March 19, 2007
Via ReviewMe.com, I've been asked to review the site/products/services offered by HalloweenExpress.com
Topics addressed in this review:
WHAT THEY DO
WHO THEY ARE
HOW'S THEIR REPUTATION?
WHAT ABOUT THE SITE'S REPUTATION?
IS THE SITE USER-FRIENDLY?
HOW'S THE SELECTION?
HOW ARE THE PRICES?
HOW ARE THE PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONS?
WHAT ABOUT THE QUALITY OF THE PRODUCTS?
HOW'S THE CUSTOMER SERVICE?
WHAT'S THEIR RETURN POLICY?
THE SHOPPING EXPERIENCE (a liveblog)
IMPROVEMENTS I'D LIKE TO SEE
Bonus section:
COSTUMES I'D PICK FOR MY FELLOW BLOGGERS
WHAT THEY DO
Despite their holiday-specific name, HalloweenExpress.com is an online store that sells costumes, hats, wigs, props, makeup, and accessories for all occasions. If you're facing an situation where you need to change your appearance, they have a database of over 14,000 items to help you out. (Please note, per the HalloweenExpress.com privacy policy, this site is not intended or designed to attract children under the age of 13.)
WHO THEY ARE
Halloween Express started in 1990 as a brick and mortar seasonal business. They currently have over 140 stores, most of which are only open during the Halloween season (generally late August to early November). After the 2004 season, they decided to establish a year-round sales presence on the internet.
HOW'S THEIR REPUTATION?
Excellent, as far as I can tell. Most news stories mentioning of Halloween Express stores on the web are either human interest stories about franchisees, or in the context of stories on the economy which mention the rising sales of Halloween costumes as an industry. These are all positive to some degree.
In fact, the only negative mention of Halloween Express that I found was from 2006, when they were targeted by one of those perpetually offended, politically correct, special interest groups who complained about the fact that they carried Indian costumes.
To which I say: Boo hoo. It's a costume. Get over it.
I mean heck, they also make fun of nerdy white guys, and you don't see me crying into my pocket-protector about it, now do ya?
Anyway, I'm pleased to see that they didn't back down and still carry a good selection of Native American accoutrements.
And to balance off the PC hate, I'll also mention Halloween Express is at least one person's favorite store.
WHAT ABOUT THE SITE'S REPUTATION?
Again, excellent. They recently received a 5-star rating by TopConsumerReviews.com, the only one out of nine costume sites to do so.
They're also approved by the Better Business Bureau Online Reliability Program.
IS THE SITE USER-FRIENDLY?
And how. When a site carries over 14,000 items, there's always that delicate balance to be achieved between navigation links and product promotion links. I think they did a fantastic job of providing just enough of both with their 3-column design. The search box is clearly labeled and placed prominently at the top-right of the page. The text links for product categories are well-chosen to help you immediately see their most popular sections, and their category titles are broad, yet inclusive, and useful for most shoppers.
HOW'S THE SELECTION?
Unparalleled. From classics like Dracula and Elvis to the bizarrely creative Man Eating Shark to their exclusive "Leg Avenue" section for women that's guaranteed to raise your...um... eyebrows... they've got pretty much anything you could think of, and plenty you couldn't, along with all the props, make-up, and accessories to put the finishing touches on whatever you choose.
HOW ARE THE PRICES?
I'm not a costume connoisseur by any stretch, but I can say that everything I looked at seemed reasonably priced. No sense of "sticker shock" on my part. Most costumes seemed to fall in the $40-
$80 range, with plenty above and below, depending on the intricacy of the item in question. As an added feature, their advanced search feature DOES allow you to browse by price, so shopping on a budget is convenient.
And just to comparison shop a couple items more or less at random to prove my point:
HalloweenExpress.com Light saber: $9.99
Competitor light saber: $9.99
HalloweenExpress.com Deluxe Bunny Costume: $98.99
Competitor Deluxe Bunny Costume: $99.99
Also please note that - unlike their competitors - HalloweenExpress.com doesn't use those annoying, fake, crossed-out, artificially-inflated prices on its site.
Anyway, dealing in the volume they do, I think it's safe to say that it's not likely that HalloweenExpress.com will be either regularly or significantly undersold.
HOW ARE THE PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONS?
Brief, yet sufficient. The pictures are clear enough to let you see what you're getting, and you can click to enlarge on all the ones I saw. Text descriptions tend to be brief, but always enough to clarify what's included in the purchase price. If any props or additional items shown in the photo are NOT included, the item description will mention that.
They're also very good about including information to help you choose the right size for your costume, with links to appropriate sizing charts on the individual item pages. One item even included the following warning:
*Please Note: This costume runs very small! Manufacturer's listed sizes maybe smaller than clothing industry standards. You may want to select a larger size than you usually wear.
I don't recall ever seeing a similar warning on any other website. Bonus customer care points for HalloweenExpress.com.
WHAT ABOUT THE QUALITY OF THE PRODUCTS?
I don't have a Halloween Express nearby, so I can't personally examine the merchandise, but I would assume - given how long they've been in business - that they're up to industry standards. Keep in mind though, that these are costumes and props, and are generally designed for occasional use, rather than daily wear. If you have any questions about whether a particular item will meet your needs, you can contact HalloweenExpress.com through either e-mail or live chat.
HOW'S THE CUSTOMER SERVICE?
Well, I tried out their live on-line support at about 2:45 CDT on Thursday, March 15th. I had Pat helping me in the chatbox less than 60 seconds after I clicked the link. He quickly cleared up my questions about the use of the words "premium" & "deluxe" on some items (apparently they're more terms of art used by manufacturers than specific quality descriptions - just ignore them and rely on pictures and the full product descriptions). Pat was both helpful and patient. Since he had no idea I was doing a review for the site, I assume any random customer would be treated with the same high level of professionalism.
Both experiences I had with e-mailing the company were just as quick and helpful. Even the question I submitted on a Saturday afternoon was answered within 15 minutes.
Another nice site feature - the "suggest a product" link in the left sidebar. If you don't see something you'd like, you can suggest that they try to find it.
Please note that this link is only for suggesting something you'd like to buy. If you want to pitch an idea for a product you'd like to sell to them, use the Supplier & Merchandise Inquiries information in the Other Contact Information section.
WHAT'S THEIR RETURN POLICY?
"If you purchase an item from us and for whatever reason you are not satisified with your purchase, you can return the item to us within 15 days for a refund."
Of course, that guarantee comes with exceptions. However, considering those exceptions mostly deal with consumables and with items that will be contacting sweaty or otherwise-moistened body parts, I think HalloweenExpress.com is being completely reasonable about not accepting certain items once they've been unwrapped.
THE SHOPPING EXPERIENCE
(a liveblog)
Find the item I want...
*click* - item goes into cart...
Need to set up an account - OO! Look! There's a big red warning about how much AOL sucks when it comes to letting through outside commercial e-mails and how even non-AOHellers should check their spam folder if they're not getting HalloweenExpress.com's e-mails. That IS a good thing to mention. And this last line just makes me smile:
If you are unsure what the above means or don't know how to use the internet to shop online, we urge you not to establish an account with us.
Account established... going to checkout...
Well, shipping charges are a little more than I expected:
United Parcel Service
M02 - Ground $11.46
M64 - 3 Day Select $14.77
M63 - 2nd Day Air - Blue Label $18.24
M65 - Next Day Air - Red Label $37.22
United States Postal Service
M89 - Express Mail (1 - 2 Days) $23.80
Probably because all their packages are sent through trackable methods.
On the other hand, they DO offer free UPS ground shipping on orders of $100 or more, so if you're going to shop, you might want to get some friends to go in on your order with you.
Credit card info... Visa, MasterCard, Discover... and American Express? I didn't know ANYONE took AmEx online...
*enter info*... *click*
ANOTHER warning at the top - this one even bigger and redder - about the importance of double-checking your order info, because their ordering system doesn't allow changes to an order once the info has been submitted. And again, my favorite line:
If you don't understand what the above means, PLEASE DO NOT PROCEED WITH THIS ORDER.
Smaller big, red warning at the bottom about only clicking once on the "confirm order" button to prevent double-orders. The warning ends, of course, with:
If you do not understand what this means, DO NOT PROCEED BEYOND THIS POINT and instead, ask for assistance.
With trembling hands, I dare click "confirm order"...
Ah! There we go... now to check "My Account" [link at top right of page]... Yup - everything shows up & looks good... confirmation e-mail arrived within a minute.
All in all, pretty quick & painless.
I'll post an update when the merchandise arrives.
UPDATE 3-20-07 10:30 AM - Received notification that my order has been shipped.
UPDATE 3-22-07 1:30 PM - Received my order from HalloweenExpress.com this morning.
Actually, I probably got it yesterday, but the UPS guy shoved it under the doormat & I didn't see it until today.
Good thing the packaging was waterproof.
Anyway, I ordered a pair of these babies... strictly for home defense purposes, of course.
Anyway, they came in a flimsy cardboard box, which was wrapped up tightly in a large plastic bag, which was wrapped in a double-layer bubble-wrap envelope and mailed.
The shipping was quick, the packaging was secure, and the product was exactly what I ordered.
All reservations are gone. HalloweenExpress.com gets both thumbs way up.
IMPROVEMENTS I'D LIKE TO SEE
Although I found browsing and shopping at HalloweenExpress.com to be an overall pleasurable experience, there were a few things which - if corrected - would, in my opinion, make it even better.
Enable right click - Get rid of the site's disable-right-click "feature".
Why?
Well the BIG reason - and one that has probably made more than one person decide not to shop at HalloweenExpress.com out of sheer irritation - is that some people tend to surf by right-clicking on a link and opening the page in a new window. I often do this when there's more than one link on a page that I want to explore, as it saves me the trouble of waiting for the original page to re-load when I click the "back" button.
I assume that the purpose of this practice is to prevent people from hotlinking the images on the site & stealing bandwidth. A fair enough concern, but I think the cost in customer irritation is not worth the benefit of possibly keeping dishonest webmasters at bay. Which it won't do anyway if they're using Firefox, since it right-clicks just fine on HalloweenExpress.com - only Internet Explorer is affected.
This article has more thoughts on why disabling right-click isn't worth it, and what you can do instead.
Personally, I would suggest an alternative strategy - put your URL on the images. That way, if people download or hotlink your images, it becomes free advertising for you.
Sort of like this picture of an Aladdin costume that was apparently lifted from HalloweenShop.com
Mention the Kentucky Store on the Store Locator page - Since it's the off-season, there are no open Halloween Express stores - except for the year-round one in Lexington, Kentucky. It might be a good idea to list that address since that will - during the off season - technically be the store nearest everyone. You never know when someone might be visiting the area in the near future, and that information would be good to know.
Make the title graphic clickable - As a browsing convenience, consider giving the HalloweenExpress.com banner graphic at the top of the page a live link to the home page. It's easier to find than that tiny "Home" text link.
Rotate holidays - Under the "Holiday Costumes" section in the right sidebar, consider changing the visible short list to show the next four major holidays. For example, right now you might want the list to start with "Easter" instead of Valentine's Day.
Tweak the "Fun Stuff" section in the left sidebar - In the "Halloween Crafts" section, it'd be MUCH more helpful if the pictures on the target page were of the items that you're teaching people how to make.
Also, since HalloweenExpress.com is trying to broaden its scope into year-round costuming, it might be helpful to have sections relating to other holidays besides Halloween, if for no other reason than to give customers a reason to visit the page again, even when they're not costume-shopping.
Reposition the front page blurb - Let's face it: no one is going to read that big, black, block of text except for search engines and paid site reviewers. Why have it sitting so high up on the page? That's prime merchandise advertising space. Move the text to the bottom of the page and show off more of your wares, instead. While you're at it, you might as well include even more "search-engine-friendly" terms in that second paragraph, like ALL the holidays and special occasions you have costumes for instead of just a few.
Use videos to showcase items that move - While browsing a competitor's web site, I noticed that they embedded a YouTube video to show off their gorilla costume. Obviously that wouldn't be necessary for ALL items, but your customers would probably appreciate being able to see and hear Hungry Harry the Zombie twitching and mumbling "braaaaaainssss".
Add "View all items option" to search results - even though I have high-speed internet, I *still* hate having to wait as I keep loading page after page of 20 items at a time. If my search returns 100 items, I would like to have the option to view all 100 instead of just 20 at a time. It's not that I'm too lazy to click my mouse the four extra times, it's just that having to do those clicks distracts me from enjoying the process of shopping at HalloweenExpress.com. Again, it's ALL about customer convenience - eliminate all the annoyances you can.
Links to "not included" accessories - If an item doesn't include all the accessories pictured, having links to those items would be pretty darn handy. Might make someone decide to buy enough extras to qualify for that free shipping with their $100 order.
Make product titles as search-friendly as possible - For example, a search for "scrubs" turns up one product; a search for "scrub" turns up two. It'd be better to use "scrubs" in both titles so that both items would show up in either search.
Also, the site's search engine doesn't seem to search the product description. For example, this item contains scrubs, but was not brought up by the above search. Check with your webmaster to see if searching product descriptions is feasible. If not, then work on including more and better search terms in the product titles.
Consider accepting PayPal as a payment method - It's quite popular, and it would allows people who don't have credit cards, but DO have checking accounts, to order from your site, thus expanding your potential customer base.
CONCLUSION
Good reputation, excellent selection, fair prices, user-friendly site, wonderful customer service - pending the successful delivery of my order, I recommend HalloweenExpress.com without reservation.
BONUS SECTION: COSTUMES I'D PICK FOR MY FELLOW BLOGGERS
Looking over the costumes at HalloweenExpress.com, I couldn't help but ponder which costumes I'd choose for some of the folks on my blogroll. I'm thinking...:
Beer Keg Man - That 1 Guy of Drunken Wisdom
80's Rock God - Zonker of Thunder & Roses
Hung Like A Horse - Chris of Spotted Horse
Twister - Susie of Practical Penumbra
Tough S#!t - Graumagus of Frizzen Sparks
Lucky Charms - Matty O'Blackfive
Margarita Glass - Tammi of Tammi's World
Tequila Bottle - Sissy of And What Next...
Bun In The Oven - Carmen of I'll Do What I Wanna Do... Gosh!
Beer Bottle - Contagion of Miasmatic Review
Napoleon Dynamite - Ogre of Ogre's Politics & Views
Penguin - Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit
Fart-O-Meter - Og of Neanderpundit
Ball & Chain Couple - Frank J. & SarahK of IMAO
Happy Hill Asylum Straightjacket - Maranda of Maranda Under Stress
Backwoods Barney - Redneck of RedNeck Ramblings
Dick Fitwell: Bricklayer - Straight White Eric
Urban Cowboy - The Humble Devildog of Random Firings of Neurons
Judge's Wig - Oddybobo of Boboblogger
Lock & Key - Mrs. Who of House of Zathras and her hubby Bitterroot of Friction and Harmony
Superman & Spiderman dog costumes - Machelle of Quality Weenie
Big Head Scientist for Physics Geek of Physics Geek
Big Bad Wolf - Blake of Laughing Wolf
Zombie Doctor - RSM of When The Smoke Clears
And, of course, Seymour Bush, Gynecologist, for myself.
Feel free to leave your own suggestions in the comments.
Posted by: Harvey at
05:28 PM
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