As swim season nears, I’ve been spending a lot of time scouring various shopping sites for the perfect swimsuit. Of course, J.Crew always has a great selection of styles that you can mix and match.

Here are my current favorites. I love that these pieces have matching versions in the CrewCuts Collection!

Jersey Lomellina® ruffled tank, $175.00, Item 23443

French sailor halter tank, $82.00, Item 23505

Girls’ topsy turvy tank, $49.50, Item 23544

Girls’ French sailor stripe bikini, $39.50, Item 23554

J.Crew recently introduced a new feature in the Mens section of the website called, “Jack knows best.”

For any questions related to mens fashion and styling, Jack has got it covered. On the site, there are some questions and answers from Jack. I found the following question about wearing white after Labor Day to be relevant given the holiday was yesterday.

I think it’s great the mens collection has their very own dedicated email address. The bridal collection has ashley@jcrew.com. CrewCuts has melanie@crewcutkids.com. The personal shopping consultant is erica@jcrew.com.

If you have something to ask Jack, you can email him at jack@jcrew.com.

Can I wear white jeans after Labor Day?

Absolutely. White or wheat-colored denim works year-round, despite what the old rule says. As soon as it gets colder,wear them with sturdy boots (right now I’m particularly attached to my Red Wings) and heavy gauge sweaters or a great tweed sportcoat.

The Laundress New York® for J.Crew denim detergent, $16.00, Item 23450

White denim Vintage slim-fit jean, $98.00, Item 93117

Vintage slim-fit garment-dyed jean in wheat, $98.00, Item 12220

Yesterday, a customer service rep from the call center wrote on this blog.  I contacted her with the following message:

Hi! Wow, I am so happy that you came across my blog. Would you be willing to give me some insight into what has been happening at J.Crew lately? Please let me know. I am sure my readers would appreciate any information during this chaotic time.

I thought it would be great for the readers of this blog to receive direct feedback on what is happening online.  Here is what she wrote.  If you have any additional questions for her, please post them in response to this post.  I will forward them directly to her.

Yes, I would be happy to do that for you!

What I have been telling my customers (passing along information that I have obtained) is that J.Crew is in the middle of a HUGE change – company wide. It really depends on your issue with J.Crew for the reason… If you had delays or issues with shipping it’s because of the communication errors with the computers. The distribution center’s computers (where the package and ship you your stuff) are not communicating with our computers (your computer at home via internet and my computer at the call center). So it’s causing a lot of problems…and it’s unexpected. For example, a lot of customers are ordering, say…4 items and only receiving 3. Even though when they placed this order over the phone or over the internet…and everything says that it is available, the inventory just isn’t right for some items (because of the computers not communicating). But don’t worry because J.Crew is fixing all of these problems every day! If the order goes into complete shipped status, then you are charged for the whole order – which is a problem, because we only charge when we ship. As soon as this occurs, and we are able to go into the order, we credit the customer back. But most of the time…the order is in a partial shipped status, which means that the computer is kinda waiting for that item to become available, but it never will be. So in that instance, the customer is never charged.

It is just very frustrating, especially now with the final sale going on, because you think that you are getting a great deal and then you never receive it because it actually wasn’t there! I personally apologize to everyone and on behalf of J.Crew! We had no idea that things were going to be this chaotic!

I promise to everyone…we are all working overtime hours to help get all of this straightened out. And if you have a problem with your order, just call us … if there is something else that we can send to your for a % off or anything we can do to make up for what we didn’t do…just call!

If you would like to know anything else about the situation or anything really, just let me know!

And as for the suggestions for J.Crew…please please…

email us at:

contactus@jcrew.com

They actually do read every single e-mail. We record every time someone makes a suggestion about something…whether it’s in regards to the website, the fit of certain pair of pants, whatever it may be…they make a note of it and keep track of how many people feel the same way. So it’s very important to let us know that you have these suggestions, because I can promise you that a lot of other people feel the same way and have already told us, we are just waiting for a little more feedback.

As an avid online shopper, I thought it would be a nice idea to write a post describing some of the changes I would make to the J.Crew and its website if I were afforded the opportunity.

1.  Advertise Free Shipping or Promotions

Many online retailers do this.  Nordstrom offers free shipping on every order of $200 or more.  This is always the case, year round.  A holiday does not need to be approaching.  It’s just a standard on their website.  Bloomingdales also promotes its free shipping code, when valid, on the front page of its website.  Zappos even goes as far to offer free return shipping on every purchase, and that’s after receiving free shipping on every order no matter how large or small.

These free shipping offers are either a standard or promotional.  And when they are promotional, they are advertised directly on the website.  There is no need to search the blogosphere for them.

2.  Offer a Sale on New Items

Nordstrom has been doing this for many years.  Every year, at the end of July, the retailer hosts an Anniversary Sale where it offers the newest looks for Fall at end-of-the-season prices.  It’s a great way to drum up sales during a very slow time in the retailing world.  I was just at the store the other night and purchased a pair of Ugg boots for $120.  When prices go back up on August 4th, they will be $180.  It was quite the steal.

Banana Republic even offered a similar promotion where shoppers could take 30% off their purchase of items from its Fall Collection.  I only learned of this after going into a store and seeing the signs everywhere.  My boyfriend wanted a pair of shorts, which I swore he would not find this time of the year.  Sure enough, Banana Republic offered shorts in its Pre-Fall Collection and he got them for 30% off.

What are other retailers doing right?  What keeps you going back to them?  What are some other suggestions you have for J.Crew?