site is about. So, this site has details about import shipments of these goods, which port, quantity, total shipment value, value per piece etc. . My question is about the 'per unit' price shown in INR over there? Is that significant or is an indicator of the actual import price of the item? (Say for example 'panasonic cg304b' vacuum shows about Rs 2500 here, which retails at about 6k!?.. or a panasonic tsc62sxb telephone showing Rs700+ for which online best price is about 1k +.) ( when I searched, saw a mention of this site in mods/acssries post, but nothing more)

[S_U_N]

^I think the prices are without any taxes. Consider that a Panasonic TV 50ST60 was less than Rs. 50000 in terms of the declared value. The MRP was Rs. 115000.

So, add VAT + Service Tax + Shipping from overseas + Import duty (Cusoms/ Excise/ etc) + Other overheads around logistics and personnel. That will be close to the landed cost. Then comes marketing costs/ sales training/ service training, etc.
Then add margin and that becomes the dealer price. Expect about 30% minimum margin for the manufacturer.

Then comes the dealer margin and finally comes the MRP.

[smrtdvl]

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

Also, picked up a Plantronics ML2 bluetooth headset.

Same here mate but got it for Rs.650 during the gosf sale. All in all a good buy.

[superbhikari]

Can anybody comment on the printer cartridge shopping site - www.zilla.co? Prices are damn low. I doubt it's credibility since no review on google are there.

[satyamkaushik]

Originally Posted by satyamkaushik

The package from eBay as expected is nowhere to be seen, even after 4 days of placing the order. Just received an email confirmation from eBay that your order has been placed, no further information whether the seller shipped it or not.

After almost 1 week of placing the order i get an email from eBay for an automatic refund request as the seller still hasn't shipped the item.
The seller hasn't even contacted me once regarding this purchase.
I wonder how these seller's get a 100% rating.

[m8002?]

Awesome experience from amazon.in
Ordered a book for my son on Thursday at 3:00pm with express shipping. My son changes his mind and wants a different book. So login to cancel the order at 5:00 pm and find that the order is already shipped!!

Call up the support. They immediately cancel my order though it has left their facility in MH. I place the order for the new book and just now recieved it with awesome packaging.

Full points for Amazon.in.

[sachinj12]

I had placed an order for Nokia 108 on behalf of friend on 13th of this month. The package is yet to be delivered and the package tracking is hopeless. It says delivery delayed on customer request



What shocked me out of my wits is a fake review from my friend's name saying the package is delivered





Well done amazon, you just lost a faithful customer.