The ever-popular Amazon.com has decided to branch out and take advantage of the continually growing popularity of online shopping for fashion by creating Endless.com, a shoe and accessory website. The newest venture is made to compete with the likes of Zappos, Gap's PiperLime and Nordstrom. Endless.com is still in beta, but looks eerily familiar to another shoe and accessory destination that I am familiar with: Shoebuy.com
Both sites cater to women, men and children for their footwear needs, both sell handbags, offer a 110% price match guarantee, free return shipping and 365-day returns. However, the two sites do differ. Obviously Shoebuy.com offers a very expansive collection of shoes and handbags, but they also offer apparel, bags (such as luggage) and fashion accessories such as belts, shoe trees and watches. Another perk is that they do not charge sales tax.
While Endless.com’s shoe selection may not provide as many varieties of brands and designers as Shoebuy, this can be forgiven because they offer free overnight shipping. So if you need those shoes by tomorrow, Endless.com is the place to buy them. I also love their clean layout and how the sidebar navigation makes color, size and brand selection easy. Actually, overall, I like Endless.com’s total web design layout. It doesn’t feel cluttered and is easy on the eyes.
It will be interesting to watch it grow and evolve, but also to see if it can become a true competitor in the footware market.