Nevermind that internet here is slow, downtime prone and expensive! According to this study, Australia is a world beater.

“Consider the ways in which the ICT being measured (e.g., Internet usage) affects economic activity: eg. is this Internet usage mainly resulting in increased consumer convenience or increased business or government productivity? (likely to be both)” The first half of the example seems to allude to the customer experience when shopping online. How could a country like Korea where you can do and buy everything (literally everything) on the internet be behind Australia in rankings?

My most recent online shopping experience involved buying a fridge, and this is how it went:

1. Trawled through Google and found a fridge at a “good price”, from a distributor nearby. Note that this distributor “specialises” in online sales.
2. Placed order
3. Received a call informing me that prices had gone up as of  “last week”
4. Bargained the price down but it still cost me $200 more than I expected (Went through with the order because it was still comparatively good value)
5. Received email from customer rep with pro forma invoice (in .rtf format)
6. Paid by bank deposit (the time it takes for an internet bank transfer to take place is another related gripe)
7. Wasn’t contacted by customer rep so I emailed to check if fridge was ready for delivery. Was informed they were still waiting to receive it.
8. Went through a few more rounds of emailing her to check. This probably counts for an additional 3 steps.
9. Was promised an email when the fridge was ready for delivery but it didn’t arrive. Eventually got a phone call in the morning informing me to expect delivery later that day.
10. Received fridge (no installation) almost 2 weeks after placing order in the middle of the afternoon on a working day.

Now, let me briefly describe what I went through buying both a vacuum cleaner and rice cooker in Korea:

1. Searched Interpark (Korean Amazon). Compared seller’s prices and features on the website. Availability was also displayed.
2. Placed an order.
3. Paid by credit card.
4. Received automated confirmation email.
5. Checked delivery status.
6. Items delivered next evening.

On reflection, it would have saved me a lot of trouble and anxiety if I went and bought the fridge from one of my local electronics stores.

Granted that customer service expectations (with delivery in particular) are very different in Korea, the experience of buying online has shown that companies here still thrive on antiquated systems. Stock levels were not updated automatically, neither were delivery details or customer invoicing. It would seem that if this is a satisfactory online shopping experience here, then how is it that Korea falls behind Australia?

I could name a number of other things that makes that study look rather sus, but I will not because I have to go to the shops to buy a birthday present. Something I would really prefer doing indoors on a hot day like today.

Engadget
Ars Technica
NYT Tech Blog