Data Suggest That Online Shoppers This Holiday Season Will Find Better Customer Service at Largest E-Retailers

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2000 5:06:00 PM EST

NEW YORK, Dec 12, 2000 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Online shoppers should be pleased to know that customer service -- both online and offline -- is improving at most of the largest e-retailers, according to data from WhenU.com. But many online shoppers still have no way of assessing a site's customer service quality until after they've made a purchase.

"This holiday season is a major test for online retailers on a range of issues. Certainly, one of these is customer-service quality. In fact, our data suggest that many of the largest e-retailers are putting greater emphasis on delivering better customer service this season," said Avi Naider, CEO of WhenU.com, the providers of WhenUShop, a free software tool for consumers that takes the headaches out of online shopping by making it easier to take advantage of special deals, avoid late deliveries, know critical site data up-front and basically shop online quickly and effectively.

"But Web shoppers -- especially those new to online shopping -- have little means of judging a site's customer service track record until it's too late. Consumers need an online shopping assistant -- one that gives them this critical data up-front," added Mr. Naider. "WhenUShop is that shopping assistant."

WhenU.com data suggest that effective customer service is a growing priority for many of the largest e-retailers:

• 27% of online retailers now have telephone customer service available 24 hours a day, seven days a week
• The average waiting time for a call to customer service: 1 minute, 13 seconds (though this is expected to increase in the throes of the holiday season)\
• 28% of online retailers will respond to an email within 5 hours, though 34% take longer than 24 hours
  

When a shopper visits any one of the 350 top online retail sites (from Amazon.com to Wine.com) WhenUShop automatically launches and, among other things, offers a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" rating of the site's customer service capability. However, WhenUShop also provides instant snapshots of other important ratings and information about the site's shipping costs, sales tax policy, security features, privacy policy, available coupons and rewards, rebate programs, gift services and special holiday deals.

WhenUShop is not a web site, but rather a free software tool for online consumers that loads in less than one minute at WhenU.com. This online shopping assistant standardizes and streamlines the online shopping experience, providing vital data immediately to the shopper on unexpected and "hidden costs" and other hard-to-find customer service information. WhenUShop appears next to the Web browser as a slim, unobtrustive toolbar that appears automatically when users visit online shopping sites -- and disappears when they go to non-retail sites. Importantly, WhenUShop is unaffiliated with any retailer or portal.

Interestingly, a related customer service issue and a holiday shopping inevitability, returns, are increasingly permitted by the online retailers within a certain time limit. But shoppers will likely have to pay for shipping:

• 98% of online retailers accept returns under certain circumstances
• 47% allow returns within 30 days
• 24% allow returns anytime.
• 84% of online retailers, however, require that customers pay for the return shipping

For more information, go to WhenU.com, and download WhenUShop. Or contact Elizabeth Case at Sommerfield Communications, Inc. [Elizabeth@sommerfield.com or 212-255-8386] to talk to the creators of WhenU.com and WhenUShop.

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