Jane E.

I shop online often, and Zappos is by far the quickest shipping out of all the online retailers. They use UPS and it literally will get to your door the NEXT business day. It is that fast.
And if for some reason, it didn't get here by the next day, they can even offer you a 20% discount. Which out of 3 years shopping from them, it happens to me only twice. And one time it wasn't even their fault. Zappos distribution center location got a huge snow storm, UPS service closed in that city so the package was not able to get here by next business day. Even it wasn't their fault, it was mother nature, they still offers me 20% discount that I can use on ANY purchase within zappos website.
Once you shop from Zappos for a few times, you will become a VIP. Which you will ALWAYS get NEXT BUSINESS DAY shipping for FREE. Make sure you use the same account and same email for all the purchase to become VIP. I don't know how much you will have to spend to become one, and I don't know how many times you have to shop at zappos to become one. But my own experience is I shopped at zappos 4 times, and after that I became a VIP. And after that, I got next business day shipping for free ever since.
However, Zappos NEVER has sales. So usually you won't find good deals. But if you want to get something FAST. Order from Zappos, they will ship faster than any website.
And Zappos have great shoe collection and clothes collections that other website might not offer. Sometime Zappos offers items that Nordstrom doesn't even carry. I bought some clothes and shoes that Nordstrom or other website doesn't even carry. So that can also be a plus.
But I don't think Zappos examine their return carefully enough. There was once I ordered a pantyhose from Zappos. It was already been worn and ripped. I don't understand how can Zappos take back a lingerie item that is already ripped and worn?! If Zappos examined their return carefully, they should never even take that return and resell it to someone else again.

Shipping can be very slow at Mango. I ordered one dress from Mango, it says will ship in 10-18 business days. It finally shipped out on the 18th business day. And Mango use Fedex Smartpost. So USPS will do the final delivery, but Fedex Smartpost is SUPER SLOW. Why not just use USPS or just use regular Fedex or UPS? I dislike Smartpost. Mango shipped out on the 18th business day, and Fedex Smartpost took another whole week to deliver. So I didn't receive the item for nearly 4 weeks. I have NEVER experienced online order took that long until I shop at Mango.
So when I order from Mango again, if I see it says " will be ready to ship in 10-18 business days", I usually will reconsider my decision to order. Because I just worried it will take another 3 to 4 weeks to receive my order.
Quality is not that great either. The sizing of their clothes is not consistent. It is either super small, or super big, or super sloppy. I mainly shop for work clothes, and a lot of Mango's work clothes is NOT petite friendly. Dresses are pass the knee, pant are super long, and sleeves can run long as well. And quality is really bad. I got one shirt that the stitching already falls apart, and I haven't even try it yet. Mango offers tons of super thin material dresses that sometime you can't tell from the picture online. But once you receive it, you will be disappointed.
I returned my online order's twice. Both time were fine. It was smooth, pretty quick. I have no issues with return service. But, it is not free. They did deduct return fee from me.
I've been shopping at Mango for two and half years, I can say ONLY ONE item that I own from Mango is good enough. It was a sweater dress. The rest of them is just garbage.

I don't shop Zara often anymore. I used to. A lot of their clothes is not really petite friendly. And even if some clothes that are petite friendly, I found them to be too trendy or too immature to wear to my conservative work place. Zara online website is great. Shipping is relatively fast. They usually will ship out within 2 business days. And they use Fedex to ship to me. I never had issues with their customer service. Packaging is awesome, it always comes in paper box that warp nicely. However, quality is not that great. That's why I don't buy from Zara often anymore.
If I do buy from Zara, I really have to make sure quality is decent. From my past experience, Zara's quality can be worse than FOREVER 21. But charge 99 dollars for the same quality as FOREVER 21. I bought a blazer from Zara once, and accidentally got some nail polish remover on it, it initially melted the lining inside the blazer. And as I look back again, it kept melting the inner lining, and when it finally stops, it was a HUGE hole. I believe it was the nail polish remover had some chemical reaction with the lining. And I was curious enough to try it out on my other blazers from various retailers. I put nail polish remover on the inside lining of a blazer from other brand, and none of them have issues.
I hand washed a Zara white dress, as soon as I put in the water with detergent, the neckline area has purple dots all over. I washed some of the Zara's sweaters, tops, jackets. And some of them pill like crazy.
I do own a few quality pieces from Zara over the years. But not so much. I say at most 3-5 quality pieces over the course of 5 years shopping from Zara.
If you want trendy and super fashionable pieces, then buy from Zara. But if your goal is look for quality pieces that last years to come, Zara is not the best place for that. Zara's design can be better FOREVER 21 or your typical mall store, but the high price at Zara doesn't guarantee quality. Your 99 dollar Zara dress may not last you long.

I love H&M. It is affordable and the sizing is perfect for my petite height. It is very hard for me to find work clothes that fit my body, and H&M offers great work clothes that not only fits me perfectly but also within my budget. I can easily find a work appropriate dress from H&M for under 50 dollars and I'm good to go. Sometimes those dresses goes on sale, I could even get it for 15 dollars. I can never find any clothes that is this cheap and fit me so perfectly and also work appropriate. Quality is not always the best. But you got to look for quality pieces. It doesn't always happens. But it will happen once awhile.
I have some hoodie, cardigans, basic shirts, and jeans from H&M that last me 5 years. And it is still in good condition.
Coats? Not so much. H&M doesn't carry thick winter coats that is good quality. Dress? Not that many that is good quality, but a few every now and then. I got some sheer blouse and sheer dresses from H&M, it ripped the next day of wear. But H&M is good at the basics tops and sometime work clothes, if you look carefully.
I shop there at least twice a month. My store doesn't carry that many sizes and styles as H&M website, smaller sizes runs out quick in my store, and they usually don't restock. So I was very very happy find out H&M finally launched online.
H&M website is good. Shipping is a bit slow but they are using USPS, and I actually prefer USPS. I live in an apartment. So USPS is the ONLY mail delivery service that will leave my package in the front office or my mail box. Any other delivery service will just leave at my apartment door. So I like H&M's choice of shipping carrier. During Christmas, H&M will use UPS for next day delivery.

The only part I hate about H&M website is: SHIPPING is not always FREE. That bothers me so much. Because almost all retailer offers FREE SHIPPING or FREE SHIPPING over certain dollars amount DAILY. But H&M only offers free shipping during holidays or special days. Majority of the time SHIPPING and RETURNS is never free. That is a HUGE downside. Because just about 90% online retailers offer free shipping choice DAILY.

ALSO, H&M store doesn't take online order's return. WHY? I don't understand this. Again, just about every retailers will take online order's return in store. You can always return online order stuff in the store. H&M is the only retailer that I shop doesn't take online order return in store.

I did return it through mail. It was smooth and quick. But like I said, it is not free. They will deduct 5.95 return fee.