http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20060608PR223.html
Damn i didnt kno w they were that big. 5-7 million dollars in sales a day!!
epic
Damn i didnt kno w they were that big. 5-7 million dollars in sales a day!!
epic
Newegg dot EU
- Thread starter epicstruggle
- Start date
Well, there is good reason why they are so big. Every time I've ordered from them they have been amazing. Great service, very quick, and when there was a problem it was easy to get it solved.
They use to have the lowest prices, but they dont anymore, but I still go through them for the most part especially on expensive items simply because their service is so damn good.
They use to have the lowest prices, but they dont anymore, but I still go through them for the most part especially on expensive items simply because their service is so damn good.
This has been rumoured for some time now (I heard it first over a year ago).
It was whispered at one point that they were interested in buying dabs.com, who are a UK-based Internet retailer who have recently expanded into France. Dabs were recently bought by British Telecom though (which seems to me like a wholly bizarre acquisition, but WTF do I know?!).
It was whispered at one point that they were interested in buying dabs.com, who are a UK-based Internet retailer who have recently expanded into France. Dabs were recently bought by British Telecom though (which seems to me like a wholly bizarre acquisition, but WTF do I know?!).
Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.
Legend
nutball said:
No, that is bizarre. Dabs were the NewEgg of the UK in terms of what they offered and how they offered it, except for the fact their customer service is totally lousy. They used to be good, and then their boss decided that no one cared about service - they just wanted cheap prices, and so Dabs became a box shifter. Mostly very cheap, but you'd better hope nothing ever went wrong, or you'd be in a world of pain trying to get it sorted out.
I would have thought they were bigger. Even what I consider a 'regional European' player like Komplett (Norway, Sweden and some sales in UK) will be above a million $US per day in 2006. Anyone know what the biggest on-line hardware/electronics store in Europe is (and how big they are)?epicstruggle said:Damn i didnt kno w they were that big. 5-7 million dollars in sales a day!!
Inside newegg: http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=2694&p=1
I hope it's true, I love Newegg and would love it for my europeon friends to be able to discover their wonderful service!
I have never once had a problem with Newegg, and I've been getting stuff from them rather regularly for years. They give you what they say they'll give you and get it to you when they say they will, and if there is ANY problems with it they will refund/replace/take care of you.
Newegg.com just has the bestest customer service of anywhere I've bought from, ever....and their site is a joy to shop at.
Newegg.eu SHOULD happen. They're good like Google.
I have never once had a problem with Newegg, and I've been getting stuff from them rather regularly for years. They give you what they say they'll give you and get it to you when they say they will, and if there is ANY problems with it they will refund/replace/take care of you.
Newegg.com just has the bestest customer service of anywhere I've bought from, ever....and their site is a joy to shop at.
Newegg.eu SHOULD happen. They're good like Google.
If they want to enter the continental European market, they're in for a rough ride. So far, every US computer retailer except Dell has more or less failed on the continental market.digitalwanderer said:
In the late 90s, Insight tried to enter the European market in various countries. In Germany they bought out one the the largest Internet retailers back then, Computer Profis. Three years later they had to retreat from every single European market except the UK.
Compaq's adventure on the German market in the 90s was initially an unmitigated disaster. They tried to enter the market with their tried and true concepts that worked well in the US and were simply slaughtered by a competition that easily outmaneuvered them. They managed to stabilize their operations after sending their American managers home and hiring people with experience on the German market who completely revamped Compaq's product range every few weeks and switched suppliers on a daily basis.
Gateway 2000 was almost ruined by their attempt to establish themselves on the European market, they only survived in France and the UK. Ok, neither Compaq nor Gateway were component retailers but the problems are the same.
The toughest markets in Europe are Spain and Germany. This is bad news because both are rather significant chunks of the total European market, with Germany being by far the largest national market. These markets have certain traits that have given US IT retailers a hard time in the past:
1. The market space for PC components is brutally competitive. There are a number of large, well established retailers that have been successfully operating in this cutthroat market enviroment for a long time. There are some real heavyweights, like Mindfactory with a ~ €150 million turnover.
2. The market is highly transparent due to a number of very well maintained price comparison and user review portals.
3. The prices are rock bottom and the margins are ridiculously low.
4. The customers have very little retailer loyality and close to zero brand loyality.
5. The customers in these markets are notriously stingy. If you aren't in the bottom bracket of the price range, you've lost. The customers demand high customer service quality but will in the end still opt for the lowest price (and then complain when they get the level of service they paid for)
6. The non-enthusiast customer only cares about which product has the biggest numbers and the lowest price tag attached to it (and then they bitch if the thing turns out to be utter garbage and the CS sucks), making the market highly dynamic
7. There are several laws that drive up cost, like a mandatory 14 day no-questions-asked return policy. Experienced internet retailers have found ways to minimize these costs, some of them rather sneaky.
8. Every once in a while Germany's grocery discount chains leverage the economics of scale and push huge numbers of attractively priced PCs and notebooks into the market, ruining the business for everyone else.
It would be interesting to see how Newegg would fare on the world's toughest markets... if anyone can do it, then Newegg. I'd love to see a new player mix things up a bit.
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You understand Newegg is a parts retailer. You mentioned Dell, Gateway, and Compaq which are all OEM's of whole computers. Newegg sells parts to the enthusiast and to the average person, they also sell computers from companies such as HP, Compaq, Sony, and ABS (which is owned by Newegg) but that is not their main business.
Newegg offers generally very low prices, and the best service out there. Its possible to find lower prices, but not much lower. I'm sure they understand the need to be very low in price and good service to become established in Europe.
Newegg offers generally very low prices, and the best service out there. Its possible to find lower prices, but not much lower. I'm sure they understand the need to be very low in price and good service to become established in Europe.
Let me quote myself:Skrying said:
"Ok, neither Compaq nor Gateway were component retailers but the problems are the same."
My point is this: Europe houses some of the most cutthroat markets, especially in the computer parts segment. I didn't make that up, I've read a rather comprehensive market study about 3 years ago that also discussed why a number of US companies that tried to enter the end-consumer IT retail market failed and the bottom line was that some core European markets are much tougher than the US market and the companies couldn't adapt quickly enough before they were crushed.
Something like this also happened to Walmart in Germany. They thought they could waltz into the market and aggressively conquer it like they did in the US and were caught flat-footed by the fact that not only the competition in Germany had been more than competitive for years but also that discount chains like ALDI and LIDL were even more aggressive than Walmart and in fact it was Walmart that was barely competitive. After two years of very cash-intensive expansion they began to shrink at a ridiculously quick pace.
Some US business models don't work in Europe. Hell, even some core US management methods don't work here. Straight from university I was hired to head a fleet management project and I had read a number of highly regarded books on project management written by American experts and boy, did I fuck up. I had to learn the hard way that Europeans DO NOT appreciate it if you single out members of a project team and praise them for good performance in front of the team. Europeans do not appreciate all the silly motivational crap Americans are so fond of, like little personalized gifts or certain "fun" activities. Europeans do not appreciate a team lead who goes all Ballmer on them. By the end of the first week, I had only enemies
Since then I kinda love to see smug Harvard Business School MBA assholes or overconfident American execs fail when they are thrown into the European shark tank. It's always funny, because they make the same mistakes I did when stupid I assumed that American management methods were actually worth a damn in Europe.
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DudeMiester
Regular
Actually you can make more money off a market like that then you could otherwise, because you can sell PCs that you know won't do the job, then make a bundle off service charges. Just make sure the customer knows that the warrenty is utterly non-existant.
I work with a computer store that sells mostly used computers pre-loaded with unauthenticated windows, such that it stops working after a month. They have people who loyally come in and have their HD re-imaged, effectively re-installing windows for another month, every month for $30 each time. They sell the shitty PC for $300 and over the course of one year make more then that in service charges.
It's funny, but the boutique and high-end computer stores are the ones that go bankrupt the most.
In any case, I hope that NewEgg starts selling in Canada by the time they ship to the EU.
I work with a computer store that sells mostly used computers pre-loaded with unauthenticated windows, such that it stops working after a month. They have people who loyally come in and have their HD re-imaged, effectively re-installing windows for another month, every month for $30 each time. They sell the shitty PC for $300 and over the course of one year make more then that in service charges.
It's funny, but the boutique and high-end computer stores are the ones that go bankrupt the most.
In any case, I hope that NewEgg starts selling in Canada by the time they ship to the EU.
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Oh, people do care as long as the price is right. It's a rather distant second priority, especially in the enthusiast market for PC parts. Good service can be something that distinguishes you from the competition but it's nothing you can justify higher prices with on the German market. I think the market is seriously fucked up in that regard.Skrying said:
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Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.
Legend
I think the problem is that no one believes any (web) store when they promise good service for a higher price. That's the argument we all got from bricks and mortar stores for their higher prices, and when you buy anything slightly complicated, you realise the "good service" knows a lot less than you do, and half the time they just want to palm you off onto the manufacturer's warrenty.
So on the basis that things probably won't go wrong, and that when they do you will probably get crappy service from whoever you buy from, you might as well go with the cheaper price. Especially given the protections you have with the consumer and distance selling laws, and the cover from your credit card company, you can usually get your money back even if something goes badly wrong.
If something is faulty or not fit for purpose, the very least a supplier has to do is replace/refund it - they have a legal obligation, and because it's the least the have to do, that's all they offer. That's all I really need from them in the way of service and they have no choice about it.
Sure, I'll spend a little more if it means I am lessening my postage charges from different suppliers, or not having to deal with known bad suplliers, but I'm not going to spend a huge amount more on "customer service" I'm never going to use when there are dozens of other big boxshifter etailers that offer the same thing for a lot less money.
So on the basis that things probably won't go wrong, and that when they do you will probably get crappy service from whoever you buy from, you might as well go with the cheaper price. Especially given the protections you have with the consumer and distance selling laws, and the cover from your credit card company, you can usually get your money back even if something goes badly wrong.
If something is faulty or not fit for purpose, the very least a supplier has to do is replace/refund it - they have a legal obligation, and because it's the least the have to do, that's all they offer. That's all I really need from them in the way of service and they have no choice about it.
Sure, I'll spend a little more if it means I am lessening my postage charges from different suppliers, or not having to deal with known bad suplliers, but I'm not going to spend a huge amount more on "customer service" I'm never going to use when there are dozens of other big boxshifter etailers that offer the same thing for a lot less money.
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What do yo mean by good service? In Europe, if you're not happy with your purchase, you can return the article within 14 days for WHATEVER REASON or without stating any reason at all. Excepting certain items like software, music CDs, custom-made computers, etc.
Anything you buy new has a 2-year warranty on it. If something you bought breaks, you send it back; either to get it fixed or replaced (usuallly the latter). If after 2 attempted repairs it's still not fixed you get your money back. All of this by LAW. Has worked for me so far every single time.
I patronize Alternate.de, Snogard.de, KMelektronik.de and others.
Anything you buy new has a 2-year warranty on it. If something you bought breaks, you send it back; either to get it fixed or replaced (usuallly the latter). If after 2 attempted repairs it's still not fixed you get your money back. All of this by LAW. Has worked for me so far every single time.
I patronize Alternate.de, Snogard.de, KMelektronik.de and others.
Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.
Legend
Curt said:
Yes, that the least retailers have to do - because it's law. If you already get that, why would you pay more for "good service" over a box shifter when they both have to comply to the same laws? It's not like you get expert advice or recommendations from either a boxshifter or a bricks and mortar store.
Law or no law, retailers can still screw you hardcore and some sure as hell try. They can make you wait for months for refunds, they can refuse to refund shipping costs or charge bogus handling fees and shit like that.Bouncing Zabaglione Bros. said:
Sure, you'll get your money eventually, after wasting a crapload of time and money. Something many people aren't willing to do if there are smaller sums of money involved.
There is a huge difference between a retailer who is accomodating and one who is uncooperative.
Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.
Legend
L233 said:
That's why I always pay by credit card. If the retailer is screwing you around, just phone the CC company and lodge a dispute because legally the CC company has a joint liability.
I don't know if the laws are any different in the US, but if you know your rights and how to work the system in the UK, the retailer rarely gets to screw the customer if you take the right precautions.
Having said that, in many years I've rarely had a problem, and I got those sorted out fairly quickly.