Merchandising

Nordstrom's website has a very large selection of merchandise from over 100 brands, from mid-tier to high fashion. What sets the e-commerce site apart from their brick and mortar store is that some selections are offered exclusively on their site or completely difficult to find at a retail store. This can be a huge plus if customers would rather shop online to avoid the crowds, long lines and the travel. However, this could be a disadvantage if the customer would rather feel and try on the merchandise. Luckily, Nordstrom.com offers size guides and customer reviews to ease the anxiety and indecisiveness of online shoppers.

Assortment 

Customers can shop for merchandise in a variety of ways. The most popular ways are by product, brand, style, and price. The are the first options you will see on the screen. You can later do more filtering through the inventory by searching based on color, size, availability, length, height or occasion. For the "availability" feature, customers can shop for items based on store availability. This is a great way to get to know the merchandise; specifications, attributes, etc and from there you can go to the store to purchase or call the store to have the item placed on hold. While Macys.com tell customers whether a specific item is available in store within the product description, you are not able to shop or filter through merchandise  based on "Store Availability" like you can with Nordstrom. This feature shows customers in real time where a product is available and when they can expect to receive. Utilizing this real-time data service for customers has proven to increase same-store sales for Nordstrom and beaten the department store average.

Some designer collaborations in the "Specialty Shops" tab of the site are available online only. This is a great way to keep customers on the e-commerce site which creates exclusivity for the brand.

 

Sizing

Nordstrom offers clothing for men, women and children. Women's clothes are broken up by Misses, Petite, Plus and Maternity. Men are broken up by Regular and Big & Tall. For children, Nordstrom offers merchandise for Babies, Big Kids and Teens. Juniors sizing is a great alternative for women who like to look youthful in her apparel or teens who want to look a little grown up, without looking too "old". It is important to keep in mind however that sizing differs according to some brands, especially high fashion brands where the sizing is cut smaller than normal. Some apparel may fit larger than what the label says as well.

Pricing

Prices are not different from the prices offered in their retail stores. However I believe that the retail stores offer more deals and discounts than they do on the website. For certain items, the prices are comparable to that of other websites, such as Macys, Endless and Lord & Taylor.I believe this is why Nordstrom drives most of its business with exclusive merchandise; things you can't find anywhere else. Both Macys and Nordstrom can carry merchandise by Sam Edleman, but Nordstrom might request Sam Edleman to construct a shoe with details or specs exclusive to Nordstrom only and may be priced at a competitive price point.

One suggestion I would make is for Nordstrom to offer some sort of discounts to online customers. This will help drive online sales. Even something as little as 15% off a purchase (excluding certain brands) would make a huge difference for customers.