Once upon a time I was a twenty-something part-time lecturer at a prestigious university. I would do classroom work twelve hours a week and study twelve hours more to earn a Masters degree to make a twenty-four hour work week. While others had a forty hour work week, I had more time to rest, to make friends, and to spend time at the most dangerous place known to my pocketbook : the mall.
That was years ago. A couple of maxed out credit cards in my twenties forced me to straighten up and stay where my pocketbook was safe : at home and away from stores. It worked for a time and I was rehabilitated from my retail addiction. Until the stores found their way back to me. . . via the internet.
But let's be honest. Online shopping in the Philippines isn't exactly Net-a-porter.com. Here, you find an online seller, pick a product based on a photo, make a bank deposit to who knows where and pray that your purchases arrive via courier. If you don't like what you bought, well, there are no returns, no exchanges, no consumer rights to speak of. Each time you purchase something online there is a 50% chance that you're a couple of thousand of pesos poorer with no added value in exchange. Each time is a leap of faith.
That was until I encountered Zalora.com.
I had seen Zalora.com's banner ads on facebook and on virtually every popular blog I read but I never really tried shopping until lately. I happened to be down with asthma and it was the perfect time to do some damage to my bank account.
Beautiful user interface, fantastic shopping experience
My Zalora box, fresh from the courier!
The Zalora Philippines website is a legitimate online mall much like my favorite online haunts which includes Net-a-Porter and Amazon.com. The clean design is without clutter making it easy on the eye and the logical organization of items makes shopping a breeze.
Buying items is straight forward. Add items to your shopping cart, enter your delivery address, and enter a payment method. But here is what's special about it: you can pay for your items cash on delivery! Now that is one unique feature that many Filipinos will appreciate.
That's just a basic feature, though. For a truly risk-free online shopping experience, Zalora accepts returns for unsatisfactory items within 30 days of delivery. It was this guarantee of being able to return items that gave me the confidence to buy from their store.
Excellent customer service
I bought three pairs of shoes from Zalora Philippines and I was given a 3-5 day delivery time frame but I was surprised to get my package in 2! I took a quick shot of the neat Zalora box and opened it to try on my brand new shoes. They were lovely and looked exactly like photos on the website, but I was disappointed that only one out of the three pairs fit well. Then I remembered the return/exchange guarantee.
I dialed the Zalora hotline and asked how to exchange a product. The friendliest customer service assistant asked me no difficult questions and taught me how to return a product free of charge through LBC. She also patiently answered my questions (no matter how obvious) because she knew it was the first time I was returning a purchase.
I learned Zalora items may be returned by dropping them in any LBC branch or arranging for pick up by appointment. Turn around for an exchange is about 5-7 days, during which a quality control team will check the item if it is suitable for replacement. In my case, they ran out of my shoe size and gave the equivalent amount in store credit (my choice. you may also opt for a refund). My return was processed in three days. The whole process was hassle free. Very, very impressive!
Preppy but not loafers!
|
No shoe collection is complete without animal print
|
Orange. My favorite color.
|
Using my store credit
Purchasing new items with my store credit was a breeze! They gave me a coupon code via e-mail that I could use at checkout so that my it could credited towards my purchase. I chose two pairs of flat shoes that came up to slightly more than coupon so I paid for the difference in cash. COD.
Today, I am the proud owner of three new pairs of flats that I purchased online from Zalora. How would I sum up my shopping experience in three words? Fast. Convenient. Risk-free. It is simply the best online shopping experience I've had from a local company -- and it didn't even hurt my bank account (so much).
RSS Feed
