I'm not an e-commerce expert, so I'm not sure why I'm writing this blog, but a thought crossed my mind and I wanted to share it. Four months ago, I bought a derelict Victorian house in the U.K. and have slowly been restoring it to its former glory. To do this on my meager analyst salary, I have had to hunt around for the best deal on everything - from toilets to dishwashers. The standard process I have followed is to search online every evening for the best deal and then ring my local supplier, who I know and trust, the following day to price-match, which the supplier invariably does. The supplier may take a few days longer to deliver, and it may be a few pounds more overall, but I know the product will come on the scheduled delivery date and won't be damaged.

What would it take for me to stick with the best deal online and not wait for the following day to order it locally over the phone? Yes, I would save a few pounds and hopefully have it delivered earlier, but there is an increased risk to overcome, as well as my fear of the unknown. The proliferation of online feedback sites, where consumers are happy to "tell all" about their experiences, provides me with a good source of information about a particular company's reliability. Some customers are ecstatic and highly recommend a company, whereas others had an awful time. Not wanting to end up in the latter camp, I err on the side of caution and wait till the following morning to place my call.

Good and bad customer experiences are inevitable - the delivery lorry could have broken down, after all. What sets great companies apart is how they deal with these situations. It appears from visiting numerous customer review sites that many online retailers in the U.K. have yet to embrace the concept of the customer experience. Being the cheapest is not always the best, and with online public humiliation easily accessible, isn't it about time online retailers spent as much time on customer service and the customer experience as they do on ensuring their price is 1 percent lower than the competition's. Until this happens, I'm going to continue contributing to my local retailer's retirement fund.

I'd love to hear from anyone who has tracked the "stickiness" of their Web site over time and can demonstrate how customer service improvements were the strongest glue.