website investigation
website design
tracking order and delivery
At eBuyer there are four main stages before an order is given a consignment number and despatched to the courier. First, eBuyer's Order Management Team performs a routine security check to verify whether the customer's account details are valid. The order is then entered into their system following successful security clearance and waits for all stock to become available. Then the system builds the order by processing the information. When eBuyer have successfully taken payment from the customer's credit card the fourth main stage is complete and the customer should receive confirmation of this by email. The order is then shipped to the courier.
eBuyer uses CityLink as their main courier for UK orders. The order is sent to the collection branch and CityLink then gives the package containing it a consignment number. This number then can be used to track the delivery's progress in great detail. Above is a snapshot of the current status of my order on the night I had ordered. It was taken from the CityLink website.
I was also able to find out the location of the nearest CityLink depot. eBuyer even provided me with a link to Google Maps with the route from it too my house. This really did impress me, it felt like I was in charge of the whole process and if a problem occured I would find out immediately. I was also given the option to go and collect my delivery from the delivery branch myself if I wanted too.
The next morning, I booted up my PC and checked the status of the order. I then discovered to my surprise that eBuyer have an integrated version of CityLink's tracking system on their website. And it told me that my order had arrived at the delivery branch in Cranford at 05:41 and had been loaded onto a CityLink van at 08:01. I was amazed, the full integration of this feature by eBuyer and the level of detail provided is absolutely brilliant! A few hours later, the door bell rang and below to the left is a snapshot of the CityLink Delivery fellow demanding I sign for my order. And below to the right is a snapshot of my order with it's 'Despatch list'.
After dinner that same day, I logged back into eBuyer. I did this to see what the design of a finished, invoiced order looked like. And I discovered that within eBuyer's site, in the intergrated CityLink feature, they had scanned in my signature! Below is a screendump of this:
eBuyer's order tracking and delivery system is the most informative I have come across online. The clarity and transparency of this aspect of their operation is exceptional. This in itself engages customers and, I would also suggest that it retains them aswell.