Slow and steady wins the (online shopping) race.
Written: Jun 06 '08
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I’m not sure what’s come over me, but lately I’ve been in a crafting mood. It must be the overcast weather encouraging me to stay home curled up on the couch with a small, quasi-artsy project spread out on the coffee table and the hot beverage of my choice. Unfortunately, there are limited craft stores in my area, so I had to venture online to get my craft kit fix. I’d never ordered from Joann.com before, but was familiar with the brick-and-mortar store and thought it was worth trying out.
I probably wouldn’t have ordered from them if it weren’t for some special discounts that were running. First, they were offering free shipping over $35 (a good deal, since shipping starts at $7 and gets higher based on your order total), and second, I was going to get cash back via Ebates.com. It wasn’t much, but sometimes these are the things that seal the deal.
The website is refreshingly simple and clean, with a restrained, elegant design – not at all what I had feared from a “crafty” website. Nary a novelty font nor bonnet-wearing country bunny is to be seen. The site uses tasteful shades of green and large print (presumably catering to its demographic), and the home page is easy to understand – a few special sales are shown in the middle, along with links to current deals and the weekly sales ad. A search field is located at the top, and coupon offers are located on the right-hand side.
The navigation of the site itself leaves a lot to be desired. It’s a good thing the search field works so well, because it’s almost impossible to browse through the site to find what you’re looking for. For example, I was looking for paint-by-number kits, and I still have no idea where they’re located under the headers “Fabric,” “Sewing & Quilting,” “Scrapbooking,” “Crafts,” “Knit & Crochet,” and “Home & Holidays.” They must have done surveys or focus-group testing to decide on those headers, but they seem kind of arbitrary to me and aren’t helpful in getting around the site. Fortunately, the search field will pull things up for you very easily.
The checkout process is pretty typical – you enter your mailing and billing information, select a ship method, review the order, and confirm everything before clicking to place the order. You receive a confirmation email right away, and once your order is sent out, which takes a couple of days, you’ll receive another notification with a tracking number. It took about a week and a half to get my order from the time I placed it to the time it arrived. This was fine because I was in no hurry (and I got free shipping), but if it was a time-sensitive item or a gift, I might have been more irritated by the slowness.
Overall, the site works well and offers substantial discounts compared to other sites selling the same products (most of my items were 25-30% cheaper than on other sites). They frequently offer coupons for 40% off one item, and free shipping off purchases of $25 or $35, so hold out for a coupon code that will give you the best value. This isn’t for those who want super-fast delivery or a flashy site, but if you don’t mind waiting a while in order to save some cash – or placing a large order to get the free shipping - you can score some good deals on enough crafty items to get you through a month of rainy days.
Recommended:
Yes
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? Paint by numbers & other craft kits
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