This is the tale of two vendors in the age of Early Internet
Commerce.
There once was a computer user who, having discovered an email forum for similarly-enabled
computer users, posed the following question to the forum: Where could
he find a vendor who would supply expansion memory for his
newly-upgraded machine. Upon receiving advice from the kindly forum
subscribers, our computer user proceeded to the first of two
recommended websites.
Upon locating the appropriate memory on the first-visited website,
our computer enthusiast proceeded to enact an online purchase. Much to
his surprise, the user action that should have completed the
transaction process returned an .asp error. Not to be dissuaded from
parting with his cash for such a reasonably priced item, the user
called the toll-free number listed on the vendor's home page.
A reasonably confident-sounding assistant answered the call and,
hearing of our user's problem, recommended that the user would need to
upgrade from MS IE 5.0 to MS IE 5.5 in order for the desired purchase
actions to be processed, and that no orders could be placed by voice as
they did not allow it. (It was at this point that a mild
suspicion arose in the mind of our user - you see, our user had some
knowledge of programming and Web design, both of which had provided him
in the past and continue to provide him with gainful employment).
However, as the conversation progressed, the helpful assistant pointed
out (where the Web page did not) that visitors to the site must first
set up an account and then begin the purchasing process.
Well and good, thought the user. Alas, his second attempt resulted
in the same failure as the first. On this occasion, however, the user
perused the error message. It appeared to be a database error regarding
the lack of a record returned by the scripting code from shiprate.asp.
He called the vendor a second time.
This time, after an initial exchange of pleasantries, the user
related his observations regarding the error message. Upon hearing
this, the assistant enquired, "Where are you calling from?"
"Ireland," was the reply.
"We don't ship outside the US," responded the assistant.
"Well why do you have a popup list of every country in the world on
one of the order pages?", the user asked.
"That's a mistake. It shouldn't be there. They need to correct
that."
At this point, the conversation came to a rapid conclusion for
obvious reasons; the user could not give his money to the vendor. Not
to be outdone, the user took consolation in the knowledge that there
was a second possibility.
He proceeded to navigate to the second site, where he discovered a
well-designed site with secure online purchase capability. Although the
cost of the items was somewhat higher and shipping costs expensive, the
user considered it still a fair price, and a transaction was completed
in a matter of minutes.
Moral of the story: Logical, efficient, and functional Web design is
the quickest road to Internet riches.
Share your perspective on the Mac by emailing with "My Turn" as your subject.
