Zappos.com: Zap Me to Another Website Please
Written: Sep 05 '07
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“So, like, I’m totally in love with my new shoes, like, they are so amazing and they are so fetch, like, wow.”
OK, so not all females are valley girls, but I try to avoid shoe stores like the plague. Recently my wife wanted me to purchase her some new shoes - not that the thirty pairs she has right now are nearly adequate. In any case, her birthday was coming up, so I figured I’d hold my tongue and make her happy. I decided to take a look at Zappos.com to see if anything interesting popped up on my computer screen.
Zappos.com has a reputation for not only its selection of shoes, but also for its bags and its apparel. I basically ended up buying shoes despite the other products offered. Without looking at anything else on the overcrowded and loud homepage, I clicked on the “Shoes” category and proceeded to find exactly what my wife wanted - Marc Jacobs shoes, which features prices that made my jaw drop. But…wait…before we get to that…
One gripe that I really have with Zappos is that the website is extremely disorganized. By clicking on the “Shoes” category, I’m pretty sure I got the exact same page as the homepage as there are still advertisements for non-shoe items, such as handbags. This doesn’t make sense to me. If I click on the “Shoes” category, it’s probably - most likely, most expected - because I’m looking for shoes. Please don’t advertise other products when I’m looking for something else.
In any case, I did find a “search” bar which allowed me to search all shoes by Marc Jacobs. This search feature seems just as annoying as the other web pages which I had visited - it was impossible to get an organized approach of looking at shoes. Furthermore, the search feature didn’t focus on solely shoes - but also on sunglasses and umbrellas. Help me! All I wanted to do was find nice shoes for my wife, and Zappos was making my life miserable. I could have just as easily gone to the Marc Jacobs website, but I wanted to see if I could get a better price. Maybe it wasn’t worth the aggravation.
After some more searching, I decided to view all the brands that Zappos carries for shoes. I couldn’t take this crazy “Search” nonsense anymore. When clicking on the brand list that is somewhere hidden within the other messy text of the site, I found an enormous alphabetized list of all the brands that Zappos carries. I finally found Marc Jacobs, and I was thankfully redirected to another part of Zappos.com that seems a little bit less “bargain basement” and a little bit more Bloomingdales-like. This was the couture section that features Marc Jacobs products, as well as many other designers. I guess my quest to find Marc Jacobs-only products was finally over, and it ended in my defeat.
This couture section allowed me to choose from women’s shoes (as well as apparel and handbags), the men’s section, the kids’ section, designers and the “luxe life” (which I think has something to do with fashion shows, etc. I don’t know - I’m a guy). The footwear section is further split into smaller categories, such as pumps, flats, and loafers. My wife wanted me to buy her Marc Jacobs flats, but when I showed her this site, she told me to surprise her with any company I wanted - it didn’t have to be Marc Jacobs. Now, I don’t know too much about shoes, but I know my wife’s foot size and I have some faint idea of her style, so I think I did a pretty nice job here.
After searching a few pages (out of the 43), I realized that these shoes were not organized in any way, shape or form. Thankfully, I found tabs at the top of the page which allowed me to view shoes according to size, width, heel height, color, and price. This helped narrow down my search for the perfect shoe for my wife, and I finally found something that I thought that she would like - Kate Spade flats for $198.
I decided to order the shoes right there and then - I didn’t want to do anymore price hunting. I was tired, and all I knew was that my wife would love these shoes. The ordering process seems a little bit straightforward. I like how the first page offers a larger picture of the shoe, a size selection, some details of the shoe, and various statistics and short reviews according to customers who bought the same shoe. Pretty cool.
The rest of the ordering process contains the usual information. My Visa was charged the correct amount, and I received a confirmation e-mail within a few hours of my order. The shoes arrived about a week later in perfect condition - sturdily wrapped and in the right color, size, etc. My wife adores the shoes and now wears them to work several times a week. I guess I rock.
So what are my thoughts of Zappos? In the end, the website delivers - the shoes arrived on time, in perfect condition, and I was charged the correct amount. I know that Kate Spade is a little bit more on the expensive side, but according to my wife, the price seemed fair. I have to say, however, that Zappos is definitely not fun to order from. The search process is really a pain in the neck, and the website is very unorganized. The text is also random and cheap-looking unless one reaches the couture section of the website. However, since the website delivered on its original process, I’m forced to recommend it.
Recommended:
Yes
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? Kate Spade flats
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