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Follow Us- Jasmina Khanna
With the Net playing an important role in business, many channel partners are now using it to leverage their presence in cyberspace. Many partners today boast of web sites with to B2B and B2C transactions. We review a few to let you know what is good and bad in these sites.
More and more channel partners are now putting their products on the Net in a bid to acquaint the populace about their range of brands. We look at three such sites where partners have used the web space to differentiate themselves from others.
www.xpressindia.com
www.xpressindia.com is a site that is a virtual computer shop on the Internet and they even point it out to the visitor. Their banner classifies them as a computer mall. The site offers a wide range of products like desktop PCs, servers, home PCs, notebooks, networking products, workstations, printers, scanners, software products, PC add-ons etc.
The home page has some very catchy deals placed prominently with tech specs and price details mentioned. Although there is a link to get more information on the product, the only additional information mentioned in the link were the add-ons and the upgrades.
NRIs who want to purchase from this site can do so by paying through demand drafts and credit cards. However delivery details to this category of buyers is not mentioned anywhere on the site, though information is available for resident Indian buyers.
To take advantage of the services provided by xpressindia.com, one has to register with the site. The products ordered online will be delivered at your doorstep after scrutinizing the details given in the registration form. The payments and deliveries section gives instructions on how to order products and pay for them.
Like most Indian sites, payment can be done through credit cards, demand draft, cheque and cash on delivery. Prices are quoted in Indian rupees only. This is bound to deter NRI customers who will have to sit down and convert the Indian rupee to their currency of preference.
Besides, there is another area, which is bound to create confusion. The site says that after-sales service would be available only in selected cities. Does this mean that users in other regions have to rely on their own resources for maintenance?
The site is impressive and graphically very appealing. The product brochures are complete with details such as configurations, price, etc. The best part about the brochures is that most of them have pictures, which enable customers to view products that they want to purchase.
All major product groups have been created as separate web pages making navigation easy. In the ‘Software,’ category, only Adobe and Microsoft products are available limiting the choice for software. Also, the X-bargains site was unfortunately empty.
www.zetaindia.com
www.zetaindia.com, belongs to Zeta Technologies, distributors for Asus. This site aims to provide computer systems at competitive prices supported by after-sales warranty services. The home page is well designed and is pleasing to the eyes.
However, ‘Build Your PC’ is the only major link on the site. By clicking on to this link, one can build a PC according to one’s own configuration. The processors one can select from include Celeron, Pentium and
Xeon.
After choosing the configurations and giving personal details, one can order the computer. Once the products are ordered in the order form, one has to click on the invoice to know the details of cost. If the customer finds the cost and configuration satisfactory, the order can be placed.
The site asks buyers to choose computer configurations. This may not be possible for everyone. Information on standard configurations that are commonly in demand would be useful to such customers. Though there is mail facility to send queries to the company, no readymade information is available on the site regarding service centers.
Catalogs of branded computers can also be given on the site. Also, information on peripherals would help visitors to the site.
www.visualanindia.com offers PCs, peripherals and networking and data communication products. Two major links on this site are ‘Computers’ and ‘Peripherals.’ In the ‘Computers’ section one can have a look at PCs of different configurations and price details. Visualan has branded each model with its own name. So you have ‘Visualan Celebrity,’ ‘Visualan Lavish’ and ‘Visualan Millenium Server.’ However, the configurations provided in this category are limited.
Under ‘Peripherals’ one finds information on add-on cards, cabinets, CD-ROM drives, DVD drives, scanners, keyboards, mice etc. Printers are very important peripherals of computers today. However, they have been missed out.
There is a kid’s section that has links to various sites that should appeal to kids and adults alike.
www.visualanindia.com has a vision to become preferred site if only it would give online and offline sales support a serious thought.
Jasmina Khanna can be contacted at jasmina@vsnl.com.