This Is Serious Internet Business

I'm going to be absolutely honest with you: I am a sucker for dress shoes. Unfortunately, Singapore is not exactly the best place to get nice men's dress shoes. Very few upmarket brands make their way down here from Europe and the US, and those that do have a huge mark-up. The next best alternative is to go to Kuala Lumpur where the selection of dress shoes is slightly more varied, but counterfeits are rife and there is little guarantee that you are getting the real deal. That is why the very best way to get shoes is online. Classic men's shoe brands like Allen Edmonds, Loake, Crockett and Jones, and Meermin have started to expand into the online market, and it is only getting better for the discerning online shopper as more and more companies are warming up to the idea of selling their products online.

One shoe company that has really embraced internet business is the aforementioned Allen Edmonds. A shoe company based in Wisconsin, USA, Allen Edmonds started out in 1922 making classic dress shoes for working-class men. Since then, they have established themselves as a major player in the dress shoe industry, including supplying shoes to every single US president since the 1930s. On the Allen Edmonds website [www.allenedmonds.com], every single one of their products are available for purchase through their online catalogue. Shipping is free for all 50 states, with a flat-rate US$50 fee for all international orders.

One of the reasons that Allen Edmonds has been so successful at establishing its online presence is its devotion to customer service. The CEO of Allen Edmonds, Paul Grangaard, regularly attends to customer emails personally and sees that each and every customer issue that he brings to his attention is resolved. Grangaard is also very active in social media, and has become the public face of Allen Edmonds, helping to endear hundreds of new customers to the company. Since a typical pair of Allen Edmonds shoes are quite an investment (the Park Avenue, Allen Edmonds' best-selling shoes, sell for US$365), Grangaard wants to ensure that every single pair sold is of the very best, and is more than willing to accept returns and exchanges for shoes that customers find defective, be they aesthetic or structural blemishes. This guarantee even extends to second-hand shoes, as Grangaard believes in standing behind his product no matter how many times it has changed hands.

I have bought two pairs of shoes from Allen Edmonds so far, and the customer service that I have experienced has been nothing short of excellent. One of the shoes that I bought arrived with a loose heel, and after contacting their customer service office, they offered to exchange it for a new one for free, inclusive of international shipping. If that is not an indicator of great business, I don't know what is.