Gap: My One-Stop Shop For Everything Cotton
Written: Apr 04 '03
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I am addicted. Not to nicotine, alcohol, or caffeine…but to something much more destructive. Gap.com.
Of course I’m also a huge fan of the actual store, but after years upon years of shopping at Gap, I’m well acquainted with the stock, prices, sizes, and all the other required information. So if there is an item I need to buy, I barely pause on my way to typing Gap.com into my browser’s address line.
I enjoy shopping, but because of my height (I’m 5'10”) many stores don’t carry one thing that fits me. I can browse through store after store and say “hey, that looks cute!” Then I’ll pick it up, and the pants come roughly to my shin. It’s not a pretty picture. Really. But Gap carries a large selection of tall (along with petite, regular, and extra tall) shirts, pants, dresses, and the like. And the benefit to shopping online over in the store is that they are always in stock.
Navigation
After a recent redesign, the Gap.com site is extremely simple and very easy on the eyes. The navigation is intuitive. There are four sections of shops, the general Gap, GapMaternity, GapKids, and babyGap. I’ve only ever shopped in the gap portion as I’ve yet to be pregnant or have children. In the general Gap section you can browse through Men’s and Women’s clothing in addition to something called GapBody. My usual choice is of course Women with an occasional stop by the Men’s department to pick something up for the husband.
From there, the site continues to be both smoothly designed and easy to navigate. All of the previously mentioned sections are linked in tabs at the top of the screen with each having a number of subsections. So I click on “Pants” (my usual stop) under Women. The good thing about the Pants section is that Gap.com takes a moment to describe the different fits for people who aren’t yet acquainted with their styles. They mention that all pants come in sizes 0-20, something that is of course unheard of in the brick and mortar (and glass) store.
Based on those described styles, the pants are arranged in such a manner that shoppers can easily see the price, fit, and actual pant even without clicking into details. Therefore, it is exceedingly easy to make a choice or to locate that old favorite. Clicking into details on my favorite “Clean Cut Khakis” (I literally have fifteen pairs), it is easy to see that there are three color options. There’s a great run down of the product specs and care instructions also, especially important for people not buying cotton khakis. Choose a color, size, and quantity from the pull-down menus and repeat in the second and third choice boxes if you’d like others in different sizes or colors. Click “add to shopping bag.” The same process applies to every other section.
Voila. It really is that easy to shop at Gap.com. It’s not necessary to create an account to shop or to buy. It’s only for the shopper’s convenience that Gap.com allows for membership. Signing up provides the opportunity to save shipping and billing information in addition to receiving e-mail coupons (a great added benefit). I’ll go into that a bit further below.
Buying and Shipping
As with most online outlets, Gap.com accepts all major credit cards in addition to their own GiftCards and GapCard. Nothing about the checking out process is shifty or difficult and as such it went extremely smooth. And, just as you’d expect, Gap.com has a completely secure server for placing orders.
The one minor downfall with Gap.com is their shipping. It’s not horribly expensive, but for people with lots of time on their hands and an easy size to fit it is probably advisable that you check out the real store. Otherwise, Gap.com is certainly a first stop on the way to casual chic. Prices for shipping are as follows with an added charge of $9 for expressed shipping and handling:
Up to $25: $5.95
$25.01-$50: $6.95
$50.01-$75: $8.95
$75.01-$100: $10.95
$100.01-$150: $12.95
$150.01-$200: $13.95
$200.01-and up: $15.95
The regular shipping is expected to arrive within 7 to 10 days while the express is overnight service if placed by noon of today. Upon ordering, Gap.com displays confirmation information on the screen and sends out an e-mail. They provide you with a USPS tracking number that can be easily referenced via the USPS site or via a link at Gap.com. Really, it doesn’t get any simpler than this.
Returns and Customer Service
At the bottom of every page, the store clearly shows Contact Gap. Click it. The directions are simple to follow, and they provide a toll-free phone number, TDD number, address, and even forms for Gap Online feedback. The same area provides links to technical questions, order tracking, international queries (Gap does not ship internationally), and merchandise-related questions among other things.
In all my years of shopping at Gap.com, I’ve yet to experience anything resulting in a need to contact customer service. But considering the clarity and ease of locating the pertinent information it is my assumption that they do indeed have a very good system.
Returns are easily dealt with at Gap. Not only do they accept returns via the USPS, but they also take returns at any brick and mortar store. The return policy states that unwashed, unworn, or defective merchandise can be returned at any time with or without a receipt. Within 14 days of purchase, items can be returned for any reason with a receipt. Refunds are issued in the original form of payment or in the form of an exchange. Online shoppers must always bring the original invoice and credit card with them if returning in-store.
Conclusion
Gap.com might be a bit pricey for some taste with pants hovering at about $50 and shirts anywhere from $20-$50 give or take. But their clothing is high quality, very durable, and classic looking. I love everything I’ve purchased from Gap.com ranging from pants, to swimsuits, to shirts, to sweaters, to dresses, to jeans and everything in between. There really are very few retailers out there that can compete with this kind of service.
Highly recommended online retailer.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
lambchops
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Member: Shelly T.
Location: Metro Detroit, Michigan
Reviews written: 1172
Trusted by: 841 members
About Me:
Bye-bye CL hat. Hopefully I'll write some new reviews some time soon!
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