Best Blu Ray Media Online Stores Part 9: NewEgg Review
NewEgg does not need any introduction as the leading online supplier of electronics and computer parts, with an outstanding reputation and service record in the industry. Being accustomed to check it first for much of our online purchasing when dealing with electronics, we were particularly interested in finding out how well it does as a supplier of Blu Ray media. NewEgg did not disappoint in its primary attributes, but did not totally fulfill our expectations.
Site and usability
Blu Ray media can be found on the NewEgg site under Computer Hardware -> CD/DVD Burners and Media -> CD/DVD/ Blu Ray Media. Blu Ray media are mixed with other optical media, but can be selected by type, with a choice of BD-R/ BD-RE/ BD-R DL (BD-RE DL media are found under the BD-RE selection). Site speed is very good, with 1.7 seconds per page average to display a right-clicked SKU. Of our wish list of 13 types of sorting and binning, NewEgg provides the third most choices in the category, after RunTechMedia and SuperMediaSales, as 9.5 of these modes are available: there is no way single Blu Ray media category, sorting cannot use best selling, it is not possible to view price per disk, and, while it is possible to select BD-R Dl media, it is not possible to do so with BD-RE DL. On the other hand, it is possible to select type (BD-R/ BD-RE), manufacturer, speed, quantity and printability, sorting can be done by price, rating, and most reviews, and user ratings are displayed on the category listing pages.Because NewEgg actually has many customer reviews, we find its sorts and bins more useful than RunTechMedia (even though RunTechMedia has more of them), because we can actually use meaningful quantities with most reviews and best rating criteria.
Inventory and price
NewEgg carries a small inventory of 45 Blue Ray media, 3rd lowest in the category before Rima and TapeOnline. It stocks 19% of our 89 Blu Ray test media, also low in the category. NewEgg prices are on average 13.5% higher than the best price across our surveyed stores for media stocked by multiple stores, which is a very good score, and ranks third best across the category after MediaMegaMall and TapeOnline. NewEgg has the best price for 8 SKUs, for a media stocked by more than one store, second best across all stores after MediaMegaMall and before Amazon. However, while NewEgg carries a good number of low-price media SKUs, it does not have a good inventory of high quality Blu Ray media. NewEgg stocks only 2 of the 6 media we selected for best Blu Ray archival grade media, and prices them 4.2% higher than the best price across the industry, a very low price.
User reviews
NewEgg, like Amazon, is known for its excellent user reviews and their integration to the site. It does not disappoint, and registers 349 user reviews across all Blu Ray media, second only to Amazon.
Customer Service
NewEgg is known for its excellent customer service in Electronics and Computer parts. Its track record is clear: it gathers over 33,000 reviews on ResellerRatings, with an outstanding 97% rating. On Google Shopping it gathers another 36,000 reviews, again with an exceptional 98% rating. NewEgg receives a category-high 98% ConsumerPla.net predictive CS rating, even with B&H Audio Video and ahead of Rima.
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| Table: NewEgg Blu Ray media review (see legend below) |
Conclusion
As usual, NewEgg impresses by its excellent site, its good prices, its abundant user reviews, and its outstanding customer support. While it has good numbers of low-priced Blu Ray media, NewEgg is however missing a good inventory of high quality media. A small change in inventory could make it the top site in the category. As it stands today, it is an excellent choice for low-priced media, but it cannot provide a good choice of quality Blu Ray media at this time - what a pity!!
Next we review Provantage for Blu Ray media... So come back soon!
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Table Legend:
Total inventory: total number of Blu ray media SKUs on the site
Inventory %: percentage of ConsumerPla.net list of 89 Blu Ray media that can be found at the store
Inventory % for selected archival media: % of SKUs that we selected in our Blu Ray Media review for archival grade
Site sorting: how many types of sorts and bins are possible on the site (out of the 13 we listed in our wish list)
Average query speed: the average speed to display a right-clicked SKU - measures browsing speed
Average overprice: How much % over best price, for all media present in more than one store
Average overprice for selected archival media: specifically how much % over best price for the media we selected for archival grade
# lowest priced SKUs: how many SKUs in the store equal best price (if more than one store carries them)
# user reviews: how many user reviews we found on the site for Blu Ray media
Predictive CS rating: our worst case analysis of the likely Customer Support rating for this store, explained here
1 comment:
This site is unbelievable!!! They are one of the only places left with "True" customer service. They had a sale the next day, for part of my order from the night before. I figured it was a long shot but contacted them in the morning before the item left and they credited my account! Impressive to say the least. Sure some other companies might do the same, but the manner and the elegance in which they handled it was amazing. Thank you NewEgg.com. You've obtained a loyal customer.
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