As a fashion blogger I’m always previewing and shopping the latest trends at some of my favorite retailers. Recently, I’ve noticed a shopping trend among some of my favorite blogger friends and that is shopping on Amazon. Now, my husband and I have been Amazon Prime members for quite sometime and yes we shop with them frequently but, I rarely shop fashion pieces with them. In all honesty I find clothes shopping on their website very daunting. For me when shopping certain retailers I feel that I have to mentally prepare myself to shop. I do this with retailers such as Forever 21 and Marshall’s/TJMaxx. There is so much to look at, so many racks to sift through, it gets a bit overwhelming. In the online shopping world, Amazon gives me the same feeling. So when I noticed a lot of my peers showing off their favorite pieces I couldn’t help but think, where do they find these great pieces? How long do they scroll through item after item for that one great wardrobe addition? This is when I realized I may not be alone and that there may be others who ask the same questions. On today’s blog I’m going to be talking about my experience and tips when shopping on Amazon. If you still find it overwhelming after you read, its okay, I’ve linked some really great pieces at the end of this blog you can shop and I’ll be sure to add some more favorites to my “Shop My Look” page or in my Instagram stories so make sure to follow and show some love!
Speaking of my Insta-stories, this is where my journey with shopping for Amazon began. I presented my thoughts and feelings on shopping with Amazon and the overwhelming response I received from my followers was insane! Many people related so much to my struggle of shopping on Amazon and I knew I had to shop and share my experience.First I wanted to share some of my quick tips that helped make my shopping experience easy.
Shop Prime
As I stated above my husband and I are Prime members and as a member you receive certain perks like 2 day shipping and free shipping and returns on all “Prime” products. Let’s be real, everyone hates paying for shipping, so if for nothing else, the membership is worth it right there. I also love the 2 day shipping. With online orders you have to usually wait about a week. If you’re in a bind and waited until the last minute to shop bathing suits for your Mexico vacation (true story), being a Prime member allows you to shop tons of styles and receive them fast. Also as a side note, recently Amazon’s biggest fault many consumers are complaining about, is how long shipping takes on items that are not prime. I clicked on a non Prime item and the estimated arrival time was a month away!? So do yourself a favor and become a Prime member or at the very least shop items with the Prime logo by them. You may not get it in two days as a non Prime member but at least you don’t have to wait a month!
(PS totally not an #ad for Amazon Prime I just really like the service and swear by it)
Pay Attention to Size Chart
I noticed, especially when shopping for that swimwear I mentioned, there are two kinds of size charts on Amazon, the what I like to call “Normal Size Chart” and the “Amazon Size Chart” (pictured below) The Normal chart represents normal sizes that fit true to size. The Amazon chart is an insane unhealthy version of a size chart where if your a size 8 your considered an XL. Try shopping swimwear with that chart and not crying. The more you shop and click on size charts you will notice the difference and you will learn what size you need to order depending on the size chart offered.
Search Key Items
Through my shopping and searching on Amazon, I’ve found it’s easier to shop if you search key items, such as “fashion tops for women” instead of just scrolling through the “Women's Tops” tab. It narrows down the search just enough to get rid of all the riff raff that I feel makes the shopping experience overwhelming.
Read Reviews
This is something my husband is really big on, so when shopping any other item on Amazon such as Homegoods or Electronics, I always read the reviews. I never thought to do it for the fashion items, however, they really do help you with sizing and quality questions which is always nice to know before you buy!
There really are some great unique pieces to shop on Amazon, you just need to know how to find them and I hope these tips are as helpful to you in your shopping experience as they were in mine!
When I started the Amazon shopping discussion on my Instagram I also learned a lot of new things I never knew Amazon offered. The second I wanted to share about Amazon was some of their Unique Features. The more you shop on Amazon you will discover a lot of hidden features and programs they offer but before this blog gets any longer I’m going to stick with just some of the fashion features I’ve learned about.
Amazon Brands
Did you know Amazon carries many brands exclusive to them? I’ve heard rave reviews about their Amazon Essential’s line. I shopped a few pieces myself. It’s their offering of basic pieces for your wardrobe at great prices like tee’s and tanks. One of my other favorite brands I love to shop is Lark and Ro collection. They have great dresses. The line is very cute and there are some great dressy/ casual pieces.
Boutique-esque Shopping
I did a lot of shopping on Amazon for this blog and the more I shopped I started to notice a little scroll bar toward the bottom that featured “Styles I May Like” featuring the brands I’ve recently shopped. None of them are major retail brands, they are brands offered by Amazon. If you search for a specific brand you open up a whole other way to shop with Amazon. Now I don’t even scroll through, sometimes I just search my favorite brands like MakeMeChic and BTFBM.
Discontinued Product
Oddly enough I heard about this feature from one of my customers. She was looking for a specific denim fit we used to offer and after I told her we no longer carry the item she told me she would just check Amazon. I of course had to dig for more info, since I was in the middle of blogging about Amazon and she told me many times, especially with fragrance companies like Bath and Body When they discontinue an item you can usually find it on Amazon. In her words, “its as if they (the company) just took their left over stock and sold it to Amazon to get rid of it.” So for all my cucumber melon fans out there, your prayers have been answered.
(PS Old Navy does not do this….yet…..but I’ve searched some of our old denim styles on Amazon and they are not their so sorry Flirt fans)
Wrapping up my Amazon shopping experience I also wanted to share two last things that are a hard pass for me when shopping on Amazon. The first is Prime Wardrobe. At first I thought this idea was brilliant, you can put up to 8 items in a box and ship them to your house for free and you only pay for what you keep. Very similar to programs like StitchFix, but instead of a stylist helping you out, you become the stylist. Sounds fun right? Well not exactly, there are Prime Wardrobe certified items and even specific sizes. I assumed every item that was Prime eligible would be part of this program but that is not the case. Then when you finally find a cute piece only certain sizes are wardrobe eligible!? In my experienced retail professional opinion, all the items offered in the wardrobe are either high priced items or the B list items no one wants. Amazon seems to attempt at getting these items in your home, making you try them on and fall in love with them. When you are actually paying $89 for a floral dress you know you could have found a similar style for a cheaper price shopping normally on their website. I really tried to shop this program for you all to share my experience but got turned off with the whole idea very quickly.
Second, the “Designer Dupes.” I get it, designer items are expensive and buying the knock of item is cheaper while still showing off the prestige of the label. As a fashion expert and someone who has studied and worked in fashion in NYC, and has had to write a paper and presentation on knock off goods, buying knock off goods make you look cheap. In my opinion it’s very disrespectful to the specific designer. I know I can debate this idea with many but the fact remains buying designers dupes is equivalent to illegally downloading music or movies and the fact that Amazon offers these items is a huge turn off. Okay end of rant, but seriously SAY NO TO CHEAP KNOCK OFFS!
Well that’s a wrap on my Amazon shopping experience. I didn’t mean for it to be so lengthy and for those of you who read all the way through and didn’t skip to the end where my items are linked, Thank you and I hope this helps you when shopping Amazon!
My Amazon Faves!
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