I just got my first Ts from Threadless. It was a great experience, all around. Enough to make me write about it. What did they do right? Everything.
1) The site is clean, well-designed, easy to navigate and simple to shop. There’s a good balance of promo links, standard navigation and links to popular content. Shop by gender, size, colour, popularity. All easy, without clutter. It allowed me to efficiently browse dozens of shirts and pull the best out. A few quibbles with photo galleries, but pretty minor stuff.
2) They pulled me in deeper. Not every business should be community-driven. Threadless is though, and it’s powerful. They source shirt designs from artists, have the community filter the best designs, and then sell ‘em. You can tell the artists are excited when their work is selected. Threadless pushed their customers to be highly engaged with the brand and business by giving them control over the product.
3) They know their market and communicate well. The copy is clean, but has a little attitude. The models are real people, acting like real people. The shirts, sourced from the community itself are artsy and clever.
4) They nail the fundamentals. Everything about the purchase was professional, from clicking on ‘buy’ to receiving my shirts the next day. Yes, the next day. From Chicago to Vancouver. Impressive.
Check it out now, as every T is 10 bucks.
Speaking of online buying experiences, I got a pair of shoes from Pediwear a few months ago. Check out their site next to Threadless. Quite a difference. I also noted the shoes had been sent by overnight courier. Yet they still took a week+ to arrive. Here’s a chance to impress their customers with lightning fast delivery. They’re already paying the same shipping costs, but Pediwear’s internal processes are so slow that it takes a week just to get out the door. An easy win for customer experience, missed by Pediwear.
B
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Great points. I’ve been a huge fan of threadless for ages ( they make a great seminar example)
The briliant part of their business model is that they’re not just in the t-shit business, they’re in the design community business.
Whether the product is a t-shirt or an iphone skin, building a community of designers and taste makers is invaluable. That community is a moat ( if you like Buffet).
Brilliant
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Yeah threadless is great. What puts it over the top for me is that really anyone can have one of their t-shirt designs and art printed and marketed on a mass scale. That and all the designs are creative and original.
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