Web guide leads consumers to retailers
Online resellers Dabs Direct Online, Jungle.com and Simply Computers have all scored top marks in Computeractive's guide into the best places to buy computers online.
Online resellers Dabs Direct Online, Jungle.com and Simply Computers have all scored top marks in Computeractive's guide into the best places to buy computers online.
The consumer magazine, as part of its newly-published Spring 2000 Web Guide, also placed Apple and Dell's vendor sites above strong competition from 21Store, Dixons and Microwarehouse, which received four out of five stars for the services they provide.
Applestore, Apple's online retailer, got top marks for allowing customisation of Macs and for the amount of information listed on the site, while Dabs Direct received five stars for its "nicely designed pages" and for displaying pictures of products on offer.
Dell, among the best-known online shops in the world, was praised for allowing customers to build PCs to their own specifications and for automatically updating the price of the product as more items are added. Dell's refurbished outlet site for second-hand bargains also rated a mention.
Computeractive's review said: "Special offers and discounts are plentiful and you even rack up loyalty points every time you buy a product from the site."
It was also impressed with Jungle's "friendly" site and said Simply Computers had a good reputation as a discount mail-order company. It scored highly because of its competitive prices and selection of products.
- Jungle.com has promised to cut the price of boxed products by up to 40 per cent, following a deal with online software reseller Buyonet.
The online retailer said Buyonet will host Jungle's download store, which will allow customers to download software from the site, cutting out packaging.
Steve Bennett, chief executive of Jungle.com, said the download store was proving popular and he expected an increasing number of customers to download software directly as bandwidth improves and lower internet call charges are introduced.
Freddy Tengberg, chief executive of Buyonet, said: "We have established a strong relationship with Jungle.com and through the alliance have harnessed the power of the internet to offer an excellent range of products and first-rate customer service."