As a user of Nasty Gal, Ideeli before that, and any of the various other sites that are currently flooding the marketplace, some thoughts:
- Way too much money on targeted advertising.
I can't remember the name of the site, but I was looking for something in particular and so had some pretty specific search terms. I didn't find what I was looking for, but saw ads for the things I looked at for the next several weeks on every page load. Imgur, Facebook, news sites, Twitch. If the host had ads, I was seeing ads for this clothing site. A massive waste of money.
- Searchability is atrocious.
Good inventory search for women's clothing is an incredibly hard problem. What's teal to one person is aqua to another. What's the difference between off-shoulder and off-the-shoulder? What the hell is bodycon? Why am I seeing tee shirts when I'm looking for turtle necks?
- Quality is obviously bad.
When I was an Ideeli user (things have changed), I was never disappointed by anything purchased. Many of the items on these sites are either visibly low quality or massively overpriced. I was looking for a good pair of leather boots, and I was looking at either spending $80 on something that was clearly low quality or $250 on something that wasn't quite what I was looking for.
- The bait and switch is real.
This is just a general statement on the tactics of these sites. I click on an ad because I see something I like, either that item is out of stock, or I can't find it in the store. But here's thirty other items that no one is ever going to buy.
- Way too much money on targeted advertising.
I can't remember the name of the site, but I was looking for something in particular and so had some pretty specific search terms. I didn't find what I was looking for, but saw ads for the things I looked at for the next several weeks on every page load. Imgur, Facebook, news sites, Twitch. If the host had ads, I was seeing ads for this clothing site. A massive waste of money.
- Searchability is atrocious.
Good inventory search for women's clothing is an incredibly hard problem. What's teal to one person is aqua to another. What's the difference between off-shoulder and off-the-shoulder? What the hell is bodycon? Why am I seeing tee shirts when I'm looking for turtle necks?
- Quality is obviously bad.
When I was an Ideeli user (things have changed), I was never disappointed by anything purchased. Many of the items on these sites are either visibly low quality or massively overpriced. I was looking for a good pair of leather boots, and I was looking at either spending $80 on something that was clearly low quality or $250 on something that wasn't quite what I was looking for.
- The bait and switch is real.
This is just a general statement on the tactics of these sites. I click on an ad because I see something I like, either that item is out of stock, or I can't find it in the store. But here's thirty other items that no one is ever going to buy.