Window treatments online shopping, it is never just the price that matters
When doing your custom window treatments online shopping, it is never just the price that matters. At least, not for me. My decisions always get colored by the how easy it is to find what I want, how quickly I can compare the prices, how safe it is… and I can go on and on. If you think about it, these things really bother you too, people just move on if it gets too complicated or if they don’t trust the site. Just as you should. Online shopping is meant to make things easier, not crazier. And shopping online for window treatment also means you don’t have the time or money to pay the exuberant retail prices. So here I’m analyzing the big brand name in online window treatments shopping: Zebrablinds. I will be looking how easy it is to get help, how easy it is to find a window treatment and the brand, the security, and the prices and warranty. Biases are bound to happen (I am human), but I will try to be as objective as possible.
Number 1: Finding Help
Zebrablinds initially very easy to find a window treatment you want making things simple right of the bat. Zebrablinds also offers their instant help contact number or chat box right there on the home screen. Making it simple to get help. However, ZebraBlinds.com has a great design here making the help options such as email, chat, call in nice side slider on the right side. The help options are available, easy to see and use, and most importantly not blocking my view or being an annoyance in the corner of my eye. Zebrablinds has their little chat box on the bottom corner and their phone number on the top of the page.
Number 2: Finding The Window Treatment
Right on their main navigation bar Zebrablinds offers users the options to choose between blinds, shades, drapes, and shutters. Then each section has its own drop down letting you further filter your search based on what you are interested in. For the purpose of keeping this simple, I looked at finding just one window treatment, a Light Filtering Cellular Shades. Easy to navigate to the Cellular Shade section. Once at the page the site showed me a list with images and a very detailed filtration. Site also had easy sorting and a section to enter my width and height that automatically updated the prices on all their products even before I pick one. This makes comparing the prices a cinch. Zebrablinds make it even simpler with their text search option that literally let me type in exactly what I want and will suggest topics based on what I type.
Number 3: Finding The Brand
For a brand, I looked at Zebrablinds.com for Graber Cellular Shades. Graber is the brand owned by Spring Window Fashions the world’s second largest manufacturer of window treatments, making it a major brand and something most people look for. Zebrablinds showed the type of blinds, the name, the price, and the brand right there on the initial listing. A user wouldn’t even know the Graber options unless they looked through all the options or went to buy specifically that brand. This also means I don’t easily get to compare the price of the different brands all in that one page without having to navigate to the next page or to select a filter. In this category Zebrablinds easily is my pick, by making all the information already available.
Number 4: Security
They offer payment via trust payment gateways like Paypal. Zebrablinds has the Accredited Business stamp of approval from BBB, Authroize.Net, credit cards logos and alpha ssl certifications stamps. All these credentials ensure users information is not stored or misused and that people can safely make purchases on the site. Zebrablinds have Authorize.net or Paypal to checkout to ensure safety further.
Number 5: Prices and Warranty
Again I’m only looking at the prices of the Cellular Shades in their default width and height of 24” x 24” to keep things simple. ZebraBlinds offer free shipping. The lowest priced cellular shade is the Crown brand, offering the cheapest rate of $33.99 for the Crown Top Down Bottom Up Cordless Cellular Shades. Though cheapest the shades are made in one day and are Crown brand, which means I’m not sure about the quality. But, the product does come with a Limited Lifetime Warranty. So I also looked at the Graber Light Filtering Cellular Shades. Graber offers the same shade for $48.72 before customizations. The Zebrablinds Crown brand for $38.07 is also energy efficient suggesting the window treatment is of high enough quality to provide great insulation, and comes with a Limited Lifetime Warranty.
Zebrablinds dominated providing help category, the security credential display section and even has the lowest priced Crown cellular shade with Limited Lifetime Warranty. Also provided great navigation help provided any option in finding brand name blinds or in finding blinds more features like the eco-friendly option for the same price. Zebrablinds performed well in their search help, finding brands, finding the lowest prices for the brand, and even having a reasonably priced generic shade with eco-friendly options and Limited Lifetime Warranty.
Based on your preference there will always be a winner. For my preference for Graber in this comparison, I would be choosing Zebrablinds for the purchase as it performed well in almost all the categories and did have the best price for the brand. In any case, take your time and compare your options to find your preference match.
