It’s not a secret that Fashion Bug, Lane Bryant, and Catherine’s are owned by the same company, Charming Shoppes, Inc. I’m going to pick on them a little bit on this article, but I’m sure we can all come up with sites that have similar problems.

What’s Irking Me:

1. Lack of cohesiveness.

I’m sure there’s a brillant marketing reason behind it, but if Charming Shoppes owns all three stores, it would be nice to have one of their store cards work for the other two. For example, if I stroll into Fashion Bug, I should be able to use my Lane Bryant store card. I think this would be a big hit to shoppers that mix-and-match clothes from all three people.

I mean, I can use a Lane Bryant gift card at Fashion Bug - is there a leap of faith between gift card and store credit card? Sheesh.

2. Online search.

Don’t make me google for your products. Do I like Google? Of course I do! However, when I go to your site, I expect to be able to search for products directly on the page. Looking up item IDs isn’t always the best approach. When I was hunting down the Bra6, it took me forever to do because I had to go through the entire bra section and search with my eyes. If I wasn’t such a grizzled old net.person, I most likely wouldn’t have bothered. That equals lost revenue.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but as of this post, I don’t see a traditional search feature. C’mon, Charming Shoppes - women everywhere love your site. We can’t get complacent here.

3. RSS

This isn’t really a gripe, more like something that I want to see. I really wish that all 3 sites carried some sort of RSS-fu. That way, I could load up my favorite newsreader (I’m a BlogLines girl) and get the latest scoops. Again, if this feature exists, feel free to comment and clobber me.

I know that no site is perfect, but if I’m going to drop good money to improve my wardrobe, I (and all of you other customers out there!) should pinpoint problems and talk it up.

Update: I wrote a short letter to Charming Shoppes, Inc. I hope to hear back from them within “five business days”. I’ll post the letter when I get home.

Tags: gripes, suggestions, lane bryant, charming shoppes, plus size fashion, perspectives