In a moment of madness last week, I ordered seven items on Amazon and had them delivered to my old address.

I realised my mistake on Sunday and went online to amend the order, but saw six items had already been delivered and the other dispatched.

Cursing, I requested a call back from Amazon and was phoned within seconds. I explained my mistake and Karan, who phoned, said he couldn’t amend the order as the items were either with a local delivery company or at my old house.

He would, however, refund the six items immediately and recall them through the delivery company. It would be their problem and I just had to reorder whatever I still wanted. As the seventh item was from a marketplace vendor he said he would email them on my behalf and check my options.

[pull_quote_right] Companies like Amazon are putting local values at the heart of their global business[/pull_quote_right]

I thanked him for his amazing service. It was a far cry from the waiting on hold and automated lines I encountered when changing energy supplier.

I have since received an email asking for feedback on whether Karan solved my problem. I’m helping build the earth’s most customer-centric company, it’s said.

The increasing number of c-stores experimenting with e-commerce, and finding out fast about its many challenges and opportunities, could learn a lot from how companies like Amazon are putting local values at the heart of their global businesses.

Whatever your trade, the internet is redefining what great service looks like and it will affect our expectations of what is possible from every business we use. You will be benchmarked against the best, and Amazon clearly wants the crown.

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