Zappos vs. Amazon vs. JCrew.com

So what does one do after winning $180 from the local Indian casino? Go shopping, naturlich.

Shoes, again. I’m not addicted here, I now own 3 pair –it’s nothing like @Sdibble, the shoe anthropologist, who has them all boxed and tagged in plastic containers taking up half of her wall.

After discovering that the shoes were offered by both Zappos.com and Amazon.com at the same price, naturally Zappos was the way to go. Being a WA resident, Amazon charges tax. Shipping was free, but took 7 days. Zappos.com meanwhile, charged no tax and offered the same shipping deal, but I also knew from experience that they loved to throw in a shipping upgrade deal. Zappos: 1, Amazon: 0

Meanwhile, as I am like to do, I ordered another item off of JCrew.com, wondering how a catalogue-based retailer would fare against the Kentucky-based online retailer. Zappos continues to impress. My order was placed in the late afternoon. At 9pm that night, I got an email notifying me of a free upgrade to overnight mail. The very next day, my shoes were waiting for me at the house. Simply astounding.

JCrew on the other hand, charged tax with no free shipping: $15 for 5-7 day standard shipping, $22 for 3-5 day, and overnight was not even offered (“Express” had no definition of how long to expect - I wasn’t about to pay the extra $30 for it). Standard it is. It took 24 hours for the receipt and two days after the purchase, it still had not shipped the item (which in hindsight, I paid too much for). With the holiday and weekend approaching, I’m guessing I’ll be waiting two – three weeks.

JCrew, in an online retail environment, paying for shipping and a 2 week delivery time is unacceptable. You are a lumbering, dying dinosaur trying to compete with newer, nimble mammals. Zappos.com just keeps on evolving.

Comments

[Jayson McIvor]

So, you are a JCrew dude. Would have never guessed...