Missing out on spares sales

[alexa]

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http://www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/modules.p … 8451#38451

Craigybell wrote

thanks for your help lads!! Much appreciated
It was in fact the thermostats I bought them from e-spares for £35 and it did the trick.Saved me purchasing a new machine as the earache from my wife was tremendous especially as it kept shrinking her clothes.

Penguin 45 wrote

Why didn’t you contact spares@ukwhitegoods.com ? Not only do we have the technical resources, but we have the spare parts at sensible prices as well

Craigybell wrote

Because if you click washer parts – thermostats
you get an option of one thermostat.Should have e-mailed you but espares site was better set out and after trawling through different websites not knowing exactly the parts I needed I plumped for the most user friendly.I cant gauge how much things cost as these sites dont give prices unless you know the exact parts you want in the first place.
Was quite chuffed with myself until I read your mail but cheers anyway
In the future I will use your site

Just not user friendly the way it works at the moment

Also the numbers to the left in the information panel don’t jump out

The three little lines below the numbers in the information panel annoy the shit out of me and keep making me think that there is something to scroll that isn’t happening

Suggestions:

More prominance to phone numbers

PM to spares

Remove the current spare parts photo’s etc as it gives no confidence/feedback etc and makes me think thats all there is available

Might change my tag line or post in my interests as loves to:

Play devils advocate
Stir the pot
Point out faults
Minimise wastage
Minimise the manufactures profiteering through questionable products and policy’s (ie Poor design, limited life, overpriced spares, exclusive networks)

[Martin]

Re: Missing out on spares sales

alexa wrote:Just not user friendly the way it works at the moment

I beg to differ on this, its a great ‘module’ for the site that works well. Dave is constantly adding to it and up-dating 🙂

alexa wrote:Also the numbers to the left in the information panel don’t jump out

But they are at least there should one wish to dial. After all this is a website where all the answers can be found without really needing to phone anyone.

alexa wrote:The three little lines below the numbers in the information panel annoy the shit out of me

It didn’t occur to me ’til you mentioned it, if we ask Ken nicely he may enlarge the numbers and get rid of the dashes 😀

[alexa]

Re: Missing out on spares sales

Craigybell wrote:

Because if you click washer parts – thermostats, you get an option of one thermostat.
Should have e-mailed you but espares site was better set out

Bugger messed that one up again

Your right, it’s just that customer and me that can’t navigate

Lets start on the front page http://www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/index.php

Clicking on the link this page under the Spare Parts For Appliances heading takes me to this page http://www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/contentid-25.html

On that page there are two links spares@ukwhitegoods.com and click this link

Clicking on click this link takes me to http://www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/modules.p … =Help_Desk

The Help Desk page states “Currently the spares desk is closed until Monday 8th March 2004”?

Clicking on the link this page on the Help Desk page takes me to http://www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/contentid-25.html back to where I was before (Get dizzy on that one because it will only loop you around and around)

Bit of back to the future in your De Lorian then?

So I exit back to the front page and find SHOP@

On that panel is the link email us which takes us back to spares@ukwhitegoods.com that was optioned before (getting dizzy again)

So I go back to SHOP@

And click on the link Appliance Spares Supplies from UK Whitegoods or Shop@ which finally gets me to where I wanted to go

So I click on Washing machine Spares and get Washer Dryer Heaters and Stats

What are Stats?

Maybe its statistics on the Navigation Panel (Dizzier)

What the hell do I want with statistics?

Exit button left and go elsewhere

Or I click on Washer Dryer Heaters and Stats and get an option of one thermostat.

How do I know it’s the one for me?

I do a Search on Shop@ on no thermostats are covered

Suggestions:

Shop@ should be Spares@

Phone numbers should be with Spares@ not a screen scroll away from Shop@/Spares@ in the Information Panel

Spares@ should be on the Navigation Panel

Spares@, Spares@Categories and Repairs@ should be up the top of the front page (this is a money making enterprise isn’t it)

Or “If you register here then you can Message Spares direct” (Dave-Conway or preferably as Spares member)

A method of a PM from the front page I guess wouldn’t be possible?

And before my Mentor PM’s me

No I don’t know how to post a click this link

“Just when you though it was safe to go back into the forums again”

“It’s your money”!

[Martin]

Re: Missing out on spares sales

He’s spot on and running through all his observations I too have gone dizzy. It is a real mess and navigators nightmare to figure out that’s for sure.

IN CYBERSPACE NO-ONE CAN HEAR YOU SCREAM….!

alexa wrote:Shop@ should be Spares@

Why not? sounds good to me 😀

alexa wrote:What are Stats?

Pass :con:

alexa wrote:“Currently the spares desk is closed until Monday 8th March 2004”?

Ah! I expect that was after one of Daves extended liquid-lunch breaks and he forgot to turn the “Open/Closed” sign on the shop door around as he staggered back :rotfl:

[kwatt]

Guys, points noted and, even though I’ve only glanced through this thread as I’ve not had time to read it properly yet and I’m totally knackered after a gruelling three days.

Some of this has been discussed over the past few days and will be adressed, but it won’t be quickly. Some of the minor points, like Alexa noticing the holiday date on the Helpdesk (:oops:) is appreciated and can be done, once I get with the program again. 😕

K.

[kwatt]

Re: Missing out on spares sales

Okay, here’s the deal…

UKW has been built up an added too over that past two years and it’s simply not possible to go back and check every link on the site, it’s just too big to be doing that all the time. If we notice it, or as is the case here, it’s pointed out to me then I’ll do something about it but I don’t see every little boo-boo.

The Help Desk thing is now sorted.

I will revisit the page 25 article and a few other pages to see what I can do but, TBH, the guy’s a muppet. All over UKW is “mail to spares@” as there are millions of bloody parts, it would be impossible to cover them all. It’s also nigh on impossible to catagorise them into a way that everyone will follow as there’s always someone out there that could have done better. 😕

So, onto the name, yes I agree but let us get something else in place first please. We have plans for the whole spares/shop arrangement but it will take a bit of time and work to sort that one out, then we can re-launch it properly.

I do agree that some of the articles need dusting off and repolished and I’ll get to it, but when I feel a bit better as I have a cold and feel crap, may even go back to bed. 🙁

Meanwhile, if you’ve any suggestions on a fix tap them out here and I’ll change the links/code later.

K.

[Martin]

Re: Missing out on spares sales

Here’s another observation I thought I would add for possible comment, feedback and conjecture….that the majority of postings from ‘Trade Members’ is more ‘Off topic’ than on!!!!

I will stick my neck out further by suggesting that more than half of those trade members that regularly visit the site only do so to read “another Joke” and then clear off!!!!

[kwatt]

Na Martin, it’s jus that that thread is an easy one to participate in and not look silly if you cock it up. One of the problems is that when someone posts something in the public forums you buggers answer it before anyone else has a chance! 😆

Not a bad thing at all, just another observation. 😉

However I agree on the primary point, there’s a lot of people that look, don’t talk. But we’ve discussed that one oh so often before. 😕

K.

[Penguin45]

Re: Missing out on spares sales

Never mind what they’re doing in Off Topic – that’s what it’s for. Alexa’s scout-about has been quite revealing – I had a go at what he’d been up to and he’s right – dead ends and loops.

The real problem may well be that a site like espares has invested the sort of money that we don’t have into a data base to load up part numbers and a search facility which is easy for a punter to use.

If we are going to be competing with that sort of thing, let’s do something simple. Change from “Spares@” to “Spares? Just Ask!” and make that a link. It’ll do what it says on the tin and won’t involve rewriting code and God-knows-what. It’s a bit Jeevesy, which people will recognise and retains the personal touch, which is hoiw it all works at the moment.

Cheers,
Chris.

[Dave_Conway]

Re: Missing out on spares sales

OK, several things here:

1/ The shop needs a total revamp

2/ We need to move the shop away from being a part of UKW as the OSC module frankly is crap

3/ I don’t have the time currently to invest in making the shop bettter

4/ There are plans afoot after the last couple of days meetings to change things 😀 and we now have the capabilty to give trade offers.

5/ Help me come up with some new ideas that differ from the “usual” spares sites.

Dave.

[Del]

Re: Missing out on spares sales

Remember Lads we are a community first, That’s how we started and should all else fail, that is what I hope we will allways remain.

This whole site started from a simple e-mail list of like minded souls in a given trade who had remarkably similar problems. It has grown out of all proportion to what the initial expectations were.

The admin team have at all times bent over backwards to respond to what members have requested with new services, idea’s and forums.

All the help, ideas and support that has be given by us guy’s as moderators has, i’m sure been regarded by admin as invaluable.

My message to you all is that most of the flack that the admin team are getting in this thread is being addressed. We will get to where we need to be, of that I am convinced.

But if we push to quickly for new bell’s and whistles for the site right now, we will end up with quick fix’es instead of a plan for sustained growth. We need to do things properly to a plan, instead of trying to operate on the fly.

To combat and overtake the likes of e-spares with their megger million pound set up is no mean ambition. Should, we even contemplate, or entertain the idea of such an audacious goal ? 😯

Your Dam Right We Should ! 😉

So let’s cut the guy’s a little slack, and help them work on the battle plan. 😀

Regards Del

[kwatt]

Re: Missing out on spares sales

There are indeed plans in my head to make the shop just a little better.

Products need to be easier to add, queries easier to submit and pricing structures easy to maintain. All of which has to be done with the current level of security that we have and admin tools.

This is not a two minute job, nor is it easy.

I have been looking, this weekend, at commercial e-commerce solutions which, whilst to a customer will look part of UKW, it will in fact be a totally different site under the same domain, obviously with strong links to UKW. In effect, it is UKW, but not a part of the core Nuke site, a little bit smarter and allows for a lot more scope. You see the problem is that the only choice we have to integrate into th eNuke site is the OSC module and a couple of others that are worse than that. 😕

The problem is of course that UKW could sell a lot more spares to help support it financially and, in all honesty, we’re really being forced down that path whether we like it or not. But I’d rather we were doing this as some of the idiots out there and the likes of Comet et all, as well as certain distributors who see their traditional trade market being erroded year on year. At the same time we’re seeing a lot of the independent spares outlets dying.

It’s something we’ve not gone mental with because I didn’t want to upset anyone selling spares but the market and circumstance has changed and we have to react to it.

K.

[alexa]

KISS
No I haven’t missed you.
just “Keep it Simple Stupid”
As penguin says

Shop@” to “Spares@? Just Ask!”

Phone number to suit and bang
Extra spares enquiries with very little work.
Craigybell

I plumped for the most user friendly

I realize the pressure you guys are under and I didn’t mean to increase that. I just saw a problem, brought it to your attention, offered suggestions

Shop@ should be Spares@
Phone numbers should be with Spares@ not a screen scroll away from Shop@/Spares@ in the Information Panel
Spares@ should be on the Navigation Panel
Spares@, Spares@Categories and Repairs@ should be up the top of the front page (this is a money making enterprise isn’t it)
Or “If you register here then you can Message Spares direct” (Dave-Conway or preferably as Spares member)
A method of a PM from the front page I guess wouldn’t be possible?

All the bells and whistles are not justifed/economic but the current errors where not helping.

I’m gunna put the Spares link & Phone number on my tag line to assist exposure.

[kwatt]

The comments are welcome Alexa and they will be addressed but we need to get some bits and bobs into place before we go bonkers with it.

I do want to simplify the process for everyone, but that requires that what lies behind a nice simple method for a customer has to be a bit more complex behind.

The one thing that is driving me mental is trying to figure out how to catalogue spares in a user friendly way, not easy.

K.

[alexa]

Forget the catalogue spares
That’s thousand of Pounds to set up, and thousands of Pounds to maintain.
It’s not your core business
It will distract you from your current main aims..which are?????????

Do a default KISS solution with spares as suggested just to capture extra enquiries
They could Phone/PM a friend (Dave @/Spares@)
(User friendly as well)

Speaking of AIMS! well I am anyway
Have you done this web site out of reacting to circumstances
or are you planning to:
Get on the front foot and drive the issues

Is it top secret?
or:
Where is your plan?
Where are you goals?
What do you want to achieve?
I would have thought you would have had a list

else:

Being philanthropic requires money
I would have thought your main aim is to “Control the world” (Bit of Doctor Evil there).
Well at least to control your world

If you were/are excited as I were about this web site as I am and lose sleep thinking about the possibilities then until you bring me down to earth saying that “it’s all just philantropic” or I’ll continue to be a thorn in your side.

Kicking me off would be your only other solution.

Don’t reduce my esteem for you by demeaning you achievements to date

but we need

but that requires

.

ie “But” is such an awful word and should never be used in a sentence let alone conjoin sentences.

Can always tell me to F off (then a smiley face if it’s tongue in cheek)
I appreciate that my timing may always be out so no reply is better than giving me an intro to continuing the thread

I always like the last word

[Author]

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