Spot ON! (whsmith.co.uk)

Member Name: Jpdm

Product:	whsmith.co.uk
Date:	04/04/01 (54 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: economical,great offers

Disadvantages: if book is not available it takes a bit for your books to arrive

It must be said that throughout the last seven years that I have been using the Internet, I never came round to buy any books from the Internet. I have done so, in a number of times, always though purchased other products.

I have had a lot of people I know telling me about their experiences when buying books over the Internet. Some of them were positive and some were negative. In general, it must be understood that in the UK there are maybe two or three sites that have beaten the competition and still operate with the public’s support.

Amazon, Bol and WHSmith have to be the sites that at least I know of being the ones mostly preferred by the UK public. Of course, they are not the only ones. There are a number of alternatives available to the web, but the three mentioned above are the top ones in the UK.

Recently, I was looking for a couple of books I needed for my jobs. Generally, I am not a loyal user of any online shop. I just look for the best price. This can be done by visiting:

- www.shopsmart.com (under Books) or
- www.addall.com -currently not working (if you are not bothered if you receive your order more that 2-4 weeks afterwards).

After reviewing the results I got, I chose to go for the WHSmith choice. Users must take under consideration that their site does require registration. After doing that, you are ready to place your order.

The only drawback(?) is that WHSmith charge you for delivery. Being a smart shopper, you must be able to do your market research correctly and unbiased. That is because in a lot of cases consumers opt directly for sited that offer free delivery. What is the point, if the total you will have to pay is more?

In my case, I bought a couple of books saving 16% over the best prices I found over the Internet. That was including the fees for delivery(!) Now, is that good value or what? After placing your order, you have the option of tracing your or
der online. This is quite convenient as I found out the next working day when I only received one of the two books I had ordered. The missing book was not available and was already ordered from its publisher.

To sum things up, my first experience with online book buying was a pleasant one. I got what I wanted (well, after a week because of the 2nd book not being available), I saved 16% on the best price available elsewhere and I was a jolly happy consumer! Above all, isn’t this what we are looking for?…

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