Am I Famous Now…

Zappos is poised to hit the 1 billion retail shoe sales mark in 2008!

Who Buys Shoes Online?

Last year I read an article about how ebay is in the list of top 10 largest retailers in the world. This blew my mind considering they are an online retailer, but made some sense based on the fact that you can buy just about anything on ebay site. However, I still find it hard to believe that online stores selling a single category of goods can generate 1 billion in revenue.

Just recently I was browsing around on google news and noticed how Zappos, an online shoe retailer, is poised to hit the 1 billion web sales mark. I personally cannot imagine ever buying shoes online. Im not an avid shopper, but I dont mind shopping for shoes. That being said, I would never buy shoes online. I dont think I’ve ever even browsed zappos for shoes or at all for that matter. Ultimately I felt a bit behind on marketing and trends in general.

Upon further research, I found the following article on theretailbulletin.com…

Consumers increase purchase of discounted or promotional items

“The survey also reveals welcome signs of growth for online retailers in the clothing and footwear sector. Only 17 percent of shoppers now say they would not buy clothes online (compared with 23 percent in 2006) while buying shoes online appears to have become more accepted with 32 percent now unwilling to buy on the internet, a fall of two percentage points from 34 percent in 2006.”

Wow! I cannot believe this many people buy clothes on the internet.

The following paragraph put my mind at ease as to why more and more people are shopping online these days…especially around the Christmas holiday season.

“However, some things never change, with the top irritations of Christmas shoppers highlighted as being crowds and volume of people (80 percent), queuing (67 percent), parking (46 percent) and lack of stock (34 percent).”

The last question in my mind was the issue of returns. Its bad enough waiting for a product to arrive in the mail, let alone return shipping if the item does not fit properly. I found out that most online retailers now offer “Free Shipping Both Ways” as a means of easing the mind of the consumer and enticing them to order online. I read that Zappos in particular had free overnight shipping both ways at one point during the holidays to increase sales.

Long story short, I bought my first pair of shoes from Zappos with no hiccups. I got 20% off (for what its worth) using an online coupon I found and purchased a pair of brown Skechers. The shoes arrived unharmed and they feal great. Hence, another online clothing shopper is born.

Zappos is also known for their great customer support. Here are some stats on zappos from theinternetretailer dot com.

“Zappos, which began selling online in 1999 and currently stocks more than 3 million shoes, handbags, clothing items and accessories from over 1,100 brands, keeps growing by emphasizing customer service and keeping its marketing costs to a minimum, he says. “Our growth has been driven primarily through repeat customers and word-of-mouth,” says Hsieh. “We will continue to focus on building our brand around providing the best service.”

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