Sales negativity- the real issue?

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smegwina
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Re: Sales negativity- the real issue?

Post by smegwina »

Ignoring all the emotion and frustrations over whether people got/didn't get what they wanted, to me, there is a bigger issue here.

The website is CWs window to the world, the first impression of the company that people have, and is indicative of the internal standards/professionalism levels of the Company itself.

Website design/storefront and stock management is not difficult to create and manage and to have it collapse time after time shows a lack of internal management, control and standards, which leads me to then question their grip on other factors relating to the watches themselves, such as quality control etc etc.

To me, it is a bit like checking the toilets in a restaurant..... If they take the care to get the toilets right, chances are the kitchen will be good too! (Not always the case but a good indicator)

Basically, as a new customer looking at the inoperative website with an out of date holding page, I would have to ask myself......... if CW cannot get the simple things right, can I trust that they will get the more complex processes correct?

Granted, I may be overthinking this! :)

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Re: Sales negativity- the real issue?

Post by albionphoto »

gatehealing wrote: Wed Dec 19, 2018 7:01 am
So, yes, I agree with the aggravation of those that have missed out. They are entitled to their anger, and are entitled to vote with their wallets by purchasing other brands. I will still buy the occasional CW watch, but I’m no longer shocked when the site glitches during sales and I no longer bother trying to get the purchase to work more than once... I just move on and go buy a new guitar or amp!

J
So I'm partially quoting and I wasn't that interested in the recent prototype sale. However, I do agree that a company who's primary sales tool is the internet really shouldn't have recurring issues at sales time. Just as this quote says I just move on and buy a new guitar or amp what's to stop any of us seeing a wonky website and going on to buy another watch from another brand?
I'm sure CW are aware of this too and that this thread has been read with some discomfort at CW towers but we do run the risk of becoming the "boy who cried wolf" all the angst... dear me, get a life!
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Re: Sales negativity- the real issue?

Post by Thermexman »

I wasn’t bemoaning the situation, just bemoaning the moaners!
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Re: Sales negativity- the real issue?

Post by albionphoto »

Thermexman wrote: Wed Dec 19, 2018 3:37 pm I wasn’t bemoaning the situation, just bemoaning the moaners!
Indeed.
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Re: Sales negativity- the real issue?

Post by mvlow »

I may be wrong, but I have never seen any significant issues with CW's website on regular non sales days. I have purchased several watches from them over the past year and have never had an issue. The issues obviously seem to happen when the system is overloaded during special events and sales. For perspective, this does happen to other established internet sales platforms during high volume sales.
Screen Shot 2018-12-19 at 8.29.54 AM.png
I don't see why customers who can purchase from the CW website most days of the year with a significant discount due to their coupon codes, get so upset when they have a problem accessing their website on a special sale day when they sell off old stock, nearly new, and prototype models. It is one thing to get a little frustrated that you didn't get an extra special deal, and another to proclaim you are done with CW because of your frustration. If you can get a great watch, at a great price, with a significant coupon discount for 300 days of the year, why would you stop purchasing from them because their servers crash on a few special sales days.

As far as I know, there are not a lot of other watch companies that sell their prototypes, and nearly new marketing models to the public (I can't think of any.). CW could easily stop this practice and continue with coupon codes every few weeks and keep everyone happy that way. Can you imagine what would happen to the servers on sites like Watchbuys if they said they were going o be selling Sinn prototypes at a discount, or Omega if they advertised they were having a big sale and would be selling prototypes and nearly new watches, with full warranties.

I am not trying to minimize the frustration at not being able to get that special deal that we have hoped for. I just think we need to keep things in perspective. CW are offering access to watches (prototypes) that most other watch companies would not do, and are being slammed because their servers can't handle the additional traffic. Yes they should work towards fixing their website problems, but IMHO you don't throw out the baby with the bath water by refusing to buy from them ever again.
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Re: Sales negativity- the real issue?

Post by TheBeatles »

I think some of the comments about keeping things in perspective and throwing the baby out with the bath water etc are totally missing the point.

These posters seem to feel that everyone who mentions the problems are tearing their hair out because they missed out on a bargain.

Not so, I wasn’t interested in buying but may have been tempted if the right watch was available. However, the same old problems arose AGAIN. Which is the point most were making.

And mentioning Amazon problems is a little disingenuous, how many times does that site really go down? Who have millions of customer, not thousands. Unlike CW, which unfortunately seems to happen every time they have some sort of sale. Archive or otherwise.

Plus, not sure anyone mentioned never buying ever again. Just thinking about other options.
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Re: Sales negativity- the real issue?

Post by mvlow »

TheBeatles wrote: Wed Dec 19, 2018 6:38 pm I think some of the comments about keeping things in perspective and throwing the baby out with the bath water etc are totally missing the point.

These posters seem to feel that everyone who mentions the problems are tearing their hair out because they missed out on a bargain.

Not so, I wasn’t interested in buying but may have been tempted if the right watch was available. However, the same old problems arose AGAIN. Which is the point most were making.

And mentioning Amazon problems is a little disingenuous, how many times does that site really go down? Who have millions of customer, not thousands. Unlike CW, which unfortunately seems to happen every time they have some sort of sale. Archive or otherwise.

Plus, not sure anyone mentioned never buying ever again. Just thinking about other options.
The comments might be totally missing your point, but not necessarily missing a point, as we all have our own perspective. Amazon has many more customers than CW, but is also backed up by billions of dollars in sales as opposed to CW's small amount of revenue in comparision. The point is that even a huge company like Amazon can crash during a sale, despite investing a boat load of money in IT infrastructure. Some people have commented that they are done with CW and moving on. These may not be the exact quotes if you are being picky, but close enough. I don't have time to search through all the old posts to give an exact quote.

If you do a search for releases of Special Edition Omega watches, you will see many complaints from people waiting anxiously on their computer to purchase one on the day of release, only to find the website slows way down or locks up. By the time they finally get on the site, all the pre-orders for the new release are taken. Different circumstance, similar problem of server being overwhelmed. There's nothing wrong with getting a little frustrated in either circumstance, but get so upset with the company because of this issue, you don't want to buy any of their watches is a little excessive IMHO. Obviously not everyones opinion, just mine.
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Re: Sales negativity- the real issue?

Post by monkeymax »

mvlow wrote: Wed Dec 19, 2018 5:50 pm As far as I know, there are not a lot of other watch companies that sell their prototypes, and nearly new marketing models to the public (I can't think of any.). CW could easily stop this practice and continue with coupon codes every few weeks and keep everyone happy that way. Can you imagine what would happen to the servers on sites like Watchbuys if they said they were going o be selling Sinn prototypes at a discount, or Omega if they advertised they were having a big sale and would be selling prototypes and nearly new watches, with full warranties.
I think this is the thing. I actually wanted one of the C8 Flyers (with the Farnborough Wind tunnel fan on the back) but haven't yet bought one as, now I can actually justify/afford it, the spec I wanted isn't available anymore. Although the site was really slow, I managed to get one of the prototype watches in my basket - and it was the exact spec that I've wanted of that watch (auto, steel case) and then the site crashed and I couldn't get back on. I know my one sale probably means very little to CW in the grand scheme of things (and, frankly, I'm only partially annoyed by 'missing out' as that money went elsewhere instead) but if I get frustrated and give up after a couple of tries - as someone who lurks on here daily and has owned a CW since 2010 - then I wonder how many new customers give up forever after just one try.

You really can't compare this to Amazon. More to the point, CW should surely know their approximate visitor numbers at sale, busy and quiet times and be able to accommodate the number of users as required. I think the negativity from some of us stems from knowing that keeping up with website access demand isn't actually that hard for someone who knows what they're doing.
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Re: Sales negativity- the real issue?

Post by FloridaPhil »

CW uses Cogeco Peer 1 to host their website(s). Based on these few reviews it looks like they might need to reconsider. Seriously, apologists can make all the excuses they want for them and tell us that it's not really that important in the big scheme of things, but internet retailers do need decent internet systems. It is that simple.

https://hostadvice.com/hosting-company/ ... 1-reviews/
"We switched to AWS for a fraction of the cost, less server latency, better support, no contract and newer processing units (that get updated all the time)".

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Re: Sales negativity- the real issue?

Post by Bahnstormer_vRS »


FloridaPhil wrote:CW uses Cogeco Peer 1 to host their website(s). Based on these few reviews it looks like they might need to reconsider. ......
How do you know that Phil.

I'm intrigued to know.

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Re: Sales negativity- the real issue?

Post by FloridaPhil »

I could tell you Guy but then.... LOL

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Re: Sales negativity- the real issue?

Post by Bahnstormer_vRS »

FloridaPhil wrote:I could tell you Guy but then.... LOL

Former life old boy...
Sorry Phil, I appreciate you are trying to be lighthearted about it BUT you have made a strong factual statement which, I feel, ought to be substantiated.

Besides, I've read some of the reviews in the link you posted and they all seem to be US or Canada based.

CW is a UK company. How do they fit in?

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Re: Sales negativity- the real issue?

Post by FloridaPhil »

Hosting is global Guy. Given enough bandwidth it really doesn't matter where the server is located although Peer 1 has co-located sites throughout the world.

The easiest way to show you though (oh ye of little faith) is through a quick Google search (easier than how I did it)
https://website.informer.com/christopherward.co.uk
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Re: Sales negativity- the real issue?

Post by StrapMeister »

Great bit of detective work Phil :thumbup:

So, based on that, I don't see any changes being made before 9th March next year.
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Re: Sales negativity- the real issue?

Post by Bahnstormer_vRS »

FloridaPhil wrote:Hosting is global Guy. Given enough bandwidth it really doesn't matter where the server is located although Peer 1 has co-located sites throughout the world.

The easiest way to show you though (oh ye of little faith) is through a quick Google search (easier than how I did it)
https://website.informer.com/christopherward.co.uk
Thanks for the clarification Phil.

Much appreciated.

Since I retired from Estate Agency, where I did the basic in house IT, but then I had an external IT Support Company, my interest and activity has moved in other directions; plus that was >5 years ago.

I'm therefore not as knowledgeable as I was.

Guy

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