WhenUShop Experiences

Although the names are changed, the following are real - and typical - WhenUShop experiences. They demonstrate how, once WhenUShop is installed from WhenU.com, online shopping gets easier - and starts living up to its promise of saving time, money and helping consumers make smart, fast purchasing decisions.

The Super Mom: Time-Constrained, Knows What She Wants and Insists on Shopping Smart

12:44 pm, Tuesday. Margaret, a journalist with two children, logged on to the Internet. She was working to meet a tough deadlines: to buy the hard-to-find Mermaid Barbie in time for her daughter's sixth birthday party, which was three days away, and before Margaret's 1 p.m. meeting started. Margaret had shopped online before and had found it time-consuming and frustrating. She also had the nagging feeling that she had paid more than she needed to.

She pointed her browser to eToys.com, and immediately WhenUShop appeared alongside the eToys home page. She searched the site for "Mermaid Barbie" -- and she was in luck. It was in stock and offered at $24.99. That was easy, she thought. But can I get it delivered in time? And without paying an arm and a leg? She decided to try out WhenUShop. Without having to navigate thru e-Toys, she got instant snapshots of the following info:

EToys
Price: $24.99
Sales tax: As a California resident, she would have to pay up to 8% sales tax.
Gift Wrapping: $4.95. Express Shipping (3-5 days): $12.00
Coupons: None
Site Ratings: Thumbs up on on-time delivery

Total Package: $43.94, with delivery within 3-5 days.

Not bad, but it might not arrive in time, she thought. Can I do better?

Using WhenUShop's search bot, she scanned the Internet for another online toy store that charged no sales tax in California. The search bot showed three retailers, including Amazon.com. She clicked on the link, searched for the Barbie -- and found Amazon had it in stock as well. Again using WhenUShop, she got the following site info instantly:

Amazon
Price: $21.99
Sales Tax: None
Gift Wrapping: $4.99
One-Day Shipping (1-2 days): $14.99 plus $1.99/pound.
Coupons: None
Site Ratings: Thumbs up on on-time delivery

Total Package: $43.97, with delivery within 1-2 days.

For virtually the same price, the same extras and the same customer service ratings, Margaret could get the Barbie delivered by Friday. She looked at the clock. It was 12:53. Still enough time to order the Barbie -- and maybe even buy a book for herself.

The Bargain Hunter

Lenore recently left her post at a big corporation to strike out on her own as a consultant. With her first customers scattered all over the country, she knew that investing in an up-to-date laptop computer would be money well spent, but because she had only her savings to rely on, bargain shopping was a must.

She decided to check out a computer retailer on the Web called Outpost.com that the techies from her old job often used because of prompt delivery. But were the prices affordable? As she tapped at her keyboard for the Outpost site, the WhenUShop software popped up on the screen simultaneously. Lenore let her cursor glide over the WhenUShop keypad and got instant information that could affect her bottom line: She learned that she would pay no sales tax for her purchase, no shipping cost and could take advantage of rebates that could save her an additional 5%! She quickly priced out her computer: a Sony Vaio laptop, model PCG-XG28K at a price of $2599.95 that would become $2499.95 after the rebate.

Lenore decided to compare prices to see if she could save money. She moved her cursor to the WhenUShop keypad and clicked on the "Compare Prices" button. In seconds, a comparison chart appeared that displayed the Outpost price versus that of other retailers. One competitor featured a slightly less expensive sales price of $2,596, but WhenUShop revealed that that this price didn't include shipping which would elevate her price to $2616.67.

Lenore returned to Outpost and with the rebate, ended up saving an additional $100.

Conclusion: WhenUShop revealed hidden expenses that might otherwise be discovered only at the time of the transaction and savings that might not be obvious at all from traditional web shopping.

"I Need a Lot of Different Stuff: How Much of it Can I Get on the Web - at a Major Discount?"

Debra realizes she spends a lot of money each month on shampoos, eye drops and a host of other branded products. It dawned on her that the Web may offer opportunities to save time and money buying these "banal," but essential, products. Having installed WhenUShop in the two minutes she had between conference calls, she later in the day launched WhenUShop from her desktop and did a quick search for health and beauty sites.

Deciding to take a hard line against paying full price, she scanned only those sites which WhenUShop said offered coupons. WhenUShop pointed her to DrugEmporium.com, where she learned that as a part of a promotion to drive new users, the site was offering half off all the brands she buys frequently - and that the sites prices were reasonable to begin with. She went shopping and quickly saved half -- $75 off - her monthly $150 health and beauty tab, as well as the annoying and time-consuming trip to the drugstore.

Conclusion: WhenUShop can quickly and easily inform people as to precisely what frequently purchased items, or categories of items, can be gotten at major discounts through promotions and special offers on the Web.

The Panicked Gift Buyer - Who's Also a Bargain Hunter

Rick, a young advertising executive from New York City, was doing some research on the Web one day when he suddenly remembered his sister's fast-approaching birthday. With little time, money and patience to spare for birthday present shopping, he decided to check out the Web for Sting's new album Brand New Day. (Sting is his sister's favorite musician).

After going to his "go-to" site for music shopping, Amazon.com, Rick discovered that Amazon wasn't offering any new discounts or coupons. Using WhenUShop on the left side of his screen, Rick then selected the "music" category and requested information on sites that did offer coupons. Within a few seconds, WhenU.com had selected a list of music sites that were currently offering coupons. The best option was a 15%-off coupon from VirginMega.com. Next, with the help of WhenUShop, he then checked to make sure that the VirginMega.com site offered gift-wrapping, which turned out to only be $1.29. After quickly checking out information about other music sites on WhenUShop, he found that this price was about the going rate for gift-wrapping.

Happy with the information he had, Rick then went to the VirginMega.com site to purchase the CD. At the site's checkout he entered the coupon number he had found on WhenU.com, which saved him 15% on his purchase. He noted that since the Virgin site had no mention of coupons on its own site, he never would have known about the savings without the help of WhenU.com.

Conclusion: WhenUShop saved Rick 15%, and let him get the gift bought within 10 minutes. Contact:

Elizabeth Case Sommerfield Communications, Inc. elizabeth@sommerfield.com 212-255-8386

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