"The Perfume Shoppe" is a family-operated American perfumery located in Stottsdale Arizona that also sells online. They are specialised in exclusive, hard to find, niche male and female perfumes. They sell perfumes from about 30 different world-class perfumiers. Some of those can be found in similar Australian online sites, or in exclusive shops in your city - "Mariposa" sells some of those (not all) in Perth. However, TPS is excellent for something that we crave in Australia, and in Perth - vials and pre-packaged samples of exclusive perfumes. This is one of the specialities of the TPS, and what brought me to them.
The price of an
average bottle of these exclusive perfumes is so high that you do not want
to buy anything you haven't tried a few times. It is difficult not to
love perfume samples, especially when each of us have a specific
reaction to and relation with the perfumes we wear, and fashion has little to
say about the ph of your skin and how a perfume smells, precisely, on you. On the other hand, samples are great to test perfumes you have never tried, to build up a
perfume wardrobe (to use in different seasons, events, mood states,
outfits, and so on), to use them while
travelling, or carry them in your handbag to spray on any time.The TPS's sample program allows you to do any of those things. I love the fact that you can get sophisticated products within a budget. That sounds like heaven to me.
You have different shopping options and all of the samples are shipped worldwide for free:
1/ Five scents of your selection from their whole range for $20.00. They use decanters to fill in mini-vials (no spray), which come with handwritten labels.
2/ Pre-packed samples, provided by the original perfumiers, usually five, for an average price of $25. TPS doesn't make the selection, they just send them.
3/ Six scents from the family of perfumes of your selection (floral, gourmand, fruity, oriental, marine, and so on) for $25. The mini-spray samples are pre-packed by the original perfumiers, but the guys at the TPS choose the perfumes for you depending on availability. I ordered the female gourmand and fruity collections, and I am quite pleased with the quality, presentation and smell of most of them; you can give away those you do not like.
4/ Fill in a travel or trial spray atomiser with your choice of perfume for, about, $30. It contains 4-5ml, which lasts for about 60 sprays.
The TPS staff are very kind, and they always add an extra free sample to your purchase and attach a Thank You card. The staff are also very nice and promptly reply to any of your queries by email.
The shop does ship to Australia, not only samples. Alleluia! Once you order, you receive two emails, one confirming the payment and another the order, and a third one will arrive after dispatch. Parcels with samples take about 15 working days to reach Australia (or at least Perth).
THE ONLINE SITE
The TPS's website is SSL protected, so you can shop without any worry. You can save your personal details in Your Account, and the system will automatically fill-in the check-out forms next time you shop. Shopping from there is truly hassle free.
Colours and style are nice, but the navigation lacks functionality at times due to the structuring of the site; moreover, some of the photos have been badly inserted, stretched beyond their size capability, and some of the icons need a transparent or black base to match the site's background.
The site does not have a logout button. A logout link does exist, but it is a
faint grey line, not even underlined, written at the bottom of Your
Account area, barely distinguishable per se. You can also see a blue underlined logout link while you are checking out, but you are checking-out, therefore processing your payment, why would
you want to sign out from there? Helloooo web designers!
ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
= They need to make their website more customer friendly. Simplicity is a great virtue, but good organisation and good design are also good ones. Creating an specific logout button or clearly visible logout link in all private areas, inserting icons properly, and removing photos that aren't clean and good are simple tasks that will improve the site enormously and are easy to implement.
= They should create separate areas devoted to women and female perfumes, perfumes by categories (floral, marine, citrus, oriental, and so on), and create an area devoted to things that aren't strictly perfumes, like perfumed candles for example.
THEIR REWARD SYSTEM
They have a
points rewards system. You get one point for each dollar spent, and you can exchange 10 points for 1 dollar discount at your next checkout. You can redeem all or some of your points from "Your Account" area. Do mind - the points are allocated to any purchase in which you are not redeeming points. If you spend, say, 100 dollars, and use a reward point discount on that purchase, you do not earn any points on it instead of the 100 points you could have earned if you had not claimed any of your points. Therefore, use your points wisely!
MIND
> You need to register to order. No shopping as a guest allowed.
> No Paypal available as way of payment.
> No
tracking link is provided after dispatch of samples. You can get one on
full bottles depending on the shipping method you select.
> Do not order with a hurry, because your parcel takes a while to get to Australia. Dispatch, according to the site, takes 24 hours. My experience has been of nearly 48 hours every time. Add to this the about fortnight you need to get your parcel.
> You might not like some of the perfumes you receive in the pre-packed lots. But you know this beforehand and you are a risk taker, right?
***
The Perfume Shoppe, despite the little flaws of its website, provides male and female perfume lovers with a great customer service and awesome fragrances delivered at your doorstep. This is especially important in Perth WA, where getting perfume samples is difficult, and finding samples of exclusive perfumes is like a miracle. Imagine if you live in a little town or in rural Australia. You can get 5/6 vials for 20-25 bucks and brands that you cannot get in Australia at all. A bit pricey for samples, but they are worth the price. And everybody is going to be asking you about your perfume.
Let us smell divine for the sake of our own un-royal noses.
