Cyber Monday -- today's marketing gimmick to get people to buy holiday gifts online in the wake of last week's Black Friday -- is expected to generate $4.8 billion worth of e-commerce. According to the New York Times, Doug Hart, a BDO Seidman analyst expects today's Cyber Monday sales to account for 12% of the $39 billion in online revenue this holiday season -- almost as much as the 15% share of holiday sales recorded by bricks and mortar retailers this Black Friday.
Cyber Monday often features online discounts. For example, in 2006 Ice.com, an online jeweler, offered a 20% discount on 15 items on Cyber Monday. RalphLauren.com, a unit of Polo Ralph Lauren Corp. (NYSE: RL) recently had a pre-Thanksgiving 40% off sale which ended November 19th. I received a $200 gift card for my birthday and when I tried to use it after learning from the gift giver of the sale that morning, RalphLauren.com could not verify its value. When I called its customer service line, RalphLauren.com told me that the gift card was worthless.
I notified the gift giver who called RalphLauren.com whose customer service person, Marlon, called me and told me he would take care of the problem that day and get back to me so I could use the card to take advantage of the 40% off sale. Marlon did not call me back, so late that afternoon I called in to customer service -- mentioning Marlon's name (she did not know who Marlon was) -- and was told that I should ask the gift giver to return to wherever he got the card and try again.
I asked this customer service person if I could get a rain check for the sale which ended that day; she told me that no rain check was available but that RalphLauren.com would be happy to offer me free shipping. I called the gift giver and suggested he cancel the gift card which he paid for with his credit card. Two days later I got a voice mail from Marlon checking to see whether everything was alright. Cleverly, he did not leave any telephone number I could use to reach him.
I was left wondering whether the person who sold the gift card swiped the $200. I also learned an important lesson about RalphLauren.com which I hope does not apply to you -- if a retailer does not care about customer service, buying online will be even more frustrating than buying from a store.
Do you have any Cyber Monday shopping horror stories? Have you had similar problems with RalphLauren.com? If so, please comment below.
Update: Barb Ewing, Ralph Lauren's Director of Customer Contact, called me a few weeks after this incident. She offered to make good on the gift card and the 40% off sale. I was delighted by her response and hope that others will get such good service the first time.
Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in Polo Ralph Lauren securities.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-26-2007 @ 1:07PM
alanj878 said...
I never know of a cyber Monday I only was aware of a Black Friday. Sometimes I think the analyst guys are wrong sometimes because you have to factor in drop shipping and under table buys . The number 10 billion would sound better. I hope Marlon can make it up to you.
Thanks,
Allen Johnson