How do You Judge Quality?
Online Shopping for all its convenience, is not conducive to judging the quality of a product. Many of the usual ways are unavailable to you.
Shopping of any kind involves the 5 senses. The more involved with the senses, the richer the experience, and the more sure the buying decision.
Online Shopping is only able to engage 2 – Seeing and Hearing, and Both of those are limited.
You’re seeing a 2-dimensional representation of some photograph of the item. You might get multiple views. You might get some diagrams. You might get some FLASH presentation… But you will never get to see the actual product until it arrives.
Hearing, if there is sound, at all, is probably some cheesy MIDI tune, or an Anima-bot computer-speaking the canned text. The latest thing is actual video of the sales-guy pitching as hard as possible to sell you.
Grrreat! Just what the Internet did away with – a sales-guy shouting in your face… They’re Baa-aack!
But, the Internet lacks these 3 crucial ones – Smell, Touch, and Taste. There just isn’t any way, yet, for you to actually interact with any product like you can in the local store or market.
You can’t pick anything up, feel its heft, explore its texture, or feel for sharp or smooth edges, or see if it actually fits.
You can’t waft the aroma of fruit or perfume, or test the strength of odor, or even see if it affects your sinuses.
You can’t savor the subtle under-tones and rich flavors of foods or desserts.
You are denied the sensory cues that you have developed over the years to help you judge quality.
So, how DO you judge quality of products on Online Shopping sites? You have to rely on the trustworthy-ness of the Seller, and use other indicators to suggest quality.
For example, if you are shopping online at the JC Penney site, you can be reasonably sure that the quality of offerings online will be pretty much like you would find in one of their stores. Another example is to use the Brand Name as an indicator. A product made by Johnson & Johnson will fall into a generally accepted range of quality.
If you are dealing with an unknown online site, you have to review the Guarantee, the Return & Refund Policies, the Testimonials from presumed satisfied customers to suggest a level of trust. On eBay, with millions of Sellers, the Feedback system gives you some indication of Seller quality.
*** Warning *** Self-congratulatory Adulations follow… ***
(We are Sellers on eBay, and our Feedback score is nearly 5,000 Positive – a 100% score.)
*** End of Warning ***
The site layout, design, usability, and other factors, also suggest trust and quality levels.
Your impressions, gained through intangibles, ultimately guide your opinion of how trustworthy, hence the quality level, a particular Online Shopping Site might deliver.
Be alert. Be sceptical. Be vigilant. Be successful.
John