Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Icône vs House of Bath

This is the first in an occasional series, Battle of the E-commerce Sites, where I will test two e-commerce websites in the same vertical.

After seeing it in their print catalogue, I waited the requisite 24 hours, and still I found myself thinking every hour, on the hour, about owning the large version of this pitcher from House of Bath. Fed up of wasting my brain space on such a matter, I shifted over to the House of Bath site to buy it.

What a nightmare. House of Bath wants to know your date of birth before you can register to buy. House of Bath also wants to know how long you’ve been at your current address. But only online; telephone ordering doesn’t pose any of these irritating questions. By the time I was finished, I almost resented the company for offering such a pretty item through such a horribly annoying website.

I was really in the mood for domestic purchases tonight. Once I’d found Icône (via Nigella), there was no hope left for me. Within moments, I’d bought this - talk about a sexpot. And, as everything in the Nigella range seemed to be on sale, I also bought this curvy creamer (in duck egg blue, of course).

The experience of shopping on Icône could not have been a bigger contrast with shopping at House of Bath. It was easy, took less than a minute from checkout to registration to completed purchase, and the specials-via-email update option was opt-in. I opted in.

House of Bath’s stuff is generally less appealing, with a few stand-out items (like my new jug, and the pink and baby blue enameled steel colanders they offer), while Icône is very design-centric and full of gorgeous things. All told, I know which one will get my custom again soon.