Midpack
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
I prefer and buy far more online than in B&M (brick-and-mortar) stores these days, including some clothes. But shoes remains and exception for me, mostly because sizes have been less predictable than clothes IME. The only pair of shoes I ever bought online were at really low closeout pricing (no returns), turned out to be a half-size too small. So I get a mildly painful reminder of that mistake every time I wear them (poetic justice?).
Zappo's inventory, pricing and alleged customer service has been tempting, but risking sending boxes of shoes back and forth to get the right size makes it unappealing to me - even if they offer the illusion of free return/exchange shipping. I'd rather go to a store and know I am walking out with the right size. But it's getting harder and harder to find shoes I want at B&M stores, presumably the online shoe sellers are impacting the B&M sellers inventory carrying abilities (careful what we wish for?). So I may have to reconsider Zappo's and the like.
What say ye?
Note: I don't think 'showrooming' is at all fair to merchants in case you're tempted to recommend that approach. I won't do it - YMMV
Zappo's inventory, pricing and alleged customer service has been tempting, but risking sending boxes of shoes back and forth to get the right size makes it unappealing to me - even if they offer the illusion of free return/exchange shipping. I'd rather go to a store and know I am walking out with the right size. But it's getting harder and harder to find shoes I want at B&M stores, presumably the online shoe sellers are impacting the B&M sellers inventory carrying abilities (careful what we wish for?). So I may have to reconsider Zappo's and the like.
What say ye?
Note: I don't think 'showrooming' is at all fair to merchants in case you're tempted to recommend that approach. I won't do it - YMMV