Where Geek Girls and Shop Girls collide

Ali — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 03:57:17 +0000

Technology experts Meghan Wilker and Nancy Lyons of the Geek Girls Guide entered the FM107 studio for our Shop Girls radio interview pecking away at their iPhones. The minute the On Air light went on, they flipped me: recording our interview on one of those adorable little Flip video cams, which they consider one of the best things to happen to mothers since all-day kindergarten. You want to be friends with these two. They're with-it, working moms on the cutting edge of technology, but are able to talk about, well, geeky matters in an entirely approachable way. Here are a couple of the cool new things they told me about for iPhone devotees: The Owle Bubo, an attachment that turns the iPhone 3GS into a higher quality, more flexible video camera, and a couple of must-have apps that moms can feel good about using to bribe – er, educate – young kids: Baby Flash Cards and the pro-vegie game Pickin' Time. Geek Girls speak fashion too: they turned me on to Polyvore, a cool website where you can catch up on the hottest trends and actually mix and match pieces to create looks. Want more? Listen to a podcast of the Geek Girls on Shop Girls (Hour 1, Dec. 19).

This pricing is Bananas

Ali — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 06:51:45 +0000

Maybe it's the straight pants, or maybe it's the running after children, but I'm liking my flats lately. Found some cute ones at Banana Republic last weekend: patent finish, pointy toe, bright, coral-y red. Best part: the price: $40.99 (marked down from $98). But they didn't have my size. The salesperson said I'd find them online, and I did – for $69.99! I complained to online customer service and received an email that said, in a nutshell, "sorry – we don't match store prices." Online, store – to me, and, I'm guessing, most consumers, it's all the same. There's no excuse for price differences – unless the online items are less, to compensate for shipping charges. Today's shopper jumps from online to stores and back again. She's extremely price sensitive and a $30 discrepancy serves only to make her suspicious of the company's prices across the board.
I found the shoes in my size at another store. Just checked Bananarepublic.com again, and it seems someone important must have read my email: the online price has been reduced to $49.99. Better, at least, but still offensive.
And they wonder why consumers abandon virtual shopping carts.

AliShops Blog » Web/Tech

Where Geek Girls and Shop Girls collide

This pricing is Bananas