Online shoppers expect consistent service from smaller merchants too.
But the comments collected, along with the surveys and the merchant responses to these comments, reveal a disconnect between many consumers who expect consistent customer services from e-tailers regardless of size, and some merchants who expect consumers to understand that they are just a small business. The surveys show that many consumers are not reducing their expectations of e-tailers simply because they are small. This seemed to escape many merchants who simply went fishing for the summer, expecting their customers to understand that they would attend to their orders when they returned. For example, small e-tailers are often resistant to grant concessions that bigger brands routinely make to keep a customer. Since 1996 Public Eye has maintained a focus on building confidence between consumers and small to mid-sized Internet merchants.