By Paul Lang, Editor, Sell It!
May 16th, 1998

See Also   Egghead.com   Shopirish.com   eToys   CDNow   Dell

Overall
Launched towards the end of 1997, the eToys store has quickly risen to become one of the best-loved stores on the Web, having recently been chosen as the #1 on line toy store in recent surveys from USA Today, Lycos and BizRate.

By and large this recognition is deserved.

The store is very well constructed and makes the selection and purchasing of goods incredibly straightforward. However, limited ordering, payment, and shipping options pull down its overall rating.

Construction
The eToys store home page loads exceptionally quickly despite having a fair number of graphic images on it. The site has an attractive, clean appearance and is thankfully completely frame-free. Most browsers that support tables should be able to successfully view the site, and there is no need for any plug-ins. There is no text-only version available.

Navigation is straightforward and consistent throughout the store. And shoppers will appreciate the clear, step-by-step process that makes placing orders extremely easy.

Products can be browsed by several categories, for example brands, development, age, category or award winners. There is also a full product search feature - ToySearch - that allows searching by any combination of age, price range, category and keyword.

Selling
There are some great selling devices used in the store. In fact if anything there are too many, which could confuse the customer.

For example, there are no fewer than six methods used to highlight products on the home page:

• Check Out What's New - contains details of new additions to the store.

• Category highlights - links to a specific product category, for example bath time toys.

• Picks of the Month - lists specially selected products.

• Dr Toys terrific Tips - lists even more selected products.

• 20 under $20 - details twenty items retailing for less than $20.

• Gift suggestor - suggests gifts based on age range input.

In acknowledgement of the fact that a huge proportion of toys are given as gifts, eToys have included a first rate gift service. This includes gift wrapping and labelling, and printing of a personalised card.

Order processing
As with many of the Web stores we have reviewed, eToys disappoints in this category.

The order processing system is fairly limited. Orders can only be placed through an on-line form, which is secured via SSL. Payment can only be made with either Visa or MasterCard. And orders can only be shipped to the United States, US Territories served by the US Postal Service, and to APO/FPO addresses.

There is also no ability to track orders, although customers opting to pay extra for UPS 2 day or 3 day shipment will be able to track their orders via the UPS Web site.

eToys have some plans to improve their service this year. Payment options will be increased with the ability to use American Express and Discover cards. And shipping to international destinations will also be supported. However, even with these improvements the eToys site will still fall well below best-in-class.

Support
The pre-sales and post-sales support offered is good, albeit limited.

There is no section dedicated to first time visitors, but a "Help Desk" link leads to a page that should answer most common questions. Further help pages are dotted throughout the site dealing with specific topics such as shipping information and security.

Beyond these help files, customer support is available via e-mail only. However, the e-mail support request function is implemented particularly well.

In general, support is requested by bringing up a "Contact Us" page and clicking on a link that describes the type of support that is needed. This enables customers to quickly construct a query whilst allowing eToys the ability to filter the request through to the correct destination.

Support can also be requested by clicking on a help icon that is placed at strategic points within the store. Clicking on one of these icons runs a CGI program that generates a form and automatically captures details of which part of the site the customer requested help from. This information is relayed to eToys along with the customer query to help them quickly resolve the problem.

Product selection is aided through a quality photograph and short description for every item. However, no further product detail is available beyond this.

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