LL Bean

Full review
Gentle readers, you've been with me for the last 3 years. You've seen me make the wrong decision on a few purchases.. refridgerator, bed mattress, and vacuum cleaner, to be precise. You've probably chuckled at all that I don't know about women in general and my wife in particular. I write this epinion to show you that I have learned a few things, and also to review LLBean.com.

One of the great truths about women is they love shoes and bags. They can't get enough of 'em. Don't know why this is, but it is... and so when I found out we were going to the beach for a few days, I knew that my wife would be looking for a bag to take her sundries along (note to reader: what are sundries, anyway?). This search for the perfect beach bag brought me to LLBean.com.

Now I've been a long time customer of LL. (another note to reader: I wore their Blucher mocs for about 10 years, all through high school and college. Remember the way you were supposed to knot the laces? 80's flashback, I digress.) I knew that they had a good selection of luggage and handbags, so I made my way over. I was not disappointed by what I saw.

Site Interface & Design
As expected, this site does very well in overall user experience. It has been built in a way that is at once familiar to the user, but is also sensible for the new medium. Consumers will immediately recognize the strong LL Bean branding and color scheme, as it is the same palette you see in the stores and the catalogs that come to your home.
The site is divided into 4 main areas. Shopping, Outdoor Experience, Customer Services, and My Account (user services). Just like the shops or the catalog, LLBean remains true to it's mission to servicing the customer and providing excellent value, as the site says -- LLBean's tradition is "offering quality products and standing behind them".

The homepage of the site begins to offer you value as soon as you arrive -- fully half of the 800X600 screen is taken up by a Summer Sale announcement.

The shopping area of the site is broken down into 7 Departments: Men's,Women's, Kids', Outdoor Gear & Apparel, Luggage & Travel, Home & Outdoor Living, and Gift Certificates. Clicking on each of these will allow you to see the sub categories under each, for example the Men's tab will show you shirts, sweaters, denim, pants, shoes, etc.

Buying from LLBean
Since I'm looking for a beach bag, I click on the Luggage and Travel area. The site merchandises fairly well - in fact the first area that I see is the image of the back healthy bag on the top right. As you might already know (The Insider did not)-- this beach bag is their hottest item of the summer season. Clicking on the image takes you to a product page with excellent information, and a very easy to find "Add to cart" option.

You could miss it, but along the side, they've integrated some other products that might be interesting to you... another bag, some sandals, and a book light -- all products you could use on a beach vacation. It's a great way to get folks to add items into their shopping cart, and add margin to the LL balance sheet.

After you add the product in, you're taken to a one page check out... very quick and easy. If you run into any problems, you can back out and call the 800 number, as it's featured on every page in the Need Help section.

In closing
I think that this is a solid site, with an easy to understand path... great company with good customer service. I give it a thumbs up!