Absolutely indispensable secret weapons of the chic-onomic parents are the flash sales, members-only sites specializing in the mini- fashionistas! The following sites cater specifically to the babies, kids and Moms (sometimes Popes): TheMiniSocial.com, Zulily.com (launched very aggressive online marketing campaign), Totsy.com and bTrendie.com.
They feature multiple baby, kids and maternity brands (clothing, footwear and hard brands, i.e. toys, furniture, strollers, bedding, car seats etc.) in the various levels of coolness at up to 70% off retail prices on a daily basis. Therefore, monitoring their sales can be quite daunting. These sites are our secret resources, my dear fellow fashion mavens on a budget.
Shopping Experience: Clicking, Paying, Shipping and Receiving
Now, the only obstacle between us and these highly coveted and insanely cool brands are our organizational and clicking skills. Merchandise is on a first come first serve basis, and once an item is is in your cart you have a 10-15 minute (depends on the site) countdown to complete the purchase before you lose the item. If you are 5 min late for the Kids Ink blowout sale ($14 a t-shirt down from $45!) the only items still available you will see through the angry tears streaming down your cheeks would be the colorful bodysuits in 12m and 18m sizes. Another problem with the highly coveted brands, is when the sale event finally opens the sites can't handle the hordes of shoppers rushing in and crash, leaving you clicking hysterically on the size you need, which is hopelessly frozen. When the site finally comes out of its online coma, every single thing you wanted is magically gone. I have no idea, whose broadband is broader than yours, but HauteLook does it a lot and no apology on Facebook is ever enough to make up for the lost chances because somebody somewhere had managed to snatch JBrand skinnies in your size!
The Big Four (Gilt, HauteLook, Ideeli and Rue-La-La) announce their sales calendars weekly. You can set up the reminders and plan your budget. Unfortunately, TheMiniSocial does not have this useful feature. The e-mail messages announcing new sales will drop duly in the members' inboxes on the same day the sale is opened. And you might end up purchasing something every day, spending $6.95 -$10.00 shipping charges per order, which is extremely annoying and wasteful! Zulily lists their upcoming sales for 3 days in advance. Totsy and bTrendie send weekly e-mails, listing active and upcoming sales as well as daily reminders for open sales. You can always check sales calendars on the sites.
I e-mailed TheMiniSocial.com asking them to consolidate my three orders placed within 5 days since they weren't' shipping them for the next two weeks anyway. They actually responded quite promptly, promising to look into it and do their best. So, in the end, I paid two shipping charges and was credited $10 to my account as a compensation for the short order besides the cost of short-ordered item refunded to my credit card.
Short ordering is another problem you will have to deal with while shopping on these sites. Besides closeouts, overstock or sample sales, when merchandise is delivered quite promptly, there is also another way to cooperate with manufacturers and here comes the long waiting period. The manufacturers provide the sites with the information and samples of the merchandise they want to sell to the enormous online audiences. They agree on quantities they are capable to supply within specific timeframe. So, basically, the sites often sell non-existent goods. The goods are to be produced by the manufacturer according to the sales figures provided by the sites upon the sale's end. The manufacturer gets the dough to produce the merchandise, the site gets its markup, and the happy customers get their discounted goodies in 2-3 weeks depends on how long it takes to produce the required quantities. The win-win scheme is brilliant but sometimes it doesn't always work out smoothly. The manufacturers fail to produce or deliver the already sold quantities to the sites (short-ordering them), and you get short-ordered on the goods you've purchased. The way sites handle this delicate and very disappointing situation is very important, because short-ordering is an integral part of L3 shopping.
I've got short-ordered 4 times already: twice on HauteLook, once on ideeli and once on TheMiniSocial. In all cases the missing item cost was refunded to my credit card and compensation credit to smooth the tragic blow was deposited in my account ($20 by HauteLook, $10 by ideeli and $10 by TheMiniSocial). As I've mentioned earlier Ideeli's handling of this problem was the most disappointing and unprofessional.
HauteLook.com works hard on improving shopping experience and customers' satisfaction. Shipping is always an issue, and paying $10-15 shipping charges plus taxes (certain states' residents) makes these sweet deals less delicious. The New Year resolution sent out to HL members contained such important topics as the reduced shipping charges for the smaller items (packages), PayPal payments acceptance and so on. Gilt had differentiated their shipping charges based on the order's total: $7.95 for the orders less than $50 and $9.95 for the orders more than $50. Editor's Closet runs occasional free weekend shipping promotions.
Invitations - Viral Marketing
The members are encouraged to invite their friends to join the ranks of the club. The rewards range from $10 to $25 in credits deposited in the account of the inviting member after the invited friend made her/his first purchase. Smart way to expand the membership base: let the members do the legwork and spread the word. A note to non-members: you will not be able to even view the collection on sale if you are not a member. So, if you follow the invitation link and are prompted to register, please do not panic and run away. Just register and enjoy exclusive brands at the exclusive savings at the convenience of your home or the office.
Boys Be Cool Calendar of the Chic-onomic Events
With all these sites out there and dozens of sales popping up daily, the monitoring of the events worth your attention could be quite overwhelming. Check Boys Be Cool Calendar of the Chic-onomic Events, where the sales are posted daily or follow BBCool on Twitter or Facebook, where the sales events information is constantly updated.
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