By Patrick Avenell
Online retail aggregator Zanui.com.au has responded to criticism from Winning Appliances and Appliances Online CEO John Winning, saying its business delivers the best customer service available in the industry.
In an opinion column published on Current.com.au earlier this week, Winning revealed he would not conduct business with Zanui.com.au, nor similar companies, because he refused to surrender the customer service component of his business to a third party.
“We’ve been approached by several marketplace sites looking to partner with us,” Winning said. “One that stands out is Zanui.com.au – an aggregator of products and suppliers with one key difference to other affiliates: they own the pre- and post-sale communications, the checkout/transaction process and the delivery of products. This means that we, as a merchant, would have little or no interaction with the customer.
“We’ve seen many start-ups like this before: they move heavily into the market and sell to merchants on the premise that if they don’t take up a property on their marketplace as a supplier, their competitors will.”
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In response to this, Zanui.com.au co-founder and managing director Stefan Braun issued the following statement.
“Customer service is of utmost importance to us at Zanui,” the statement said. “We deal with many fantastic partners, and we take most pride in securing consistent best in class quality customer service.
“We take pride in combining the top products available, price guarantee and best in class customer service.”
Zanui.com.au declined the offer of a full interview to respond to Winning’s claims, and to explain how the business worked. Current.com.au understands that Zanui.com.au works with established retailers to clear stock at reduced prices.
One leading supplier we spoke to yesterday said it was unaware that its appliances were being sold through this site, nor which accredited dealer was making the stock available.
