The good and bad of mail-order online
Written: Sep 26 '01
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The Bottom Line
The site itself is nothing totally spectacular, but it's not awful. It has some great features that make using it a breeze, and it has some that are really annoying.
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As far as e-commerce sites go, Chadwicks' site is ok. Not spectacular, but not bad enough to really complain about.
I buy almost all of my work clothes from Chadwicks'. I'm definately a product of the "sound-byte generation" - I get impatient with having to place a mail order, and I get grumpy when I have to deal with salespeople. I was ecstatic when my first catalog arrived saying they had a web site.
When they first went on line, their site was horrible. It's been re-designed a couple of times since then, though, and they appear to have listened carefully to their customers and made some significant improvements. In particular, they have added three features that make the site MUCH easier to use:
1. My favorite addition is the ability to enter a specific catalog number directly into the home page and place your order directly. Many other companies that provide both mail-order and online service also offer this feature, but I have yet to see it actually on the home page. Usually, it's an afterthought somewhere in your shopping cart, or perhaps on the search page. I tend to go through the catalog, make a list of exactly what I want, and then log on just to place my order; this feature makes it MUCH easier for me to shop the way I want to shop, not the way some web designer thinks I should shop.
2. Another feature they have added which I use on occasionally is a sort of guided search. Most search pages just search the whole site and return a zillion hits that have nothing to do with what you're looking for; some, like our beloved Epinions, allow you to search within categories. Chadwicks' feature takes it one step further, using a wizard-like interface on successive pages to help you narrow down your search to a smaller list of "hits" which are much more likely to be what you were really looking for. For example, I bought two pairs of the same kind of pants a couple of years ago, and I am so comfortable in them that I've pretty much worn them out. I've kept my eyes open when I've gone through the last couple of catalogs, but I hadn't spotted them again.
When I used the guided search feature, proceeding through "I want a pair of pants" to the fabric and style, I was able to locate them again and place an order for a couple more pairs.
Hooray!
(OK, it's the little things in life that make me happy)
3. Some online catalogs make it impossible to find things, because their categories make absolutely no sense to me. Chadwicks', I'm happy to say, has menus and categories that make perfect sense to me. That may sound like a "so what?" feature - I mean, doesn't it make SENSE to have categories called "Tops" and "Bottoms", "Dresses" and "Accessories" when you're an online apparel store? But I mention it because so many online stores don't seem to have that out. In my opinion, some of the best features of a web site are the ones we don't notice - because if we did notice them, it would be annoying.
(Disclaimer - I design web sites as part of my job, so I might be a bit biased. But that doesn't change the fact that I appreciate the ability to actually FIND the things I'm looking for when I'm shopping on line!)
The wire-and-electrons relationship I have with the Chadwicks' site is not all sunshine and daisies, however. I have a couple of pet peeves about their site, too:
1. Until you actually finish placing your order, you have absolutely NO idea what shipping charges are going to be. If I remember back in the Dark Ages when I actually looked at the paper order form that came in my catalog, I seem to remember the shipping charges were based on the subtotal of your order, so I can see not having it "hard-coded" into the page. But by the time you get to the point in your order that you are trying to choose what type of shipping to use, they already HAVE your order's subtotal, so they should be able to do a little bit of server-side figuring and come up with prices before to help you make your choice.
2. Speaking of shipping choices, there are two. Period. Standard, or Express. With no information about what either of them means. Is Express next-day air? 2-day priority mail? OK, it's obviously faster than Standard, but what is Standard? If Standard is 6 - 8 weeks, then I want Express... but if Express is regular UPS ground, then I want that.
Turns out that Standard is the regular old Post Office, if you want to know. I still don't know what Express is, because I haven't used it, since I'm not sure what it is. I wouldn't want to have to pay for a bunch of clothes to come next-day air, and I've never wanted anything in THAT big a hurry.
3. As someone else mentioned in her epinion, since Chadwicks uses the USPS for regular orders, there is no ability to track your package. They HAVE added the ability to track your order within their own system, so you can see that it was processed or filled or shipped. Once it ships, though, you're on your own.
As I said in my intro, the Chadwicks' site itself is nothing totally spectacular. It has some great features that make using the site to order things a breeze, and it has some features that annoy the snot out of me. Coupled with the quality and prices that Chadwicks' has been known for as a bricks-and-mortar company, though, the web site makes me that much more a loyal Chadwicks customer.
Recommended:
Yes
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About the Author
Location: Colorado
Reviews written: 87
Trusted by: 20 members
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