Back In Style – Vintage and Designer Clothing and Accessories

3 thoughts on “Back In Style – Vintage and Designer Clothing and Accessories”

1. 1) Look around the home page – what is your initial impression of what you see?

   I see a People Magazine cover in your scroller, a tie pic for Style Stud, and Dancing Through the Decades. The category links on the left hand side are in generic font, and don’t stand out as clickable links. Plus there are too many of them. I suggest simplifying the categories and removing the & signs. 
   Gabrielle Union stands out on the cover of People Magazine.

   My biggest issue I see is that you need to make your buttons/links obvious that they are actionable items. I think the font you are using is too generic for your links. 
   2) Think of something you want to find on this website. Now try to find it. Did you find what you were looking for? Was anything confusing?

    Well I looked at a few products. It seemed kind of small, and when it zooms, the zoom seems too big for the quality of picture. Looking at this product: 
   BCBG Max Azria Black Stand Collar Jacket
   When I zoom, I really don’t see the product that well. Perhaps you need higher quality pictures or better lighting on the actual product. It did not give me enough picture clarity to really examine the product.
   3) Are you encouraged to (create a new account, subscribe, sign up for a free trial, etc.)? Can you tell us why (or why not)?

   No. Your site does not compell me to sign up. Your site does not give the impression that you are established. If I landed on your site finding a good deal, perhaps I would consider buying from you. 
   4) Go to search engine of your choice and find one other company that offers a similar service. Compare the two companies. Which on do you prefer? Why?

    When I type in “buy handbags” ebags.com comes up. They are a professional looking site and have an edge over your site. Your site looks like it is targeting women, where ebags.com appears to be gender neutral.
   5) Please share any additional feedback/comments you may have.

   You do not need “About BackInStyle.com” on your homepage. You need a separate page for just this information.  You could literally stop your homepage after the Shop Dresses/Handbags/Shoes,
   and have the payment logos (at the very bottom). You don’t need to have items for sale on your homepage so low below the fold. If you are going to feature items for sale, they need to be at the top center of your page. Otherwise, I don’t recommend you show them.

    I think you have the website design and backbone down. I would suggest streamlining your homepage with my suggestion above, and fixing the link fonts.

2. 1) Look around the home page – what is your initial impression of what you see?

    I liked the layout but I thought that the welcome statement and slideshow felt a little out of place. The welcome statement was a little too long, perhaps a snippet could be shown on the homepage but the whole thing could be added on the ‘about us’ tab. 
   2) Think of something you want to find on this website. Now try to find it. Did you find what you were looking for? Was anything confusing?

   Me and my wife are vintage adorers although we don’t dress like it, we have more a steam-punk look but still we get most of our stuff from vintage stores…it is all about the arrangement. I wanted to see the kind of jewelry this site offered and I was pleased to see things that I wanted, the black & sterling silver medallion earrings really caught my eye. Nothing was confusing during my search. 
   3) Are you encouraged to (create a new account, subscribe, sign up for a free trial, etc.)? Can you tell us why (or why not)?

    Honestly I was only encouraged when I saw something that I  liked but as I browsed around I saw that there was a special incentive…if one spends 50 dollars one gets free shipping, something that was buried under other banners. 
   4) Go to search engine of your choice and find one other company that offers a similar service. Compare the two companies. Which one do you prefer? Why?

   I visited Etsy and I still preferred your site to that one because there is a sense of personality to your site. Etsy just as Ebay seem very systematic…just companies, your site has a way of conveying that there is a person behind the company and that person cares about their customers. 
   5) Please share any additional feedback/comments you may have.

   The only other thing I noticed that I loved was that you guys made sure to have quotes or things said by other customers but I did think it was a little one sided, if there were any issues I would like to know about them. 

    

3. 1) Look around the home page – what is your initial impression of what you see?
   I have a slow internet connection and my first impression were too much writing and too little image. Clothing for me with the word vintage immediately bring up pictures of the 60’s with rock ‘n roll and the like. Somehow I was expecting something else that I received from first impressions. The auto slider is too quickly and too little pictures I would suggest specials to get new visitors excited and grab their attention. All in all I like the colors used but it somehow do not attract me. The social media on the right take up too much valuable space and I suggest plug ins to each item as people with like taste in clothes can share it with their friends. Personally if I am not intrigued by a article I tend not to read it. With clothes I love to look and feel myself in the clothes, experience some emotions and relive the good moments of life. All that said conversion is all that is needed and seeing 6585 subscribers I believe with consistent marketing and timely improvement should get you the sales you need.
   2) Think of something you want to find on this website. Now try to find it. Did you find what you were looking for? Was anything confusing?
   I though of a leather jacket and typed the words in the search bar. It came quickly to a couple of leather jackets and none of them was appealing. The one that I did like was too small. Guess the prices is good and it gave me a sense to keep searching. Nothing was confusing and I did like the description and also the honesty to tell me there are a couple of blemishes. Truly good info to give a customer the right info before you buy it.
   3) Are you encouraged to (create a new account, subscribe, sign up for a free trial, etc.)? Can you tell us why (or why not)?
   My wife will be first to sign up and receive newsletters with clothes. These days any free moment looking at emails can bog you down but receiving pics of nice clothes was never boring and will never be boring. To get people or myself signed up is probably the difficult part as people do not spend lots of time on new websites and many times what the website offer is not easily comprehended in the first 60 seconds. Therefore for me to want to sign up you need to have more pictures and less writing. There is no motivation for discount on first purchase or special free gift with first order. I suggest you get visitors excited and engaged with liking each individual piece of clothing. Simple example would be to like 10 items and get free gift with first order. This will immediately put the new visitor to work and help you get marketing for free and let the visitor decide whether there is something for them. Simple principle for sign up is first let them get to know you better and give a reward for doing so. Win Win 🙂
   4) Go to search engine of your choice and find one other company that offers a similar service. Compare the two companies. Which on do you prefer? Why?
   I searched quite I bit to find https://www.ilovevintage.com/ that truly impressed me. Realize the colors you use for your website does fit the merchandise you offer, but ilovevintage immediately got me involved and by just looking on the front page. More pictures and less writing. Their pictures involves real people, picture people and just dresses on stands that focus on the clothing items. Arranging the clothes 4 in a row gives 4 times the amount of clothes for the same viewing time. Keeping the items that is sold out creates a sense of urgency and having items for 19 euros make me want to stay longer. Most of your items were over a $100 that gives me the impression it is only for the rich. https://www.ilovevintage.com/ use more simpler filters with less options to confuse you as well as the page numbers at the top and on the left to chose how many items to be viewed per page. All in all it is not about these nitty gritty that will have customers return but more importantly the whole buying experience from the button buy till the moment the person actually put the piece of clothing and and bond with it. For that i must comment your detail descriptions on each item
   5) Please share any additional feedback/comments you may have.
   Couple of observations: Loose the .com in the header, move it to the middle and change the tag line to something more engaging like “Get experienced clothing for new confidence” or “Fashion from Yesterday, Today” 
   Too much white on pages makes it feel cold. Too small picture too much writing, no real models, jeans with topless dolls a putt off, rather make to jeans bigger. Suggest to pair clothes that fits together cause if you find a fit what will go with it? These clothes you do not find in shops? Can see you have enough merchandise but lacks presentation
   Hope you find this feedback helpful in creating a better buying experience for each new visitor and returning customer.

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