Many people are and of course when it comes to purchasing high-quality shoes, it always is best to go in person and get to feel and try on the shoes before making a purchase.
If you’re in the Vancouver area Kalena’s Italian Shoes has a location on 1526 Commercial Drive where you can spend as much time as you need to examine and try on the shoes you’re considering.
But what if you can’t get to a store or just want to shop easily from the comfort of your home or office?
Worry not, we’ve got you covered with a guide to buying shoes online. Here are five essentials to online shoe shopping:
1. Make Sure the Size is Correct
Kalena’s and many other shoe stores online use European sizes for their products. Make sure you know which Canadian and American sizes are matched to their European counterparts so you don’t end up with a shoe that won’t fit.
Kalena’s has a Shoe Sizing Guide that can help you find out what your European size is if you are accustomed to North American sizes.
The best way to measure your exact shoe size with one-hundred percent accuracy is with a Brannock Foot Measure or other measuring device.
Keep in mind that unlike North American shoe sizes, European sizes are more uniform between the genders. A woman’s shoe and a man’s shoe in size 42 is going to fit comfortably for both whereas the North American sizes differ between men and women’s shoes.
2. Examine the Shoe Images Carefully
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Before you make a purchase, you definitely want to make sure that you are getting the exact style that you are looking for. Browsing through the image gallery of the shoes you are considering purchasing and examining them from all angles can help to inform you of exactly what they look like in real life.
Make sure you are purchasing from an online shoe retailer that has clear, clean, well-lit photos without any distracting background elements so you can see the shoes as they would appear in reality.
Kalena’s uses custom shoe images taken in-store of the actual products we have in inventory so you can be assured that what you see is what you will receive if you make a purchase.
3. Be Aware of the Shipping and Refund Policy
Different stores may have different refund or return policies. You want to make sure that if something is wrong with your shoes, such as you received the wrong color or the shoes are damaged in some way, that you can return or exchange them.
You also need to know what the shipping costs will be for your items. Kalena’s offers free shipping on purchases of over two-hundred dollars.
Check the shipping and return policy of the website you are purchasing from to make sure you fully understand beforehand.
4. Make Sure Your Payment is Secure
When giving out your credit card or Paypal information online, you want to make sure your information is totally secure. Kalena’s never distributes our customer information and uses your contact only to inform you of sales and new products, if you should so desire.When processing credit cards, Kalena’s uses an SSL Certificate with 128-bit encryption. What this means is that your credit card information is as secure as it would be in any of the world’s largest banking corporations.
Make sure that whichever store you choose to buy from, you first check to make sure they have an adequate level of protection for your information.
5. Contact the Store you are Purchasing From With any Questions
When in doubt the best thing to do is just pick up the phone and give the store a call with any questions you may have about their products.
A good shoe store will be happy to help you by answering your questions and giving you advice on your shoe purchase.
You can call the Kalena’s Shoe Store any time during business hours at 604-255-3727 and we will be delighted to assist you in any way that we can.
And as I mentioned earlier in the article and something that deserves a bonus entry:
6. Go to the Retail Outlet
This one is cheating a bit as going to the store’s physical location is technically not buying shoes online but it really is the best way to truly get the look and feel of the shoes before buying.
If the store is in your area or you happen to be passing through, why not stop by and browse the shoes in person?
Kalena’s Italian Shoes is located in the heart of Vancouver’s Little Italy district at 1526 Commercial Drive and is open from Monday to Friday 10am to 6pm, Saturday 10am to 5:30pm and Sunday 12pm to 5pm. Click to See Map
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