Statuesque
Freakzoid
Hey guys/gals.
Although I have been a member on these forums for some time now more as a lurker than a poster on a different profile I thought I would introduce myself and the store. I know this might all be a bit TLR but I hope that you persevere and that our thoughts and ideals ring bells with some of you
In case you got no further than here : here’s the store link
There’s already a fairly large selection of stores online and on the high street to choose from to purchase your statues and action figures, I always use the theory that once you find a good Indian restaurant or Sushi bar, you tend to stay with it if you wake up without stomach pains the next day. The same is true with your favourite stores.
With all of that said then, I do not expect you to wake up tomorrow feeling perfectly great and start placing orders with us. I do want to let you know though that we are here and more than happy to fill up your shelves with all sorts of comic and movie polystone/PVC goodness. I am not sure I have the magic words to suddenly convert everyone, I wish I did, What I will do though is explain our store and the rest will come over time as you use us and we earn your trust and custom. It’s the only way it can work in truth and until then please stay with your existing store until you feel let down or you fancy a change.
To me, how you are treated as a customer is far more important than how many pretty pictures and tempting prices my store might have on display. If you are not appreciated and are given lousy service then the store remains a website full of pretty pictures and numbers and nothing more.
My name is Steve, I come from a background of customer support and customer services, almost 25 years [Yes I am that old!] and so I do understand how to look after a customer or two.
This is the strength of Statuesque. Customer contact, updates and the care taken with your order. These are things we work very hard at and intend to improve these points as time progresses. I wish we were perfect!
Online purchasing can often be heartless process. You spend your cash and then sit and wait for a box to arrive. Each process punctuated with a generic store email and a whole heap of silence, I know, I have been there more times than I care to remember!
I don’t believe this is a great experience and when I decided to create Statuesque, my vision/ideology was to make the store as sociable and personal as possible. I had this idea [call me old fashioned!] that an online store could be as personable an experience as you walking in to your local high street store, Of course, not everyone likes to chat but it really doesn’t hurt to open up a line of personal dialect where possible. it’s not normal for an online store to send you an email discussing your most recent purchase, sending you a personal welcome when you sign up for a newsletter or Chat with you about your thoughts on new releases and your past purchases, but It should be normal though, buying online should have the same options for interaction as your local store might have, all be it digital.
I love this hobby, have done for almost 10 years now. i enjoy selling these items and i look forward to the next email from a customer. I spend hours each week chatting to customers and browsers. I like to think that its a good start to getting that local high street store vibe. I don’t think I have received a contact yet where the person does not at least start the message with my first name or mention my first name during the course of their email! How many stores have you bought from where you call the shopkeeper by his first name either online or on the high street?
So, about us then. We are a UK business although we are currently located in France! I often find myself going in to all sorts of explanations as to why. The simple answer is that a few days a week i do have a commitment with a well known gaming company. We will ultimately return to the UK once my obligations have finished. In the mean time then we are British through and through, we rejoiced when marks and spencers opened up stores over here as we finally had access to English sausages and bacon
We have been operating now for almost 8 months. We are not brand new but I would certainly consider Statuesque to be a new kid on the block.
What can we offer you then?
Well we provide most of the major manufacturers I am sure you will browse the store and so you will be able to see for yourself what is on offer.
Are our prices any good ?
I know it all boils down to money with most buyers. I believe that our prices are very competitive. Browse the store yourself though and make up your own minds. Top right is where you’ll find the change of currency option if you get there and it shows up in Euro’s
What about discounts ?
Well I think we have you covered there as well to be honest. As well as the very competitive prices, we also fill your store wallet with approximately 2.5% of your purchase total for you to use on your next order. Almost all new preorders have an earlybird discount on them for a limited time. Check the store often to grab a deal on future releases.
Preorders? Do you have them ?
Hell yes we do.
I know preorders always cause big discussions on these forums about how they should be done. I read many variations , generally they are stacked in the customers favour. I have no issues with that but … As a business I have to ensure that the business continues to operate. I have a commitment to existing customers who like the flexible payment options and those that have paid in full for items released in the future. Preorders can easily be the nail in the coffin to a business. If 30 preorders arrived for an item from guys/gals who have eyes bigger than their wallets and they cancel, Statuesque is left with 30 statues still to sell. The supplier will not let me cancel the order, they are a business too. To that end then we don’t take preorders via a promise a customer will buy when it arrives or via a £20 deposit.
So, Here’s how we do it. Preorders can be ordered and paid for on a monthly basis. Once final payment is made and the item is in stock, we send it to you [think Sideshow Collectibles preorder system but without all of the payment movements when items get delayed ] alternatively you can wait for them to arrive in stock and buy them once we have them. This is a gamble , I appreciate that and you are allowing the gods of good fortune to decide if any remain in stock.
Our partial payment options are exceptionally flexible and our existing customers do like to make use of it. I am not aware of any store that will let you pay over 12 months for an item due to arrive in one years time. Super small payments really help to make this expensive hobby just a little easier to manage. We also go one step further and if a plan does not suit your needs completely, we are more than happy to listen to your preferred option and see what can be done.
Payments are made via paypal so you can use all of the major credit cards. You do not need a paypal account to purchase through paypal with your credit card though.
As this is now turning in to a novel, I will stop here and answer any questions that might be presented. In the mean time though I will leave you all in peace to browse the store
Steve
Although I have been a member on these forums for some time now more as a lurker than a poster on a different profile I thought I would introduce myself and the store. I know this might all be a bit TLR but I hope that you persevere and that our thoughts and ideals ring bells with some of you
In case you got no further than here : here’s the store link
There’s already a fairly large selection of stores online and on the high street to choose from to purchase your statues and action figures, I always use the theory that once you find a good Indian restaurant or Sushi bar, you tend to stay with it if you wake up without stomach pains the next day. The same is true with your favourite stores.
With all of that said then, I do not expect you to wake up tomorrow feeling perfectly great and start placing orders with us. I do want to let you know though that we are here and more than happy to fill up your shelves with all sorts of comic and movie polystone/PVC goodness. I am not sure I have the magic words to suddenly convert everyone, I wish I did, What I will do though is explain our store and the rest will come over time as you use us and we earn your trust and custom. It’s the only way it can work in truth and until then please stay with your existing store until you feel let down or you fancy a change.
To me, how you are treated as a customer is far more important than how many pretty pictures and tempting prices my store might have on display. If you are not appreciated and are given lousy service then the store remains a website full of pretty pictures and numbers and nothing more.
My name is Steve, I come from a background of customer support and customer services, almost 25 years [Yes I am that old!] and so I do understand how to look after a customer or two.
This is the strength of Statuesque. Customer contact, updates and the care taken with your order. These are things we work very hard at and intend to improve these points as time progresses. I wish we were perfect!
Online purchasing can often be heartless process. You spend your cash and then sit and wait for a box to arrive. Each process punctuated with a generic store email and a whole heap of silence, I know, I have been there more times than I care to remember!
I don’t believe this is a great experience and when I decided to create Statuesque, my vision/ideology was to make the store as sociable and personal as possible. I had this idea [call me old fashioned!] that an online store could be as personable an experience as you walking in to your local high street store, Of course, not everyone likes to chat but it really doesn’t hurt to open up a line of personal dialect where possible. it’s not normal for an online store to send you an email discussing your most recent purchase, sending you a personal welcome when you sign up for a newsletter or Chat with you about your thoughts on new releases and your past purchases, but It should be normal though, buying online should have the same options for interaction as your local store might have, all be it digital.
I love this hobby, have done for almost 10 years now. i enjoy selling these items and i look forward to the next email from a customer. I spend hours each week chatting to customers and browsers. I like to think that its a good start to getting that local high street store vibe. I don’t think I have received a contact yet where the person does not at least start the message with my first name or mention my first name during the course of their email! How many stores have you bought from where you call the shopkeeper by his first name either online or on the high street?
So, about us then. We are a UK business although we are currently located in France! I often find myself going in to all sorts of explanations as to why. The simple answer is that a few days a week i do have a commitment with a well known gaming company. We will ultimately return to the UK once my obligations have finished. In the mean time then we are British through and through, we rejoiced when marks and spencers opened up stores over here as we finally had access to English sausages and bacon
We have been operating now for almost 8 months. We are not brand new but I would certainly consider Statuesque to be a new kid on the block.
What can we offer you then?
Well we provide most of the major manufacturers I am sure you will browse the store and so you will be able to see for yourself what is on offer.
Are our prices any good ?
I know it all boils down to money with most buyers. I believe that our prices are very competitive. Browse the store yourself though and make up your own minds. Top right is where you’ll find the change of currency option if you get there and it shows up in Euro’s
What about discounts ?
Well I think we have you covered there as well to be honest. As well as the very competitive prices, we also fill your store wallet with approximately 2.5% of your purchase total for you to use on your next order. Almost all new preorders have an earlybird discount on them for a limited time. Check the store often to grab a deal on future releases.
Preorders? Do you have them ?
Hell yes we do.
I know preorders always cause big discussions on these forums about how they should be done. I read many variations , generally they are stacked in the customers favour. I have no issues with that but … As a business I have to ensure that the business continues to operate. I have a commitment to existing customers who like the flexible payment options and those that have paid in full for items released in the future. Preorders can easily be the nail in the coffin to a business. If 30 preorders arrived for an item from guys/gals who have eyes bigger than their wallets and they cancel, Statuesque is left with 30 statues still to sell. The supplier will not let me cancel the order, they are a business too. To that end then we don’t take preorders via a promise a customer will buy when it arrives or via a £20 deposit.
So, Here’s how we do it. Preorders can be ordered and paid for on a monthly basis. Once final payment is made and the item is in stock, we send it to you [think Sideshow Collectibles preorder system but without all of the payment movements when items get delayed ] alternatively you can wait for them to arrive in stock and buy them once we have them. This is a gamble , I appreciate that and you are allowing the gods of good fortune to decide if any remain in stock.
Our partial payment options are exceptionally flexible and our existing customers do like to make use of it. I am not aware of any store that will let you pay over 12 months for an item due to arrive in one years time. Super small payments really help to make this expensive hobby just a little easier to manage. We also go one step further and if a plan does not suit your needs completely, we are more than happy to listen to your preferred option and see what can be done.
Payments are made via paypal so you can use all of the major credit cards. You do not need a paypal account to purchase through paypal with your credit card though.
As this is now turning in to a novel, I will stop here and answer any questions that might be presented. In the mean time though I will leave you all in peace to browse the store
Steve