wstore.co.uk

I visited Wstore.co.uk by coincidence, due to a major hickup with dabs.com (see my previous review on this). The way I found this store was through a link on the website of the original equipment manufacturer (Belkin).

The store sells hardware, software, networking gear and IT supplies and is fully geared towards the (professional) IT buyer. Although the store is mainly geared towards business users, indvidual (home) buyers are welcome to buy as well and seem to get the same high standard service.

The layout of the website is very simple. The homepage shows links to the main 4 categories (software, hardware, networking and supplies) and some current offers across categories.

They offer over 44,000 items and this means a proper search function is imperative. I found the search function quite difficult as it is not very easy to find exactly the product you need without going thorugh some cumbersome iterations. I suggest that they include an advanced search function, where you can narrow down your search using various (sub) criteria. I must admit that I am just a personal home buyer and I assume that IT professionals and procurement departments would find it easier to find items as they probably know exactly what they want.

When you find the item you want, the system gives you a detailed description of the item, current stock levels and pricing. I found the prices very good. The item I bought was around £37 whereas the same item was listed on the amazon.co.uk site for £112!!. Although this seems amazing I would not read too much into it as this is often the case with electronic items (some items are actually more expensive on the wstore.co.uk site) and it therefore always pays off to visit many websites before actually buying the item.

The website offers many ways for professional buyers to customise their account (i.e. opening a credit account, personalised pricing, full ecommerce B2B facilities, etc). I have obviously not tested these functions as I am a private buyer, but I sincerely hope that a professional buyer would take the time to write a review on this at a later stage.

As for myself, registering and ordering was very simple. I clicked on the shopping cart next to the item I wanted and the site confirmed that the item was put in my basket and asked me to either continue shopping or view the 'caddy'. After going to the caddy, you click the order button and the site routes you through a very easy registration and payment process. If you are a return custome you simply enter your name and password and check out. Shipping and handling costs are reasonable and in line with other webstores.

What impressed me most though was the delivery time. I ordered at 4.30 pm on the 15th and although the site gave me a delivery indication of the 17th (as I had ordered after 4pm, the cutoff time for next day delivery), the items arrived on the 16th before 8am!!!. Just incredible and the main reason that the site receives 5 stars.

The items were delivered well wrapped in an outer cardboard box.

Although the site was not that user friendly for me, although you will probably get used to it if you are a repeat buyer, at the end what counts is that you get the item you want at a good price and as fast as possible. This is exactly what I got!!

Definitely worth a vist!