haggul - 1:29 pm on Mar 26, 2007 (gmt 0)

Yep I think incediBILL also hit the nail on the head. I work all day on the web making e-commerce websites yet I still regaularly pickup the phone - the main reason why? - if the site in question has no visible stock situation. I hate spending time hunting down the best deal only to place an order that takes ages to (or never) get fulfilled.

I recently bought my son a trampoline - the site I bought off was very nicely presented, easily navigable, and were bundling a freebie that made it the best deal on the web - the works - but no stock indication - so I called. Good thing was the lady on the other end was very helpful and friendly and offered choice of delivery dates etc so was a positive experience after all - I did tell her to get it sorted out though.

I think maybe this is more related to "non-brands" as you never know if the site in question is one man in his shed, or a faily large outfit with proper warehouse etc - and so you have no grasp of what stock holding they might have.

So in summary just to agree - if you get asked something more than 2 or 3 times over the phone it means your website lacks that info!