By Aimee Chanthadavong
Since launching in the second half of last year, StartHere.com.au has seen a flourish of online shoppers take advantage of cashback offers when they shop with the business’ 1,200 online retail partners, including The Iconic, ASOS, Dan Murphys, Westfield Online and Apple.
With member numbers tipping beyond the 100,000 point, Simon Szewach, StartHere.com.au CEO, told RetailBiz, while the site is driving customers to shop on price, consumers are in fact being won over by good customer service.
“People want service. It’s not just about price anymore and that’s what StartHere is recognising. Customer service includes the ability to provide a refund, an easy avenue for where they can swap and exchange their items, and to have easy contact with the company,” he said.
“We find the bigger brands like Dan Murphy and Apple who only offer one or two per cent cashback but customers are still driven to purchase with them because of their good customer service.”
Another telling example Szewach said is The Iconic that sits with a 4.9 out of 5 star rating for its customer service.
“I’m amazed and thrilled we get people going onto our site and writing these reviews and people are actually going onto our site to read these reviews first before they look at the product. So this is why we see service and feedback as very important. People get this high level of comfort when they know what they’re buying and what they’re getting,” he said.
But aside from a handful of domestic online retailers, Szewach said international retailers like ASOS, Strawberrynet and BooHoo continue to trump the market.
“Domestic retailers need to really streamline their operations and provide a good and functional process. And given the range of retailers that’s out there, it’s so easy to now buy overseas. If we really look at our transactions at StartHere the international retailers are killing the domestics.”