God, some websites are appalling aren't they?

[FeliciaJollygoodfellow]

I just had a birthday and have received a shedload of Zara vouchers (at my request). I went on the website yesterday and judging by that, there is literally nothing I would buy. It all looks foul on the gorgeous leggy models, so why would it look good on me?! Also, it doesn't help that unless you click into each individual item you can't see the entire outfit as the scroll is off.

I mean don't get me wrong, I'm going to go and buy from the shop but why are some websites so awful? I'm not a fan of Boden but at least the poses and outfits look like the clothing is the right size and the women are kind of normal shaped.

Mind you, a lot of the clothes are awful.

Case in point: www.zara.com/uk/en/woman/knitwear/view-all/frilled-shiny-trousers-c733910p3781095.html

Even the name of those though- 'frilled shiney trousers' has anyone ever bought an item of clothing with that title?
IKWYM re web sites, I find the discount ones (secret sales, TK Maxx etc) particularly difficult to manoeuvre

It totally puts me off buying online from them. I've got no idea if the e.g. jeans will fit me because the photos are so naff - even though I already have jeans from them!

H&M, new look, even topshop have crap websites. ASOS is decent, obviously it has to be as online only.

I've been wtf about Zara's website for a while now. It used to be good. There's a close up of a model's face with literally an inch of material showing as the main pic advertising a dress. It's too try hard. Warehouse appears to have revamped their site lately and is going the same way. I do most of my clothes shopping online so I wish they wouldn't.

Yes, ASOS is very good.

I was on the Secret Sales website looking at Not Your Daughter's Jeans and could not make head or tail of how the sizing worked. It said buy a size down from your normal size, gave Uk Sizing 10, 12 etc with US equivalents 6, 8 etc but the actual sizes on the jeans went from 32 to 46 -- not in dress sizes at all. Too scary so just left it. Their loss.

TK Maxx website used to be fine, worked well in fact, so they 'improved ' it. Now it's shite.

Asos is pretty good - I like that they tell you how tall the model is and what size she is wearing. But they don't allow reviews which is a pain in the arse.

Carpet - I agree about those trousers! Sadly they weren't even the worst thing, just the first thing I clicked on!

It's just so annoying though, I don't have time anymore to spend hours trawling through the shops and then potentially take stuff home and then return it. If you've got a website, make it a) easy to navigate; and b) take decent photos! Loads of places manage it why are these ones so shitty?!

tarty that really annoys me- how can businesses run when they turn off people who want to spend money!!! I find this sizing issue very common.

Oh my other big problem is when they have one image taken from a distance on someone standing in an unnatural pose so you have no idea about the details of the item or how it hangs.

I cannot work the Next website at all

Someone mentioned Woolovers as a great place to buy knitwear. Fine, but their mobile site is hopeless, can't select from the menus, no option to select desktop site, gave up in the end.

Next website is hopeless

I hate it when you click on an item then instead of returning back to where you were, you go back to the beginning and have to scroll down again for ages.
So many websites are shite.
And the Zara website, wtf?

Such a good thread! I hate the Next website, particularly on mobile, because instead of photos of the item you are interested in, it's lumped in with a bunch of other stuff in a kind of moodboard. Dreadful layout and navigation. Also Bravissimo on mobile is a complete waste of time.
I like John Lewis filters for clothes - you can really specify down to detail.
Zara is painful.
I like ASOS.

I hate websites which say 'we will dispatch orders within x days if in stock'. These companies who run the business based on orders first, then they get them in. Lingerie websites do this a lot. Don't display products unless they are in stock! I don't shop online so that I can wait 10 days.

I never shop on Ebay or Amazon for clothes. The filters are terrible and the whole process is an ugly mess. Amazon for books and Ebay for stationery.

Why not go to Zara home instead? They have some lovely stuff.

The models on the zara site look so glum.

The thing is though, they probably love these threads because it creates traffic to their websites. Bad traffic is better than no traffic!

I think they have all followed suit from Self Portrait. Much as how all the retailers now copy their designs. The whole point of the Self Portrait website was to almost make the model invisible, like a coathanger, so the garment was the main focus. And it's now set a trend.

I don't like it either, mind you. A few years back, I worked for a lady who was absolutely gorgeous and very high up in the fashion world, so knew all these sorts of things. She tried on a Self Portrait dress for me and I could barely find words - she looked utterly gorgeous. She then directed me to the site as I was also looking for a nice dress - I couldn't even spot the dress to begin with because it just didn't have the same 'wow' as it did on her. But then, if I'd seen a picture of her wearing it on the website, I probably would have thought 'well it will never look like that on me, so why bother'. It just made me look at the items on the website more carefully, rather than just seeing how they sat on the model.

I love the ASOS website too, though. And love the height thing as a PP said. I think their size guide is really clear too. I buy a lot from them, mainly because they have a well-stocked petite section, and because it's easy to judge if something will fit or not.

Next website drives me insane. I don't want a lookbook. I just want to search dresses or tops fgs!!

I cannot abide Next website either. So glad it's not just me! And i agree about Secret Sales one too - they had some James Lakeland items on but the sizes for the coats was identified only as L, XL or XXL. But no clues as to what these Italian sizes mean in the real world. I don't want to have to trawl another site to understand the brand's sizing - if you're trying to sell to me then make it easy!
Sometimes i will have a lot of stuff in my 'basket' then it disappears if i click the back arrow to continue shopping where i left off (M&S seems to like doing this to me) So the retailer loses out because i get cross and just close the website in frustration! I spoke to someone who said not to press the back arrow, but then I can't navigate back to where I was (unless of course, someone on here tells me there is a way to do this that I don't know about...)

ifonly are you sure it loses it? If I press the back arrow, the basket goes back to zero, but just because it's showing the last page as it was when you were on it (before you added the item). Once I click on something, it shows the basket as full again. Have you tried that?

The terrible thing is that these sites have been designed extensively. Like someone probably designed the user experience, so the path the user takes through the site, to make the most conversions. And then, someone should do the pretty designing. And they end up shit, but cost a bomb.

ASOS really needs reviews, especially as they sell online only and sell different brands so sizing/fit can vary wildly. But I love their catwalk video.

Zara is too artsy to be useful. Their default layout for images, 2 at a time means that image ends up being to talk the fit on average screens.

I don't understand Next's website at all.

They're changing the "good" ones too so they're mobile compatible which makes them miles more annoying to view on computer. Like Jaeger, which I browse, thanks to Mumsnet. Or rather, I don't anymore, I just browse the outlet which is clearer.

In general I think they fall wrong when they see themselves as peddlers of art and not peddlers of clothes. They need to understand that we just want plenty of information about the clothes so we can make a well-founded decision to buy. It doesn't have to be "inspirational". Thank God most of them have stopped with the Flash sites that started playing films every time you entered.

Well, I like Zara Home but I want to buy clothes so it's not that helpful!

It's like the site designers are trying to think up the least user friendly interface and combine it with the most unhelpful pictures. And I totally agree with Bravissimo - it's easier for me to drive into town, park and buy from the shop than it is to order online for some reason.

The Next website puts me off every time. I don't like the clothes for me (for some reason nothing fits me the way it should) but the layout puts me off when looking for clothing for the children.

I have in the past bought quite a lot from Very, I'd say their website is pretty good. Filters are good, photos decent (and they actually use plus size models for their plus size items) and they allow reviews. They could do with stating the model's height and clothing size though - I find that really helpful. The online only ones are much better I think.