Easy Spirit

Full review
I wear a few styles of Easy Spirit shoes.  However, my local Easy Spirit shoe store is located in an incredibly busy shopping mall (try to find parking!).  That is why I shop at EasySpirit.com.


What is Easy Spirit?

EasySpirit.com is primarily an online shoe store that sells the Easy Spirit brand.  They offer a variety of styles, from sneakers, casual to dress shoes, sandals, boots, slippers to handbags.  Most of their line is geared toward women, but they also offer a limited number of styles for men.  The have a wide size range as well as sell double-narrow and double-wide widths.  As you can imagine, not all styles come in all widths.


Navigating the Website

http://www.easyspirit.com

The Home Page features a large advertisement in the center that focuses on a current sale or promotion.  Beneath this is a quick "Shop by Size" area.  Choose your shoe size and width from the drop down menus to view all the shoes that fit.  The search results include a small product photo, color swatches, the style name, and the price (with a sale price in red if the shoe is on sale).

Along the top of the page are text navigation links:  Shop by Size/Width, Shoes, Accessories, Sale, About Easy Spirit.  There is also a search box and a link to the shopping cart to see what you've selected for purchase.  Typing the word "sneakers" into the search box resulted in 72 shoe selections.

Free shipping is not offered all the time.  If Free Shipping is available, a notice will be displayed near the top of the page, usually with an expiration date for the offer.


Let's Go Shopping!

I knew I wanted to purchase two pairs of Easy Spirit shoes in different styles.  The first pair was their AP1 Sneakers.  I typed "AP1" into the search box, and the results came back with three styles.  I knew I wanted the black leather shoes, so I chose that selection.  This opened up a page for the shoes.

Each product page includes a good size photo of the item, which can be enlarged.  There is also basic information about the shoe and the materials it is constructed from.  There are color swatches, which can be clicked to change the shoe color in the product photo.  Doing this also shows what shoe widths and sizes are currently available.  Select the combination of size and width and then click the "Add to Bag" button.

If shopping for a handbag, the description provides the handbag dimensions.  The product photo only includes a front and back view of the back, no interior photographs.  The images can be enlarged though.

When Easy Spirit runs a sale is the best time to purchase from the website.  You can subscribe to their email newsletter for website updates, but I have found the newsletters to be hit-and-miss regarding their sales.  An example of sale prices are the sneakers I wanted to purchase.  The AP1 shoes in black leather retail for $59.99.  I bought them for $49.99 and was offered free shipping plus a free totebag.  Compared to other websites offering Easy Spirit shoes, this was the best deal going.

Earlier I mentioned that I wanted to purchase a second pair of Easy Spirit shoes.  The style is called "Motion".  The color and shoe material I wanted to purchase was not in stock at Easy Spirit in my size.  I had to find another place to make the purchase and ended up buying them from JC Penney's online store (you can read about that experience by clicking on the link).


Checkout and Payment

The checkout process is easy.  Just fill in your shipping address, billing address if different, and the necessary contact information.  Make sure to supply an accurate email address to receive the order confirmation and shipping updates.

Easy Spirit accepts these credit cards: Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, JCB.  They also require the security code from the back of the credit card.

If you don't run into a free shipping offer, Standard Shipping costs $7.00 for an order up to $75.00, and $10.00 for orders over $75.00.

Once I placed my order, I received an email confirming the purchase.  The email included thumbnail images of the items purchased, pricing, as well as an order number.  I never received an email with a shipment notification or tracking number for the shoes.  However, I did receive one for the free totebag.


Receiving the Order

The order arrived in excellent time and was packaged well.  The shoes arrived first, and they came in a shoe box in case you are wondering.  It seems silly, but the free totebag arrived a few days later as a separate shipment.  It seemed hardly worth the extra postage since even though the totebag is a great style, it is made from horrible cheap-looking fabrics.  This is not a totebag I would carry in public unless I needed something that I didn't care about losing or damaging.

As always, the shoes are of excellent workmanship.  However, this particular pair of shoes had one shoe lace that was snagged.  A large piece of it was "pulled".  No matter how I tied the laces, that snag would not stay hidden.  So I phoned customer service to see if they would send a replacement lace.


Customer Service

Speaking with customer service was an easy and pleasant experience.  I cheerfully explained the snagged shoe lace on the new pair of shoes.  At first the representative didn't understand what I meant, and she hesitated when I suggested a replacement lace be sent for the shoes.  She wanted me to visit my local Easy Spirit store to get a new black shoe lace.  If I had wanted to brave the mall (at Christmas time no less!), I would have gone there to begin with.  The customer service representative said she would do her best to send me a replacement lace.

A week later I had a padded manila envelope in my hand.  Inside were two black laces to match the black leather sneakers.  It's good that they sent two laces since the laces are a slightly different style than the ones in the shoes.


Summary

EasySpirit.com is convenient.  I don't want to make a special trip to the busy mall just to buy a pair of shoes (parking woes, time, gasoline expense).  I know my shoe size, and the Easy Spirit styles I like to buy, so this is a terrific way for me to shop.

I hope you found this review useful.

Enjoy the day,
Dawn
http://dlstewart.com


Please read my other reviews:

Easy Spirit "AP1" Walking Shoes

Easy Spirit "Motion" Casual Shoe

Zappos.com (online shoe store)

Crocs (online store)

Footsmart (online shoe store)

Kohl's (online store) 
 
LL Bean (online store) 

Coldwater Creek (online store)

Coach (online store)

Copyright 2010 Dawn L. Stewart