Online shopping is now the preferred consumer method. In fact, consumers spent a whopping $294 billion in e-Commerce in 2015! That’s an average of $1,700 per person. For us, we value quality, affordability, but above all: customer service. Online or otherwise, customer service is still king and if you make it difficult for us to pay or reach you? The Editorial Team here at ATOD agree: buh-bye. So we wanted to share 6 online services that we ourselves use(d). Our goal? To encourage you to support amazing companies – and – ditch those companies that aren’t living up to their “sales pitches”. We’ll leave the rest up to you …
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LOVE. (with all our hearts)
Dollar Shave Club
Um, the packaging alone is worth it, but then? The product line exclusive to Dollar Shave Club is phenomenal, AND hey give you amazing razors and blades! We may have a newfound love. At first glance, we thought Dollar Shave Club was just a cute little ploy to encourage men to maintain their shaves and upkeep their dapper beards and staches. Boy were we wrong (though they do that too!). With shaving kits for women and men, your skin will be smoother than silk and looked after with products that cater to your sensitive nature. Overall, we are BIG fans and we can’t ooze about them enough.
Rent the Runway
RENTtheRUNWAY: Beautiful designer runway dresses that you get to rent for a minor fee just because you want to feel hot? Oh yes, it’s real. RentTheRunway.com this is our kind of online membership! First off, the selection is ample and it appeals to every single body type, every age, and every sense of style. Let’s be honest: as much as we want to spend $1200 on that killer Hervé Léger dress for that trip to Amalfi, it isn’t likely we’ll wear it more than once so, RentTheRunway has made it possible for you to be photo-ready, sexy as hell, and elegant … all at a nominal price. Fans of Diane von Furstenberg, Badgley Mischka and more get to parade around in their favorites knowing that they don’t have to commit to that outfit forever. BUT, on the off-chance you do fall in love with the piece? You can actually buy it too. This is our new favorite obsession and in case you want to wear something new every day all month? Now they offer a membership called UNLIMITED where for $139/month you can get as many clothes as you want. It makes life a LOT easier because now? You can look glossy-ready without going broke. (Or buying something you only planned on wearing once!)
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Club W
Club W. Chances are you’ve seen it advertised everywhere, including in ATOD Magazine. What is it? It’s an online wine club that gives wine lovers – both savant and beginning – an opportunity to try 4 new wines every month. With wines from Australia to Napa Valley, they have an interesting selection. So after giving our first month a shot, so far we’re on the fence. Why? Because the wine selection is pretty limited and while we appreciate their trying to introduce new wines to wine lovers everywhere, I do wish there was a way to break down the selections.
Still, we’ll give it another month.
INSTACART
Want to order groceries and stay at home while they get delivered? That’s INSTACART! A mobile app and online service, Instacart gives you a list of nearby grocers and sends their instacarters to pick out your groceries for you. So, we LOVED it for a handful of times until we decided to go to the store ourselves and price compare. A fresh root of ginger is $1.29 in-store but through Instacart? That same ginger root was upwards $6! That kind of price hike was a bit too daunting for us. So while it’s awesome that Whole Foods and Sprouts are among their stores, this is really an emergency-type grocery shopping service. If you don’t mind spending three times the normal price, this is your go-to but if you’d rather just hop in the car (or even Uber it – it’s cheaper) it might be worth the extra inconvenience.
That said, it really is great for minor must-haves, we just don’t recommend it for your weekly shopping experience.
[separator type=”thin”]LOATHE. (deeply)
Farm Fresh To You
Oh how lovely it seems to want to support your local farmers. That’s how “Farm Fresh To You” markets itself and it isn’t until you agree to your second shipment that you realize first impressions are total crap. Produce, buying local, supporting a thriving farmer? All of our favorite things so when a company like Farm Fresh To You shows up at your door inviting you to support precisely that and you find out it’s all a sham? Let’s just say Fight Club’s first rule need not apply here. Not only are we shouting to the rooftops that this membership sucks, we’re telling everyone we can. After 6 different orders, twice the prices of the local grocer mind you, and getting food that was not only wilted and straight up in it’s expiration mode, we finally said, ENOUGH! This is not “Farm Fresh” unless picking produce from the discarded and “yucky” pile counts. And just to be clear? It doesn’t.
Stitch Fix
(we hate this so much we weren’t even sure it was worth an image.)
No. No. And a RESOUNDING NOOOOOO! This brand is one of the biggest false advertisers we have ever come across. First? These are NOT – we repeat, NOT – professional or successful stylists they’re using. In fact, after 4 different orders, all totally botched and infuriating, we’re convinced they have hired 10-year old girls who spend their days picking out clothes after playing a few rounds of American Girl (the dolls). Seriously. The clothes lack any resemblance to the “style profile” they ask you to fill out and there is no fashion sense about them. Imagine asking for Barbie’s Dreamhouse and instead getting Rugrats Retirement Homes. Or asking for styles resembling Victoria and David Beckham and ending up with Monica Lewinsky … in the 90’s. Yes, that’s www.stitchfix.com for ya. Not worth the mobile app download or the modest $20 styling fee. It’s modest because the entire service is run by people pretending to have an understanding of fashion.
This just isn’t meant for the regular fashionista … AT ALL.
