JCrew.com starts accepting customer reviews, publishes guidelines:
Maybe worth a revisit?
- The E-Commerce + Youth Triangle of Discount Madness (orig. published here)
- J. Crew wins Store Wars 2014
- Why the web is addicted to the hyper critical
Affordable Men's Style
I can understand most of those for trying to keep it focused on the product, however price is a major factor in any product. I can see an entirely reasonable review that ends with something to the effect of ‘This is a good [garment] but wait for a sale.’
Of course, I read Dappered, so maybe I’m biased toward that kind of line?
Also, the other brands thing. Fair enough, but I want to know how something compares to a similar item from another manufacturer. For example, J. Crew 484s have a slightly wider leg opening than Banana’s Aiden chinos. Stuff like that is super helpful.
But yeah, us Dappered people are spoiled.
I think we worried about those same issues before we opened up to reviews, and ended up saying screw it, especially now that we can respond inline to comments. The price thing is a bother, but hasn’t really been much of an issue…when people mention issues they had with their order/shipping time/sizing mishaps w/o having contacted us first to fix them, that’s a bit of a downer–but, again, inline responses fixes the issue.
Seems obvious they want to avoid reviews that say stuff like, “Instead of the 484s, the Banana Republic Aiden chinos are superior value”. I see no problem with them asking reviewers not to mention other manufacturers.
Seems pretty standard to me. There are a lot of retailers with similar policies (don’t mention price, don’t mention other brands). Heck, I once got a review axed from Orvis’s website because I mentioned a product’s country of origin.
I think it’s also helpful to segregate comments about customer service (frankly, I haven’t heard anything bad about J.Crew anyway) from actual product reviews. It’s a PITA on Amazon when you’re trying to look at actual reviews and you have to sort through a bunch of one-star reviews based on customer service, shipping, or return policies from either Amazon or third-party sellers.
Amazon’s one star reviews are almost always useless. I wish they’d monitor those.
I generally find customer reviews of clothing to be totally useless. I was looking at the reviews of the Aiden Chino on BR’s web site and more than one guy acted like the pant legs were wide enough for a raccoon to crawl up your leg. It was totally bizarre.
I also don’t think they want people who are new to the style game to realize what we all know . . . wait for a 30% off sale, they happen all the time!
Lol!!
I’m on the site and I don’t see the review function.
Looking at some bags, (which I ended up ordering today) I couldn’t help but to wonder why they didnt do reviews on their site to begin with.
I immediately thought of these two comics from XKCD when I saw the headline for this post.
http://xkcd.com/1098/
http://xkcd.com/937/
Nay brother. We are the elite.
And we won’t be culled into buying $h@!?- that we don’t love!
I’m wih zaku and Brock. – the entire purpose of a review is to give you a detailed impression of everything I feel about the garment…that includes how it stacks up in price and quality to its competitors.
Here- tell me how you feel about this luxury car…tell me your experience, and whether or not you think I should buy it…but please, don’t talk about he value of the car for the money, how it stacks up in its class. Just…uh…describe it in a vacuum.
His is how you wind up driving a ‘cube’ because the review says….’it’s nice ?’
I don’t bother with reviews. I just ask myself: WWJD?
What would Jesus don?
Like historical, on the shores of Galilee Jesus or 21st century USA, major metropolitan dandy Jesus?
What Would Joe Do, of course. Though I suppose he’s basically the latter.
Or maybe “WJWTS?”
I appreciate reviews that are more comprehensive. Maybe a rating for fit, material, durability, comfort, overall quality, etc…
Yeah, I assumed those names were pretty much interchangeable on this site.
Reviews should require you to include your measurements as well as the size you purchased. There are so many reviews that say an item fits well or poorly, that are absolutely no help at all.
Of course, J Crew changes their offerings and names of offerings so frequently (try to use an item link from a couple years ago or even last season) that no reviews will actually stick. They certainly can’t use the reviews for “Ludlow Sportcoat in Italian Cotton” for their “Ludlow Italian Cotton Blazer.” That would be ridiculous.
Vaguely unrelated, but did anyone else notice that JCF changed the names for their chinos? Not sure about other products, but now instead of ‘slim’, ‘narrow’ and ‘classic’ they have *name* names, similar to BR or Club Monaco. I dig the creativity and all, w/e, but its a pain if you aren’t familiar with their classifications and just want some damn slim pants.
I really hope I see a review on the J. Crew website that just says “it’s nice?”
Definitely funny, but I find reviews to be one of the best things about the internet. Yes, you have to discount the occasional wild-animals-could-live-in-my-pants comments, but given enough reviews you can usually get a sense that something is wrong with the sleeves, the color isn’t as pictured, the material is cheap, etc. You just have to use your own judgment. I say Viva La Reviews!
Absolutely! I try to give my measurements (in inches) and other detailed information so when I say a medium is a good fit for me, people know what I’m talking about. The world would be a better place, or at least a better dressed place, if everyone took this advice. Why not just have an area where you can check off your info if you know it when you leave a review? (chest size, arm size, etc.)
YES.
That site really has some great stuff, but a lot of it is just crap. I wish there was a “best of” or “top rated”.
YES! This drives me nuts. Your review is worthless without this info.