I bet a lot of guys are thankful for the existence of online shopping. How can they not be when gone are the days when they have to be dragged around the mall for hours by their girlfriends just to find one dress or a pair of shoes.
I have experienced buying clothes and shoes to people who sell online like in Olx.ph or in Facebook but never with a formal established online store like Zalora. Being the cheapskate that I am, I still find Zalora’s items priced a little higher than my normal budget so I didn’t really bother looking further into it, but that’s just me.
Even though I enjoy shopping like most girls do, I don’t enjoy spending too much. I don’t buy anything higher than 300Php and can only go up to 500Php if it’s on 50% or more markdown sale. Those conditions mean I only to go the mall or buy branded things during end of season sale and the rest I get from Divisoria or Ukay-ukay. I love the feeling when I get compliments for something I bought for only 100Php that doesn’t look as cheap as it costs.
So I was very happy when I received a 500Php Zalora gift certificate from BPI (because of my BPI Gold Mastercard) because that meant that if I am wise about my choice I can get something for free! Yey!
As I read Zalora is a Singapore based online fashion retailer, that means they sell clothes, bags, shoes, accessories for both men and women, which was launched in 2012. Like in the Philippines, they are also operating localized sites in countries across Asia such as Malaysia, Thailand, and five others. Since they not only carry their own brand but other local and international brands as well, Zalora is like this big big mall that you scour at the comfort of you own home.
Zalora’s site is very user-friendly, everything is categorized for easy access and you can sort things out further more by your preference which for me was by the “lowest price”. My husband warned me not to buy another pair of shoes which was understandable since I went on a shoe shopping frenzy just two weeks before (apparently, four pairs was overdoing it) so I went on and clicked the dresses link.
It was good that lowest price didn’t mean grandma fashion, as I was able to see a lot of fab pieces for as low as 300. My 500Php budget got me to see 3 pages of dresses, roughly 135 choices out of the 4307 available, which was more than I was expecting. If I wasn’t the thrift girl that I am, I could have bought more because there were so many fab styles and most of them are discounted!
I really wanted the peplum dress but my size was not available to I settled for this timid white dress with a surprise see-through back detail.
I proceeded to check-out before I can break my bank, supplied my credit card details for payment, and all was done in minutes. The dress cost was covered by my GC but I had to pay 100Php for shipping. If you’re order costs more than 995Php, then your shipping is free! I received a confirmation email and was advised that I should expect delivery in 5-7 days because I’m in the provincial area.
I placed my order Monday night and received it Friday afternoon, so that’s 4 days only waiting time. I received my item securely sealed in a Zalora plastic bag, which I appreciated since I am sure that my white dress is safe from the rainy days along transit.
The dress have a good quality, I tried it on and it fitted perfectly, everything is all as I expected.
So all in all it was hassle free experience. Who wouldn’t be thrilled with the experience of not having to waste time by sitting idly in traffic, by finding a parking lot or by queuing in fitting rooms or in cashiers which you get in going to the malls? I will definitely buy from them again if my cheapskate self decided it want to splurge a little more.
So to finish, I think I’ll share the top five things I absolutely love about Zalora. How about I compare it with our normal online re-sellers?
#1. They have a 30-day free return policy. This is 100++ points for Zalora against normal online resellers, you can return an item no questions asked and you can do it for free! You don’t have to think, it’s automatically a good thing when it’s “free” and if you can do it in such a long grace period. Normally online resellers implement a 3 or 7 day replacement (only due to quality issue) for their items and you have to ship them back at your own expense. While with Zalora, you just fill-out their return slip form and drop the item at any LBC or 2Go branch near you. So you thought an orange dress will look good on you but when you tried it on it makes you look like traffic cone? No worries, you can return it anytime within 30 days. So Zalora really kicks out the competition in this one.
#2. Their items have actual sizes complete with detailed measurement information. Have you ever brought something online all excited to receive it days later only to find out it doesn’t fit? It happened to me! I trusted the online seller when she told me that it’s a one size fits all stretchy dress that can fit S-M frames. I am a petite girl so I was fairly confident that everything will fit me, turns out it fitted way too much. I love Zalora’s size information because you can grab a tape measure and size up yourself and have a good estimate if the item will fit you.
#3. They have professional pictures (most) of the things they’re selling. Having a clear, detailed picture in all angles helps a lot especially when you can’t physically inspect an item. Most online resellers only take pictures of their clothes on hangers which makes it flat to look at, but since Zalora’s are worn by models you can somehow vividly imagine how the clothe will look on you.
#4. They have Cash on Delivery (COD) option. I didn’t opt for this payment because I’m working an 7am-5pm schedule everyday which meant I won’t be there to pay upfront. But for those people who have been scammed once before like me, you paid for the item but you found out your seller is bogus, this is a really good risk-free option. I was once scammed for 3,500Php (maybe I’ll share my experience on that one in another post) and the feeling of wanting to kill someone is not a good experience.
#5. You can try their items. I won’t be able to experience this because I’m not located in Manila but how cool is that? So apparently for COD in Manila areas, they will give you 15 minutes to try the item on while the delivery guy waits for you and you can decide right there and then if you want to keep or return it. Cool right? You need to pay the item first before trying it on but if you decide to return it the delivery guy will hand you back your money. Again, how cool is that?
Have you tried shopping from Zalora? Did you like the experience like I did? I’d like to know about your online shopping experiences, was it better than mine? Let me know below. Cheers!
It's Me, Cesz! 