Europa International Trading insight into an eBay Power Seller

History

I recently had a chance to deal - I bought a Voto V7 motorbike from them - with Europa International Trading est 1999 (will be referred to as Europa) and they appear to be a great organisation. They are very enthusiastic about their new product Voto V7 (125 cc) - Chinese made import. Europa uses eBay as its exclusive sales channel as well as advertises on the AutoTrader.co.uk.

Companies that sell 125cc imports, tend to have a bad image regardless of the facts - Europa has a 98% satisfaction rating according to eBay. So I am confident they are operating an effective operation not a sinking ship.

However, I did find some problems early on: phone calls that wouldn’t even get picked up, poor communication between staff, and unpublished hours of operation. Nothing major but a pain nonetheless and sadly easy to fix. That is what this post is about; simple issues like this that are common and expensive on businesses when managed incorrectly. Now there could be some reasons why these issues occurred and I will air them now in fairness to Europa. Most bike owners make their purchases at this time of year, especially new bike owners like myself. Also this is a new additional product type for Europa - replica Honda CBRs - and they are proving more popular than anticipated.

Let me be clear this article isn’t an attack on Europa, I am merely using this experience to discuss issues that most companies like Europa have, that technology can solve. They are my example, but they have done nothing wrong and should not be held up as an example of what not to do. That in mind, I will continue with my brief analysis.

Web site:

Pros:

• Comprehensive information on their products.
• Email and phone number contact details.

Cons:

• Basic contact information should really be easily found on a dedicated page with all their company sites and contact options
• No FAQ, or any other form of public communication method
• No VAT number to confirm the company exists, this is a legal requirement I believe.
• Their SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is non-existent so they are hard to find if you search for them ex. a friend asked to see the bike and I had to send a direct link to the bike I won because neither he or I could find their web site on the Internet through search
• They don’t link to eBay on their site, which would probably help them generate more sales.
• You need customer quotes e.g. “I bought a moped 25cc form John-Paul and he really helped me understand my choices” Regards David Mathewster, from New Hill.
• No membership to any organisations e.g. Trust UK, Which?, etc. Is this because you are not a member?
• I understand they have a showroom - where?
• Is there a form I can fill out to ask questions?
• and more

Now this isn’t a Europa only area of weakness, this is common to many small organisations, especially those that use eBay to generate sales. Being an eBay focused is both a bonus and a negative. Bonus is quick sales, negative is perception of companies is poor. That means as an eBay ‘Power Seller’ you need to make more of an effort to pursue good public perception not less.

The interesting thing about problems like 1. and 2. is that they are most often connected.

Here are a few things that if implemented correctly could help improve Europa’s customer service and alleviate demand on their staff allowing for them to focus on higher level issues that require personal attention.

1. Build a FAQ section
2. Develop a contact form with a drop down menu for common questions - this allows your customer service people to run filters on the email clients and therefore receive relevant and timely information
3. More information on where, who, how the company operates. Warehouses, front offices, pictures of staff, vacancies page (not surprisingly people are skeptical if you don’t have a section for vacancies because all companies hire unless they are losing money or fraudulent).
4. Online Knowledge Database (£150/yr): Potential clients with more complex or uncommon questions than what is covered by your FAQ can search quickly and simply for their answers. This actually has a secondary knock-on effect because new staff can be ‘on-boarded’ more smoothly as they can also use this knowledge base to answer clients questions, this gives a more professional image.
5. Call log system (£100/yr approx): Keep track of all those call in one central database that allows your sales staff to access anywhere ex. John is away on holidays and a customer calls and no one knows the context of their conversations. This is a common problem with all organisations especially big ones.
6. Online voice or text chat: This technology is not new but in terms of its penetration in the business market it is just now beginning to take off. More lines, more callers, lower costs. AOL pushes chat support because of their ability to hand significantly higher question volumes.
7. Blogging: One of the most popular and highly recognised social media platforms of Web 2.0. This platform can be used to communicated in a variety of ways both simple and complex to help keep customers involved, engaged, and most of all informed. Informed customers tend to be more patient and long lasting customers. E.g. This website - techwinter.com - uses blog technology from WordPress.org

Sadly in small organisations there are rarely enough web aware staff to implement and realise these benefits.

Europa’s eBay Member Profile

Lastly I would like to say that my experience of Europa has been positive and that I hope they continue to grow and develop as an organisation and continue to bring new and great products to the UK.

Good luck Team Europa.