Online Banking
Barclays online banking enables customers the freedom to bank when they want, whether it be at home or in the day or night. People who use Barclays can pay their bills, check statements and open an exclusive, online-only e-savings account.
Also with Barclays Online banking you can check account balances ad transactions have been made from a choice of dates, you can just show basic details or very detailed transactions, you can set up a standing order, change payments and transfers and change contact details. Barclays have a great online banking as it is established and has a growing reputation. People who have begun to sue the online banking option have found that they are in better control of their finances and are able to keep track of all payments that have been made and al future payments that will be made.
There are plenty of advantages when people use online banking such as customers now hardly have to go into the bank for anything other than paying cheques, as people can now access all their accounts, pay direct debits, all this with the click of a button at the comfort of their own home. The banking is also very reliable and makes people’s lives a lot easier. Other benefits are the fact that it is easy to set-up, easy to use; the simplicity of online banking has made it this easy for their customers. The security levels are also impressive as account details cannot be passed on. Security is always a main concern on the Internet and many people are put off by worries of unauthorised access but in this case it has been dealt with, using different protection methods to ensure complete peace of mind.
One of the main advantages of online banking is the ability to set up relatively high interest e-savings accounts. You can also check your cleared balance, which helps you when you are going to write a cheque especially for a large amount. With the online service you also get to check out the latest in Barclay’s loans and mortgages more to the point which is good if you have a mortgage or loan with Barclays Bank. You can also set up a list of people who you wish to pay. Money can be sent direct to them either immediately or a given date. This would help a great deal, especially if someone is going away and is worried about missing their Visa card payments.
There are minimal drawbacks associated with online banking at Barclays because of its excellent online banking. There have been various people who use the online banking system but claim it was so slow it had become unusable. Also the reason that if you click twice to try and speed things up, you will be logged off for security risk reasons. Another disadvantage is that customers cannot setup a new payee online, as this is apparently also a security risk, so instead you will have to use telephone. Other disadvantages are users are not able to transfer more than £1000 pound in a day moreover limited statements are available.
People should be able to transfer cash from their Visa onto their current account.
Online Shopping
Amazon is a very similar company to eBay. It is where users are able to buy products, below are advantages and disadvantages.
Benefits
There are many benefits for shopping online at Amazon:
- Shopping online at Amazon means cheaper rates compared to being at stores, for example an Ipod which you can buy at any electronic store compared to buying online leaving the difference of £30 meaning it is cheaper to buy online.
- You have a variety of things to choose from meaning different versions or advanced versions that you cannot buy from stores.
- Amazon have products from different parts of the world not just the United Kingdom, so that we can get an overlook in what other countries have rather than just one particular country. Simply because some countries get electrical or clothing good before others depending on where they are made. For example electrical item made in Japan means it will be released in Japan before anywhere else globally.
- It can simply be done at home without moving yourself to go out an do the shopping, all the purchaser has to do is wait for the delivery to be at the door in a certain number of working days
- If the person was able to go to a store and purchase something you might be short on capital, whereas if you where to shop online it is either you can buy it or you cant because the purchasers credit card wont have enough cash in.
- Shopping on Amazon will help you to decide whether to buy the product or not because of its ratings that are given from people who already own the product itself. Not only a rating is given sometimes if people are bothered they will give review to give a better idea of what you are buying and if it is worth the deal or not.
- Shopping at Amazon means that you can order anything at anytime meaning 24/7 it is open for people to shop freely with no interruptions.
- At Amazon not only you can purchase products, you can pre order them meaning that if something is yet to come out you can order it before and be the first to use it when the release date is given. For example an iPod is yet to be released and people might be lining up outside in stores in the early morning just to get their hands on one, but there is no need for that if you have already pre ordered it. The iPod will be delivered at your doorstep on the same day it has been released.
- You don’t need to bid for the product whereas on e-Bay you have keep biding which means you have to wait a long time until you beat the other person bidding against you, which literally can go on for a fairly long time and is very disorderly. On Amazon it is straightforward because the company buys the products an sells them in batches so we people don’t need to bid for them. Once you have paid for the item it is all yours.
Drawbacks
There are also drawbacks to Amazon:
- The first main drawback has to be fraud. This happens on any online shopping website you use simply because all details are given to Amazon and it’s really whether you can trust the company or not. It won’t be only Amazon you have to trust it can also be dependant on whether people are trying to hack your computer and looking through your files and details.
- Shopping on Amazon might leave you buying something you wanted but when it comes to your doorstep it might not be the right item that you ordered. This can happen anytime when you shop online because things can get mixed up before they are delivered.
- The buyer might be paying a high price compared to e-Bay but doesn’t know that because he or she hasn’t compared the price to other online shops, which can be a good idea.
- Delivery can be an issue, simply because the company might have not delevired to the right address or the product has not been packaged and takes a very long time to receive and makes you waiting for days. For example if you go to a store you get the product there and then and also at the store you can check if everything is working correctly, whereas buying online you cannot you have to be patient and wait instead of just buying within a day.
Fitness of Purpose
In my opinion the company has achieved its goal without a doubt. This is because all Amazon before was a online book store just selling one item or service, now the company has grown immaculately selling literally everything from books to electrical items and many more household needs. Also Amazon still might need to grow and achieve in other places for example to start selling clothes and trainers which could be very worthy but there is also a lot of competition on the market. Without setting the companies sights high they wont be achieving any goal but Amazon have done the total opposite of that.
The company provides for all ages so there cant be any complaints about that, everything you need Amazon will have also it is very safe compared to e-Bay which in my opinion is a very untrustworthy site. This is simply because people that use e-Bay mainly sell their own products on their website and sometimes when you think you are going to buy that particular product the outcome maybe that it wont even be delivered to you because the seller has just taken the money that you have paid for the product, so in other words you are getting robbed at times.
It is mainly about finding out which site is more trustworthy and worth using; this can mainly recognised by how the website looks and what the popularity rates are for a online shop. You can also tell by how much you are paying for something for example on Amazon an iPod might cost you £130 whereas on e-Bay it might cost you £50 this will make you think why such a big comparison in price difference. There is obviously something wrong with the product and also at the same time can be a fraud. These things are very important to think about and recognise is the main problem you need to know what you are in for and whether you have made the right choice.
Non Internet Alternatives
if there was a time for Amazon where you cannot shop online which is very unlikely now, Amazon would have had to make stores in shopping centres or anywhere local where people can go out and buy cheap goods. Instead of using the internet they could be sending out catalogues to delevier at houses so people can look through the catalogue and if they like something, all they would have to do is phone in or post a form provided by a company. So there are a few things that are possible of doing instead of the use of the internet and maybe catalogue usage is a good idea. Because in some households people might not have the access of the internet so by using catalogues it has its advantages, but on the other hand can be very costly distributing them to areas in the country. Whereas on the internet you can keep updating it whenever you want to, on the catalogue you might need to wait sometime for example in seasons you will have to change the whole catalogue so that it resembles to the season.
Possible enhancements
I think that if Amazon was to improve they might need to think about doing other products for example going into clothing for a wider range of people not just one particular age but everybody and everyone. Of course there will be competition but that why Amazon need a vision and to try something new and know that it will work. If Amazon can do everything else I am sure that they can add something new to the range of items so that Amazon can be a daily usage.
Another place where Amazon could improve is being able for people to go out to their stores or even start delivering catalogues of daily updates on the website or even for goods that you can buy on the website. This will certainly improve the amount people use this online service and also know why people use it.
To take another thing into account Amazon should be able to do price comparison meaning that the company should show that they are cheaper compared to others or then people can see what other online shops are offering. This is a great benefit for the people who use Amazon as their main site but obviously a disadvantage for Amazon simply because they are loosing customers and might not e making as much profits. But it is a good idea to think about and a way Amazon should improve.
All together I think that Amazon is a very useful website and is worth looking at and also is a very trustworthy site simply because it has security so people cannot hack your bank accounts and details.
