When you're looking for the perfect shoe and can't find it in your size or style at local shoe stores or footwear boutiques, turn to the internet for a plethora of footwear fantasies ready to be delivered to your home with the click of a mouse.
While some mega shoe retailers have yet to enter the world of e-commerce, a few retailers recognize a woman's right to shoes and have responded with online inventories of sweet styles.
Browns Shoes
www.brownsshoes.com
High end shoe store, Browns Shoes makes its women's, men's and children's shoes available online with a cleanly designed that allows the consumer to shop via brand, size, price, color, and even heel height.
Admittedly, their online selection is quite limited compare to exclusively online shoe boutiques such as Zappos.com or Solestruck.com, but, like other brick and mortar shoe shops with online accessibility, the website will allow you to pre-shop and benefit from a larger inventory than a typical store. Browns needs to get bit more competitive by expanding their one month (from date of purchase) return policy, and trading their $5 or $15 shipping options for free shipping.
Transit-Spring
www.myspringshoes.com
Transit-Spring's online store allows Internet users the choice to do more than just virtually window-shop by opening up their entire inventory to cyberspace from anywhere. Just in case your online purchase doesn't slip on smoothly - since buying shoes online can be a tricky matter when it comes to fit and sizing - all products purchased online can be returned to any Transit-Spring shoe store, or mailed back. With the Aldo Group retailer in physical stores in most cities, this is a very good thing.
Aldo Shoes
www.aldoshoes.com
With a look and feel consistent with their "accessible modern" physical stores, Aldo Shoes' website breaks out its online inventory into a trifecta of shoes, sandals and boots, and further slightly ambiguous sub-categories of "city," "dress," and "casual," seemingly overlooking the diversity that exists in the shoe-world.
Nonetheless, once you finally give up trying to figure out what the precise difference is between "city" and "casual" and "dress," you'll find that you're able to refine your search by shoe color, size, and heel height. As with their sister-store, Aldo online offers a one-year return policy to stores or via mail return. Unfortunately, they don't pony up the costs of shipping, which gives their physical stores a bit of an edge if you've got one in your area.
Steve Madden
www.stevemadden.com
Shoe Master Madden has served up his finest styles online, categorizing them with the all savvy that you would expect: new styles, gift guide, holiday specials, boots, pumps, peep-toes, platforms, wedges, open-toe, sandals, slippers, the fabulous Steven by Steve Madden line, and even a mind-blowing "design your own" shoe option, in which eager shoe-mavens can fashion their own original numbers by selecting from a variety of styles, upper and heel colors and materials.
In terms of the business "business," stylish Madden isn't quite as generous as the other online retailers; stevemadden.com offers a 14 day return/exchange policy (from the date of delivery), and they'd won't pay to send them back. On the up side, they do guarantee against manufacturer's defects within 60 days of purchase.
Zappos.com
www.zappos.com
With over 2 million styles in their inventory and more style added daily, including labels such as Lacoste, Michael Kors, Kenneth Cole, Seychelles, Guess, Miss Sixty, DKNY, and even couture Vera Wang, to name but a few, this online shoe giant touts itself as the best shoe selection anywhere - online or offline. The website is a bit cluttered, but perhaps that's what to be expected when you have such a massive inventory. Zappos.com offers shipping in 4 to 5 business days, plus, they have a 365 day return policy on which they pay the shipping both ways - a nice perk, just in case your beloved pair of stilettos don't quite fit.
Solestruck.com
www.solestruck.com
This modern-looking, shopper-friendly site is a woman's e-shoeing dream. These people understand what a woman wants when it comes to a shoe-shopping experience. While there isn't that same euphoric trip as when you try on a pair of shoes in-store, Solestruck.com makes up for it in the organization, selection and support they offer. With the ability to shop by brand, style, color and even size - it's a quick click to the magic slipper you're hunting for. Along with these features, they highlight shoe trends hailing from the streets and runways worldwide, all displayed on a fun, festive and feminine web site. They even keep track of your recently viewed picks.
And when it comes to the practical stuff, they've got that covered too - free shipping on orders and returns, a one-year return policy, and (because they understand the gravity of shoe emergencies) 24 hour assistance with a telephone number (virtually unheard of online). They may not have 2 million shoes, but they have the ones that matter when you need to find the perfect shoe... STAT.
