By Scott Poncher, President & CEO, ReadyLIFT Suspension Inc

Learn common customer concerns that may be hurting your eCommerce website.

Sometimes you really don’t get what you pay for.

In the highly competitive online product markets such as the automotive aftermarket, traditional shopping fundamentals have changed substantially. Unlike the control a shopper has when standing in a brick and mortar store, shopping online opens a customer up to a wealth of potential deceptions. Traditional physical retail shopping allows you – the customer – to see and usually inspect the product you are purchasing. Face to face transactions at the store level usually possess a certain expected level of trust.

When searching online for aftermarket products for your vehicle there are many things a shopper really needs to consider before hitting the buy button. The most important element to consider is the legitimacy of the online site or store you are shopping with. This includes many factors such as the site security as well as a reputable level of trust. After all you are going to give them money (and information) and expect a quality transaction and product in return. It will come as no surprise to most automotive enthusiasts who use the web as a shopping resource that you will have numerous options to sort through. Often the choices you discover can be overwhelming. Before the web-store revolution most shoppers had limited resources for the products they were looking for. In most cases you might have two or three local storefronts you could visit to procure the item you want. But although your shopping resource is limited with actual storefronts, the level of confidence gained by walking into a shop, asking for a certain product, seeing and handling that product and being able to ask the salesperson questions about the product and its warranties is a priceless endeavor.

The difference between shopping online and storefront resources is quite dramatic. In order for a storefront to be successful they must first and foremost provide quality customer service. The sales team helping the customer will generally be knowledgeable about the product in question and usually can provide the reference material necessary to answer all of your questions. This is a key element to developing and maintaining integrity within their shopping community. And that integrity goes a long way in maintaining the store as the key shopping option in the area.  Online sites which sell products can and will vary in quality. It is much easier to open up an online store to sell products than it is to open an actual storefront.  A storefront has to be honest, unique and competitive in order to keep the doors open. An online retail source usually doesn’t have the heavy burden that a storefront does. The lack of risk can open an online store up to willing deception, lack of creative product information and marketing and in many cases, a rather sterile shopping environment void of unique trust-building elements.

Some very important things to consider when shopping online include:

• Is the quoted price competitive with other retailers?
• Are the images of the products accurate?
• Does the store offer a quality and understandable return policy?
• Does the store or manufacturer of the product have insurance and warranty policies?
• Are quality, legible instructions included with the product?
• Does the retail outlet AND manufacturer offer customer support?
• Is there a way to directly contact the store/retailer to ask more questions?

The answers to these questions will vary. But let’s take a look at some of the possibilities.

Pricing is a highly competitive element of online shopping. Sometimes shoppers are only looking for the lowest price they can find.  While the retail models and shopping programs have evolved dramatically over the past decade, the time-tested theory that if something sounds too good to be true it probably isn’t true at all is still as accurate as the day the statement was first coined. In highly competitive segments of the market where there are numerous manufacturers and often an equivalent number of “knock-off brands” , low price and quality often do not go hand in hand.  Quality and market price usually do accompany one another. As my father once said, “where do you think they came up with the name Cheap?”

It is human nature to want to see the product we are purchasing. Given the physical disconnect of online shopping, the next best thing is a picture of the product. Pictures alone can make the difference in whether or not a customer proceeds with a purchase.  After all you want to see what you are buying and you expect what you see represents that purchase. Unfortunately it has become a common practice with some online retail outlets and even more so with selling lists such as eBay, Craigslist, etc. where the seller will use a certain brand or manufacturer’s product photos to illustrate a product made by a different company, often a cheap knock off brand. The customer thinks they purchased the advertised product but when they get the package and open it up the product looks much different.

Think bait and switch if you will. Most product manufacturers have product photos available online. These same photos are usually used quite liberally throughout the online shopping empire that offers their products. Usually the manufacturer provides them to the distributors and retailers to aid in the illustration and description of the product. A simple search can reveal a trend in product photos. If a photo of a product can be found on other sites and they all illustrate the same product from the same manufacturer but the one you found says it is another brand name, this should raise some caution flags. Images are largely free for the taking on the internet. Unscrupulous retail sources can and do try to deceive the customer as to what they are really buying.

Return policies are extremely important in any purchasing environment. Not only does it show support for the product or retail outlet, but it gives the customer confidence they will be taken care of if the need for returning the product arises.  Before confirming the purchase of an online product every customer should make sure the retailer can accurately and quickly service a return request.

In the automotive aftermarket manufacturer warranties and insurance policies are one of the most important elements a customer should consider. In general most automotive aftermarket components supplement a functionality of the vehicle. Seldom are the products “throw away” items. If a product fails or causes a failure that could render added expenses, it is always good to know the manufacturer will warranty the product. And even more important that they manufacturer has a policy in place, including an insurance policy, to deal with resolving any issue. Warranties and insurance policy options will vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. But the bottom line is most quality products are sold by quality companies that have you covered.

Unless the product you are buying is peel and stick, it should come with good quality instructions. This is one of the highest ranked complaints that consumers have about products they purchase. Conversely consumers are also quick to praise those products that do have detailed instructions. Not all products come with good step-by-step instructions and some have no instructions included at all. If you plan on addressing the installation or use of the product yourself, you will want good quality instructions to guide you through the process of assembly/installation. Some respectable online retailers will provide a link or download to the instructions for that product to help you better understand what you are buying and how it works before you actually pull the trigger on the purchase.

In the sales world customer support is King. Everyone likes to be able to talk with someone knowledgeable about the product whether it is at the retail or manufacturer level. If you are planning on a purchase it would be strongly advisable to research what kind of customer support is available for that product and purchase. The retailer will usually handle the purchase support while the manufacturer will often directly handle the product support. In an ever-increasing online market of cheap knock off parts and back door low prices, nearly always the price you end up paying doesn’t save you the agony of trying to get support for that product.

Like customer support, being able to contact the seller or manufacturer is very important. The most respected and successful manufacturers and retailers go out of their way to make it easy for you to contact them in regards to questions about their products. If you find a retailer that doesn’t provide you with any way to directly contact them, it begs the question what are they hiding from?

What has been mentioned are just some of the integrity components of the price for a product and the overall value of that purchase. The suggested retail price for a product usually doesn’t just equate to the product itself, but the overall value of that product. No one likes to get ripped off or deceived. A little homework on the customer’s part can reveal what the true value of a product is. In a world where few things are eternally perfect, having the peace of mind that you and your purchase are fully covered is not only assuring, but builds trust for both the buyer and seller.

Author Bio:

Scott Poncher was born to be in the business as both his dad and grandfather were in the automotive aftermarket making him a 3rd generation Poncher in this business. He started work at Pep Boys as well as his father’s large auto parts rep business until starting his own rep agency in 1996 to focus on selling Truck Accessories that he loves. HE started ReadyLIFT in 2006 because he wanted to be in manufacturing and thought he had a great idea. He is still involved in the day to day operations at the company’s headquarters in Santa Ana, California.