The ups and downs of e-shopping

By Devi M. Asmarani

JAKARTA (JP): For a long time, I was one of those purists who thought shopping on the Internet was a redundant concept welcomed only by technology freaks, people with excessively low self- esteem or the unabomber.

That was beside the fact that I have owned an email account and regularly chatted on the Internet since the teenage days of the www, or the world-wide-wait as it was reputed then, when having a modem was a mere luxury and not a necessity.

But early last year, I took a leisurely "tour" on the Internet and came upon the giant and legendary Amazon.com. After keying in the field I took interest in I was proposed with several really interesting books.

I read the books' descriptions and the readers' reviews and suddenly it became clear to me: with Amazon here, there was no need to visit a Barnes and Noble (which are not anywhere in this country) or any other book superstore to buy these books.

Without realizing, I had succumbed to the expanding web of e- commerce, the world I used to sneer at with cynicism.

Before, giving a credit card number to a computer-generated cashier over the Internet seemed as foolish as flashing the Rp 50,000 bills in your wallet in the thick of Tanah Abang market. Now the act seemed inevitable to me, like having to switch from a VCR to Laser Disc, then to VCD, then, if you can afford it, a DVD.

The temptation was hard to resist, and I typed in my credit card number. One of the two books I requested was out of print. Amazon said it would email me if it came upon a copy of the book, new or used.

All the necessary ordering procedures done, I closed the session and from then on constantly wondered whether the book would actually get into my hands some time before the century ends, or whether it would be lost in the abyss of Indonesia's mailing service.

What a nice surprise when over a week later I found a package bearing Amazon.com on my desk. In addition to the book, there was a bookmark and a post-it note.

This is a success story, though not nearly as successful as Jeff Bezo's, the billionaire behind the largest online store.

Since then Amazon has become an integral part of my life, although I still limit my online shopping to books and other non- apparel products. Until seven months later.

In anticipation of an outdoor trip, I came to the conclusion that the majority of people in Jakarta are nature-shy. An outdoor store selling rugged and reasonably priced products is hard to come by. Finding a good pair of hiking boots in a woman's size is an even harder task than finding durians during the off-season.

So one day, with my trip companion, I decided to window shop the net. Amazon had recently notified me about a book I ordered over half a year before. This time, my morale and my faith in e- commerce was up.

OK, why not, let's go radical and shop for clothing over the Internet.

First we need a good hiking pack, so we visited www.mountainsmith.com. There were all these wonderful things, but one thing was wrong: Mountainsmith does not take online orders. Instead, it links visitors to etailers, two of which are www.altrec.com and www.rei.com.

Both Altrec and Rei are actually brick-and-mortar retailers of outdoor goods. We found the two stores similar. They provide the basic needs for e-shoppers: pictures (including enlarged versions) and descriptions. Nothing fancy, no rotating viewing, no zooming, no try-on mannequins, just basic information.

We bagged our stuff at Altrec and proceeded to the check-out counter. But we encountered a problem when we were typing in the shipping address: Indonesia was not on the list of countries they deliver to.

What was happening here? I thought now that the East Timor havoc was over, there would be no such thing as an embargo. Luckily, the live online help was on (8 am to 6 pm PST). His name was Mark. Mark and I exchanged a few words using instant message technology. He told me that I would have to get my purchases delivered to an address in one of the countries listed.

I picked Singapore, where a friend resides. In three days she called to let me know that a huge UPS package had arrived at her front door. "Super Technology savvy!" she praised.

But Altrec did not have some of the items we wanted. I tried Rei, which seemed to have a better selection. Rei seemed a pleasant store at the time at least, (except it did not accept Amex, my friend complained) and because Indonesia was among the countries it says it delivers to.

So we made the purchase, and began the waiting period. One week, then two weeks went by. I got impatient and emailed them. No answer. Finally I resorted to the 1-800 numbers, which it turned out, were not toll-free outside the United States. The operator said my credit card did not go through but offered to place another order with a different card.

I delivered a lengthy lecture to the phone operator about how important it is for them to let the customers know if an order goes through or not so that they can immediately use another card.

One week, two weeks. No package, not a byte of electronic information. Finally, I dialed the number again, and went through the same speech of how unprofessional it is to leave an anxious e-customer in cold about his or her order.

After a while, I was transferred to an international customer relations operator, who told me that Rei actually no longer delivers to Indonesia.

"That can't be," I said. "Your website says it can."

"Yes ma'am, but apparently we no longer can because most of our packages to Indonesia either get lost or are imposed with such high duties that customers reject them," she said.

So I learned one bitter lesson in e-shopping: delivery systems are as important as the payment system, sometimes more. Indonesia is neither Kosovo nor Myanmar, but apparently our shipping infrastructure and our taxing system was too much for some etailers to handle.

After this experience -- I ended up going to a Nike's (brick and mortar) store for hiking shoes -- I gathered up several main points about shopping at e-stores:

1. Not all etailers are created the same. Like anything in the world, they have their own pluses and minuses: large selection but they deliver only in the United States, sophisticated technology but not user-friendly (street clothing etailer missboo.com has a "dressing room" complete with mannequin and 360-degree rotating view, but it is very slow. Plus it does not deliver to Indonesia).

2. You have to have a credit card, and the right one too. If e- commerce is the way the future of the world is going, then I'm afraid there will be little room for people with bad credit.

3. Electronic communication is not the final means. That is what those 1-800 numbers are for. And remember, they are not toll-free from here.

4. And, of course, if all this is still a bit iffy to you, you can always resort to mail ordering or plain old get the cash at the ATM and head to the mall.