This blog will examine three online shopping companies: www.ShopBop.com, www.BlueFly.com and www.Zappos.com. I will summarize each company and what they are currently doing to maintain their edge on the web and then suggest ways that they can use three of Leonardo da Vinci's principles: Curiosita, Dimonstrazione, and Sensazione. Using these principles elevate them to become the best websites within their target market.
The internet is revolutionizing our everyday lives. It has made so many things more accessible than ever before. An answer to almost every question is just a mouse click away, and you can even have that handbag you've been dreaming about all season by tomorrow at noon with free overnight shipping!
With high-speed connections more and more available and better imaging technology, online apparel has become the norm, with it being the number one good sold on the internet excluding travel (Corcoran). Using better technology, online websites are evoking Leonard da Vinci's third principle, Sensazione. Customers are able to see multiple views of one item, such as Zappos.com multi-view tool. Customers are able to see a shoe from eight different viewpoints.
Blogging as a way to market a certain store or brand is becoming increasingly popular. Using blogging networks such as StyleHive, online companies can spread the brand, increasing traffic to their website by the tried-and-true method of word-of-mouth marketing. Not only does this spread a company's name and what ideals it stands for but also validates the company by having real people share their experiences. With this type of marketing, online websites are using a form of Curiosita. Members of StyleHive can post information and tag products and let others know how great they are. This peaks the interest of consumers reading the blog and allows them to go directly to the company's website and often directly to the product.
Online Companies
ShopBop.com – In 1999, this website got its start with a bricks-and-mortal store called Bop located in Madison, Wisconsin. Two months after the opening of their physical store location, Bob Lamey, founder and CEO, began the website. Its main premise is to offer high-quality design labels to the masses, with exclusive lines and hard-to-find pieces that every woman can access across the nation (Greenberg).
In 2006, ShopBop was bought by online retail giant Amazon.com, Inc. This enabled the company to offer more lines, offer discounted shipping, and add additional perks to the website such as designer bios and video guides (Birchall).
Using Dimonstrazione, Shopbop enables shoppers to get the experience of trying clothing on by explaining in depth how each of the different jeans fit. Shopbop has a multitude of these videos, focusing on a particular brand, the current trends and more.
An example of a video explaining in detail how a specific brand of jeans fits:
A large percentage of ShopBop's sales are from denim alone, and since denim is very hard to buy without physically trying pair after pair on, ShopBop created its denim store with videos on how to buy the perfect pair of jeans. J Brand is a popular designer.
Wish List – A big hit during the holidays, the Wish List helps friends and family of ShopBop-lovers find the perfect gift. Someone can search for a name and find their special someone's shopping list, detailing their size and what color they would like. Women can also use this tool to 'window-shop'. The Wish List enables a shopper to mark things that she would like to buy, but just doesn't have the funds available right away.
"The wishlist is a way for people to take care of themselves, because life's too short to not get exactly what you want," says Bob Lamey, CEO (Shopbop.com Prepares for Holiday Season)
Problems with Shopbop.com –
- They do not currently offer user reviews on their website. While you may be able to find reviews on blogging and social websites, it would be helpful for the user to have that information available on Shopbop.com.
- They could utilize MyVirtualModel.com as a way to extend the Dimonstratione principle even further. Users create a virtual model that enables them to try on clothing to see how it would fit. This is especially nice because not everyone is built like a model, and sometimes it can be very difficult to understand how an article of clothing would fit on a woman who is a size ten versus the model who may be a size two. Go to www.myvirtualmodel.com for a sneak-peek of this wonderful technology.
Bluefly.com – This company was founded in 1998 and specializes in high-end designer apparel at discounted prices. They are headquartered in New York, NY. Bluefly has done a number of innovative marketing techniques to spread their brand, increase awareness, and tap into what their consumer ultimately wants.
They have teamed up with the television network, Bravo and its hit reality design show, "Project Runway." The winning designer has the opportunity to sell his/her designs on Bluefly. Bluefly also has a special section on their website where viewers can log on and create winning looks from items that Bluefly sells. This creates interaction between the shopper and the website, making it a more social way of online shopping. It also simply draws traffic to the website. They can also upload photos of their "Project Runway" viewing parties and enter to win a $10,000 shopping spree (Bluefly Comes Back).
Bluefly launched their controversial commercials, featuring women having nothing to wear, so they wear nothing at all. Shoppers are then encouraged to visit Bluefly to avoid this problem.
A closet-full of nothing to wear…
Bluefly offers several "stores" within their website such as The Tailor – An exclusively men's store inside Bluefly made to replicate services and clothing items you would see in a fine department store or men's tailor. Another shop is B*fly, a store that tailors to younger shoppers with more casual styles and smaller budgets (Moin).
Problems with Bluefly.com –
- With the limited amount of inventory, Bluefly cannot correctly implement the user review tool that has become so popular. They should access a way to use the Sensazione principle by perhaps offering a better return policy, enabling the customer to try the clothing on.
- They could use their contest theme to utilize the Dimonstrazione principle. Bluefly would create a contest that allows the customers to suggest new ideas for product they should sell on their site. The best idea would be beta-tested on the site and the customer that suggested it would receive a prize.
Zappos.com – Zappos is primarily a shoe shopping destination. Zappos started in 1999, getting its start in San Francisco and moving to Las Vegas in 2004. Time Magazine sited Zappos.com in its August 2006 roster of "25 Sites We Can't Live Without", and Newsweekly listed it as one of it's "50 Coolest Websites" in 2005 (Robinson). They revolutionized online shoe shopping by providing free shipping for customers, both receiving the item and returning it if necessary. They also have a very liberal return policy, offering customers up to 365 days from the date of purchase to return items. This liberal return policy dives into the Sensazione principle, by allowing a customer to receive the product and really feel it and see it at first hand. A high heel shoe may appeal to someone visually, but perhaps when they actually feel the shoe on their foot, they realize that it is uncomfortable.
Their user review section is one of the keys to their success, because it enables shoppers that bought a particular shoe to go back to the website to rate and review the shoe. It can be very helpful to read these to find out how a shoe fits (whether it runs wide or narrow, big or small), reactions to the color and material, and overall look of the shoe. This indirectly taps into the Dimonstrazione principle, allowing other users to hear about how a shoe "tested out" on another user, thus strengthening buyer confidence. The user review section may decrease return-rates, because users can read reviews and determine if they need to buy a size up from their normal size.
May 15, 2007, Zappos.com opened up brick-and-mortar outlet store in Las Vegas. Keith Glynn, project manager of the outlet store rollout, sees this segment as promoting the Zappos.com name and unloading overstocked items from the website (Robinson). They even thought of running shuttle buses from several strip hotels to the outlet mall, a service Zappos began after seeing its customers take taxis from popular strip hotels to the mall, only to wait long periods of time to return. This resembles the principle, Dimonstrazione by looking at past customers' experience and fixing a dilemma.
Since 2007, Zappos.com has been steadily adding other items of apparel, other than footwear, beginning with handbags and other accessories, and now onto tops, pants, dresses, etc. It has even added small electronics, including cameras, MP3 players and video recorders. By the end of 2008, Hsieh sees Zappos.com offering bed linens, house wares, cookware, cosmetics and luggage (Sammon).
"Internally, we've always wanted our brand to be about the very best customer service, and our long-term plans were to go beyond footwear," said CEO Tony Hsieh (Sammon).
Put a little Zappos in your Day…
Zappos uses Kiva Systems Inc, an armless robotic system that Zappos.com uses to fulfill orders in a timely manner. They want to keep the "wow" factor by being able to fill shipments and have the customers receive them, in most cases, less than 24 hours (Teresko). Below is a short, 3 minute video on this amazing warehouse system.
Problems with Zappos.com
- The navigation of website is not intuitive. They plan to launch a new site later this year, which will include "top sellers" column, and the option to search for an item by department, brand, gift ideas, gender or special interest (Sammon).
As you can see, online shopping has come a long way from its inception. Innovators have made the process as close to physical shopping as possible, while still maintaining the convenience of shopping anywhere, at anytime. Enhanced product viewing tools that allow the customer to see the item as clearly as possible, liberal return policies, and interactive blogs and user reviews help to achieve this phenomenon. Companies are using Leonardo da Vinci principles, and most likely, without even knowing it. Curiosita, Dimonstrazione, and Sensazione make the entire shopping experience a possibility.
For more information, please check out the articles below:
"Bluefly Comes Back as Lead Retail Sponsor of Season V of Bravo's Emmy-Nominated Show 'Project Runway'." Business Wire 16 Jul 2008: ABI/INFORM. ProQuest. Collins Baker University. 13 Oct 2008 <http://proquest.umi.com.proxyb.kclibrary.org/pqdweb?index=0&did=1511772861&SrchMode=1&sid=2&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1223948413&clientId=67225>.
Corcoran, Cate. "Pick it and Click it; Online Retailers Lure Women Who are too Busy to Shop in Stores." Womens Wear Daily 29 Jun 2007: 24S. ABI/INFORM. ProQuest. Collins Baker University. 13 Oct 2008 <http://proquest.umi.com.proxyb.kclibrary.org/pqdweb?index=0&did=1301443951&SrchMode=1&sid=7&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1223948875&clientId=67225>.
Fischer, Ben. "Shopbop Gets Help Retailing on Web." Knight Ridder Tribune Business News 28 Feb 2006: 1. ABI/INFORM. ProQuest. Collins Baker University. 13 Oct 2008 <http://proquest.umi.com.proxyb.kclibrary.org/pqdweb?index=0&did=995233711&SrchMode=1&sid=4&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1223948632&clientId=67225>.
Kaplan, Julee. "Shopbop Simplifies Jeans Shopping." Womens Wear Daily 12 Jun 2008. ABI/INFORM. ProQuest. Collins Baker University. 13 Oct 2008 <http://proquest.umi.com.proxyb.kclibrary.org/pqdweb?index=0&did=1557650881&SrchMode=1&sid=5&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1223948726&clientId=67225>.
Moin, David. "Bluefly's New Launch." Womens Wear Daily 10 Apr 2008: 2. ABI/INFORM. ProQuest. Collins Baker University. 13 Oct 2008 <http://proquest.umi.com.proxyb.kclibrary.org/pqdweb?index=0&did=1464116391&SrchMode=2&sid=1&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1223948256&clientId=67225>.
Robison, Jennifer. "Online Shoe Retailer Walks this Way." Knight Ridder Tribune Business News 15 May 2007: 1. ABI/INFORM. ProQuest. Collins Baker University. 13 Oct 2008 <http://proquest.umi.com.proxyb.kclibrary.org/pqdweb?index=0&did=1271341401&SrchMode=1&sid=8&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1223948976&clientId=67225>.
Sammon, Lindsay. "Zappos Aims to Shed Footwear Image." Footwear News : FN 5 May 2008: 4. ABI/INFORM. ProQuest. Collins Baker University. 13 Oct 2008 <http://proquest.umi.com.proxyb.kclibrary.org/pqdweb?index=0&did=1485067631&SrchMode=1&sid=10&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1223949102&clientId=67225>.
"Shopbop.com Prepares for Holiday Season Craze with 'Wishlist' Registry." PR Newswire 21 Nov 2003: 1. ABI/INFORM. ProQuest. Collins Baker University. 13 Oct 2008 <http://proquest.umi.com.proxyb.kclibrary.org/pqdweb?index=0&did=456675141&SrchMode=1&sid=3&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1223948530&clientId=67225>.
http://proquest.umi.com.proxyb.kclibrary.org/pqdweb?index=0&did=1546693141&SrchMode=1&sid=11&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1223949184&clientId=67225
- With the limited amount of inventory, Bluefly cannot correctly implement the user review tool that has become so popular. They should access a way to use the Sensazione principle by perhaps offering a better return policy, enabling the customer to try the clothing on.
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