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What to Check When Purchasing a Fancy Dress Costume Online?
The online business is growing week on week. Why would you want to walk from shop to shop, carrying bags, coats and dealing with your (or worse) someone elses' screaming kids? You can make a nice cup of tea, sit comfortably and work through the many choices you have, all at a click of a mouse.
Some items are easy to purchase on line, a picture for instance. You can see exactly what it is and know what to expect. Purchasing a fancy dress costume is a little more complicated.
Being one of the UK's leading fancy dress shops, we are at the cutting edge of online and shop marketeting. We hear from customers (that are visiting the shop) talking about the problems they have encountered whilst trying to purchase a fancy dress costume on line. We have taken their comments into consideration during the development of our own internet site. Take a couple of minutes to read this article and take note of the common pitfalls that many people have.
1.The costume does not arrive in time for the party or function.
Now this may not be the internet site's fault at all. A lot of people will leave purchasing their item until the last possible moment. With the best will in the world they are expecting the impossible. So, if you do need an item quickly, check with the firm (preferably by their telephone contact number as this will give you the quickest answer,or email). Ask if the item is in stock and how much carriage will be for a next day service. Expect to pay more for this service. Always leave plenty of time in the lead up to Christmas because, due to the excessive demands on the Postal/Delivery Service, all items will take longer to arrive than what is stated.
2. The costume does not fit.
This is a common problem. The pre-packaged costumes are not known for their generous sizing. A costume may come in small, medium or large, but you really do need to know how generous the costume size is. All the models used in the costume photographs tend to be very slim and tall. Be honest about your size. You will not look like the model in the picture if you are a different size to them. Make sure that the costume design will also flatter your figure. At Props n Frocks we have the advantage over pure online shops as we have seen all of our stock costumes on real people with real figures. We encourage our customers (unlike some online sites) to contact one of our customer assistants. Because all the people you will speak to actually work in the shop, they have the expertise to guide you to a suitable choice.
3. The Costume is very poor quality
Unfortunatley, good lighting, as used in the pictures, can make a poor costume look lovely. Please be realistic. A costume that is selling for £12.00 is not going to be a top quality costume. All goods must be fit for the purpose that they are sold. Any item that is faulty should be returned to the supplier. It is impractical to take all items from their packaging, so every now and then a faulty item will be sent out. Packaged fancy dress costumes used to be dreadful, luckily for you, the consumer, the quality is improving rapidly. This is great news as it will create confidence in the genral public. At Props n Frocks, we are able to remove from stock the costumes that, in our opinion are misleading.
4. I placed my order and even though I chased it up, I received no communication from the company.
We hear this complaint all the time. It seems that just because the order is placed online, good old fashioned customer service disappears. How long does it take to send an email? Most systems are set up with an autoresponder anyway, so keeping your customer informed should be easy. Buying online takes a huge leap of faith and a lack of communication causes the customer a great amount of stress. Is the costume going to arrive in time? Will it fit? If information is given at an early stage, it allows your customer to be able to make other arrangements. So, I would suggest that if you are purchasing an item online, and you need to know if it will arrive in time, to contact the firm, by phone ideally. Stress the importance of knowing if the item is in stock and when it will be despatched. As discussed earlier, agree to pay more carriage if time is short. If your emails or phone calls are not getting the response that you expect, cancel the order immediately.
So to re-cap:
* Give yourself enough time to place the order and have it delivered in time for your function.
* Be honest about your size, read the costume's description and if in doubt contact the company.
* Expect to have good customer service and communication.
I hope that this article helps you avoid some of the pitfalls of purchasing a fancy dress costume online. I welcome any experiences that you may have had good or bad.
About the Author
Adele Wiseman is the proprietor of Props n Frocks, one of the leading UK fancy dress shops. Available as a consultant for both new and existing businesses. Adele lives in Essex, has 2 grown up children and 3 mad dogs.
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