How close can e-commerce come to a real shop?

 The other day, I decided to buy a pair of shoes for A/W. I usually go to the city to shop but I was in the mood to buy them on the Internet this time. In Japan, as far as I know, there are two websites for purchasing shoes. One is Javari.jp and the other is LOCONDO. Both offer almost the same service so I chose Javari.jp.

 Javari.jp started its business specializing in shoes and bags in 2010 by Amazon.jp. It seems like just an ordinary online shopping site but what is epoch-making about it is they don't charge shipping fee and they accept returning of goods regardless of the reasons within 365 days (except for some goods) under specific conditions such as the tag hasn't been removed or the shoes haven't been worn outside, which means "return them in the same condition as they were delivered." Moreover you don't even have to pay return shipping fee!! So it's like this; you order some pairs of shoes like different colors or size, or similar shoes, then you try them on (inside your house!!) and you buy shoes that you want and return the others. How convenient is that!

 Buying stuff online is sometimes very difficult since you cannot actually see it until it is actually delivered. And in Japan, it is almost impossible to return it unless there are damages. So what Javari.jp does is quite new. They brought the concept of "try-on" to e-commerce. 

 I checked some chukka boots on their website and I selected three pairs of shoes; two with the same styles but with different sizes and one with a different style. I ordered them before 4pm so they were delivered the following day!! That's so fast!! The box was this big.

and inside...

I also took a picture of the shoes in a box so if I return them, I wouldn't get any trouble packing them back again. LOL. (because they said "pack them the same way as you received it")

I bought 26cm and 26.5cm of this pair...

and 26cm of this.

 Unfortunately, all of them were too big for me even though I usually wear 26cm shoes. So I returned them. Bye Bye. The way to return was easy too. You can use the postal service from Javari.jp and they will come to collect the goods at your preferred time. Or you can bring them to a convenience store just like I did.

 After sending them back, I ordered two pairs of shoes again. This time I chose the 25cm and 25.5cm shoes. As expected, they were delivered the following day. (Even if it was Sunday) Then I decided to buy '25.5cm size' pair. Although the other pair was more my favorite, 25cm was a little too small. And I used the pick up service by the post office. I chose the pick up time online and gave it to the post man the next day. I also got an email from Javari.jp that said my return goods were accepted and they would be refunded.

 So after all I only bought one pair of shoes out of five and the others were returned. I felt a bit bad because I just ordered and tried them on. I really wasn't so serious buying them. I was just curious how I looked If I wore them. Also, I wanted to compare them. But that doesn't mean I will never buy shoes at a real shop but it might get often that I choose to buy them online (like after I check similar shoes at a real shop!!)

 I regret to say that there's no overseas shipping service. But I think Amazon.com has it. I don't know if they accept returning goods from abroad though. I'm thinking about getting shoes (again!) via Amazon.com next time so I'm a bit worried. It's better I'll try them on at a shop before I order.


Javari.jp: http://www.javari.jp/
LOCONDO: http://www.locondo.jp/

and there's Javari.co.uk which has international delivery.
Javari.co.uk: http://www.javari.co.uk/