Being Mark Cohen

I had a discussion today about how many blogs that have been established have fallen into ruin.  We were also talking specifically about late-comer blogs launched by companies who wanted a dialogue with their customers, who discovered it was a tougher job than they had anticipated.  Some blogs go dry within a few weeks of launch.

Stagnation, and the proliferation of social media and social sites like Facebook and Twitter have apparently dealt the blogosphere a fatal blow.  This is evident in my Google Reader, where i used to have close to a thousand items every couple of nights I now have more like two to three hundred – and they are more concentrated in a few busy blogs.

I personally hope that blogging makes a comeback.  I miss the eloquently penned words of the many bloggers who are so much smarter than me, and I think the world’s a poorer place for their silence.  Some thoughts just don’t fit into 140 characters or less.  The depth of understanding and the colour that can be given through the craft of copywriting is not to be underestimated.

I for one will be waiting patiently and with a welcoming smile and an eager eye when you, the small-audience bloggers who took the citizen-journalism battle to the streets, decide to return.

Domain.com.au. the real estate portal owned and operated by Fairfax Media has released an iphone app today.  The app is really nicely put together and offers most of the same functionality as the website does.  It feels really quick to use and given their wealth of content it was fairly comprehensive in terms of listings in the areas I searched.

They’ve judiciously used iphone transitions and effects, they’ve used animations to make the app feel faster, all in all it’s a very handy app for those of us who are house-hunting.

Congrats to the guys at Domain, for yet again being the first to leverage a new technology amongst the major property portals.

Grab it here (itunes link).

I’m looking forward to subsequent releases when the app should gain maping and location functionality, and I’d love to see what they can do with APM’s data

I was in the market for a home theatre system, and since I’ve started working in the online retail space I’ve been way more willing to shop online.  I wasn’t looking for a spectacular setup given that my hearing is not exactly the best in the world and whatever I buy will be subjected to kids until it dies.  I discovered a reasonably priced LG setup that has wireless rear speakers, for sale on Big Brown Box – which is in a way a competitor to the business I work for.  I thought I’d post my experiences here in the hope of digesting them myself and maybe gaining some insight into the pros and cons of buying high commitment goods online.

My initial purchase was about two weeks ago.  Everything went through really smoothly, and I received a follow-up call from Big Brown Box the next day to verify the purchase and to advise that the goods would ship with a courier company who would be in touch shortly to arrange a delivery date.  When the courier company called, they couldn’t advise a time and so I had to make sure someone was home for a whole day to receive the delivery. 

The delivery arrived late last Friday and I immediately jumped in and set up the system.  I soon discovered that the unit was defective and the DVD and CD player did not work. I immediately jumped online to log a support ticket on their website and was very disappointed to find that the unit I had just received broken was now on sale for less than I paid.  Grrrr…

I was too late to get in touch with anyone that day and so was resigned to waiting for Tuesday morning to see if I was stuck with a dud.  Quite the contrary.  Early Tuesday morning I was contacted by someone from Customer Care at Big Brown Box, to advise me that they had arranged for a replacement unit to be sent out and for the couriers to collect the faulty unit.  I organised a pickup today, and this time was smart enough to organise with the couriers to pick up and deliver to my office location.  I got home, set up the unit and it’s all working perfectly.  Sounds great, and there are no wires running across my floors.

My afterthoughts are that the main negative points against buying online are

• The most intimidating part of buying online is not meeting the person or people I am dealing with.  
• There is a total absence of connection with the supplier, which means that I was left feeling fear when the unit was defective.  The only thing that an online business can do to counter that fear is convince me that they have excellent customer care, and then to follow through swiftly and completely should the need arise.  Kudos to Big Brown Box, and to their customer care in particular for doing just that.
• The couriers who do the deliveries for online retailers generally cannot advise a delivery time, making the logistics around deliveries and work commitments frustrating
• Not actually getting to touch and see the goods I was buying made me nervous.  I placed a heavy reliance on people’s reviews online and did a fair amount of googling looking into the product before committing to buy.  A known brand name really helped sway me even on a mid-range setup.  I was happier to pay slightly more for a name I trusted would have a valid warrantee. 

At the end of all this the question that needs answering: Would I buy from Big Brown Box again? Undoubtedly. Would I buy a product like this blindly, online again?  Logically I should say no.  But knowing myself, I’d say probably