Zulily is a very unique company that offers many benefits to their customers. The way the shop is designed is to bring ease to the busy lifestyle moms often face. Their goal is to provide these women with a one-stop shop for all their shopping needs by bringing them designer items at discount prices. The website operates a little differently than normal shopping sites but the company is very upfront about their procedures in their online descriptions. The way Zulily operates is by bringing in merchandise from other companies and brands to sell on their website at a discount price. Most items are designer items or name brands that Zulily sells for a fraction of the cost. Many of the products sell within the twenty dollar range but can be as low as ten dollars with any sale promotion used. Other retail websites often only have one or two promotions going on at any given time. Zulily has made it a point to be different and offering lots of promotions is one way they accomplish that goal. The site gives customers daily and sometimes hourly promotions. The homepage is constantly changing to reflect new deals they are offering to customers. The marketing and advertising department at Zulily even suggests that if customers become fans of the site they should download the Zulily App to be able to keep up with the constantly changing promotions. Another lure to the shoppers at Zulily is the large variety of material that they sell on the site. They are not limited to being just a clothing or home décor store, but instead they offer anything a mom could think of that she might need in her home. They sell both men and women clothing including a plus size selection. They sell kids clothing, toys, gifts, home décor, shoes, baby and maternity items and much more. The site has so much material that shoppers can easily browse for hours and the company suggests again that customers use their App to be able to narrow down the searches of what they want to purchase.

thumb_down

The Bad

Shipping and returns hassle
Poor customer service department
Fast paced online shopping

An online retail store with the number of options that Zulily presents unfortunately falls short in some areas. The shipping and handling procedure at Zulily is difficult for consumers. Although the company is very clear about how the policy works on their website, if a customer does not read through the print entirely they could be disappointed in how their items make their way to them. Merchandise is not created at Zulily but instead bought from other companies and sold to shoppers, making them a middleman of sorts for online retailors. This makes the shipping process take longer than shopping directly from another company. Most items take as much as four to six weeks to get to their destination once they have been purchased on Zulily. The company does not offer a general free shipping policy but does have promotions that will sometimes include free shipping. However, one benefit Zulily does offer their customers is their all day shopping and one-time shipping policy. Because items move so quickly on the website the company allows shoppers to buy an item and keep it in their cart all day and continue shopping. They then only have to pay one shipping fee once their purchases are completed instead of paying shipping for each item they find at a great price. Returns at Zulily are just as complicated as the shipping and handling. Again, because of the way the company runs, as a middleman, returns are difficult, time consuming and costly for any customer. The website does not offer a clear return policy but instead directs any shopper wanting to return an item to contact their customer service department as quickly as possible. The customer service department however is noted around the Web as being difficult to get in contact with. Many customer reviews state that the customer service at Zulily is poor and needs to be greatly improved. The website layout at Zulily is designed to accommodate all of the merchandise available that is constantly changing daily. As mentioned before, the site brings in designer items from other websites to sell at discount prices. Most of these items are only available to purchase for a minimum of three days on Zulily. All merchandise is limited in the quantity and size, and the website runs off of a first come first serve policy. Once an item is sold out, it is not restocked but instead replaced with different merchandise. Even if an item is not bought, if the time frame runs out it is taken down from the website and is no longer available for purchase. This leaves shoppers having to quickly decide what they want and to purchase it quickly. It also creates a bit of chaos for the site itself in that it is constantly changing and customers can rarely find an item more than once.

gavel

The Bottom Line

Zulily is a very unique website that is specifically designed for moms and gives them a one-stop shop for most of their purchasing needs. They have a large variety or products, great prices on designer items and have countless promotions and sales that update constantly on the website. However, the shopping at Zulily is fast paced and although the procedure is laid out clearly on the site some shoppers might not like the unique style of Zulily. The shipping process takes longer than normal and returns are not easy with a difficult customer service department. Zulily is a fun way for moms to find what they need and their available App makes keeping up with the fast pace a little easier.

Was this content helpful?

thumb_up Yes thumb_down No

border_color Write a Review

User Reviews

Star Rating

3.7

star star star star_half star_border

66 Reviews

Review Breakdown

5 grade

41%

4 grade

24%

3 grade

11%

2 grade

1 grade

18%

Sentiment Criteria

Value