My birthday is around the corner, and I was thinking of surprising myself with a cake because of self-love. I came across a bakery on Instagram, the cakes on the page were top-notch. Yet, there were no prices on the cake posts, instead, the seller had a request that stated “DM for price”. DM means to direct message someone on a social media platform. I fought everything in me and DMed for rates
“Hello, could you please share your rate card for birthday cakes?”
The seller got back to me hours later, telling me that cake prices are different depending on the size and designs. They did not share their rates, so I DMed again with the specifications of the cake I wanted.
“Chocolate fudge cake, please share the price of the available sizes”.
Finally, we have some headway and they share their rates minus the rates of delivery and minus other varieties. At this point, the ‘convenience creature’ in me is getting agitated because I have to DM again asking for the delivery rates.
“Alright, so how much is delivery to town?”
The seller did not respond.
I guess they thought I was not a serious buyer, which is their prerogative, but in the year of the internet and convenience, this should not be the case. Needless to say, seeing as the seller had ghosted me, I decided to go with another online bakery store which had all the rates for all sizes :-).
The whole purpose of consumers buying online is to save time and money. I do not want to have a full-blown conversation as if I am finessing someone for courtship or marriage. In the digital age, consumers want to buy convenience by receiving real-time information on products and sellers being transparent. Online stores that state “DM for price” might as well say visit my physical location for product rates.
Some online businesses justify requesting clients to “DM for prices” because; they want to; be at a competitive advantage over their competitors by hiding their rates and attracting serious clients. This is a flawed e-business strategy because; competition will always be present, but as a seller, you have to find your uniqueness in the items you sell or even your customer service. The biggest competition for “DM for prices” are e-businesses that are transparent about their actual prices and item descriptions.
Filtering serious clients is the hardest thing to do both for e-business and physical businesses. For example, I have worked at my aunt's shop where she sells women's clothes, and you have to treat each client the same whether they buy or not, customer care is always key. E-business should also be convenient for itself because imagine filtering through all the requests you get from the clients who “DMed for prices”, it will cost you and your business a lot of time you cannot recover.
So please “DM for prices” e-businesses stop wasting our time and yours and put up your rates or at least an online link with a detailed rate card.
