Power Ties – Version 2.0

So somebody told me that as the owner of the largest brand of neckties on the internet (cough, plug , cough), I should be blogging about topics that we get emailed about from customers most frequently. And after “How much is shipping?”, one of the most common questions we get is “What color tie should I get for my next interview or big meeting?”

So here we go…

For years, good ol’ red (candy apple red) has been the flag-bearer color for power ties. With the backdrop of a suit often being a darker muted color, a bright red tie effectively jumps out off the suit as a strong color and a strong message. No question, red is a power tie.

But it’s almost 2009 now. Red is so….2008. Even 1998. Or 1988. Over the past few fashion seasons, purple (believe it or not) has slowly made its way to the front of the line as the new power color in men’s neckties. And not just for the skinny, hip dude you see walking in the streets of New York.

Wall Street and other corporate executives have gradually found that shades of purple ties (lilac, lavendar, eggplant, violet) do a sensational job of jumping off the neutral palletes of black and charcoal suits. While rich in color, purple does not overly dominate a business suit like other non-traditional colors such as yellow and pink. Instead, it creates a more soothing feeling while still adding some much-needed hue.

With this in mind, we here at The Tie Bar design lots of purple ties, including a healthy selection slated for our first collection of 2009 (in January). And if you’re thinking “Purple ties? Are you nuts?”, then you’re the type of person who needs to go outside of his comfort zone and try one out. Yes, you.

I was recently quoted in the Chicago Tribune (article is here) on a story about President-elect (lord, that’s getting old) Obama’s apparent leaning toward blue ties. When I was interviewed by the reporter, I strongly disagreed with her position and insisted that blue was not a power color at all, but more of a neutral and friendly color. Blue is the tie color you want to wear when you don’t want to get noticed or don’t need to be persuasive.

On the other hand, I strongly believe that those who wear purple shows a level of individuality. And individuality suggests leadership. Those looking to break away from their traditional blue, red and black ties should adopt purple ties into their rotation.

 So quit being such a whimp, and treat yourself to a purple tie from The Tie Bar (come on – $15? You’ll spend more at Starbucks this week – and we don’t give you gas.)

If you don’t get a compliment on the first day you wear your new purple tie, we’ll give you your money back.

But we’ll also encourage you to start hanging out with some more fashionable people.

Customer Ratings on Websites

Just got a great call from a potential customer who was quite confused. And I don’t blame him one bit. He got burned by a competitor of ours and was now skeptical about us.

Let me give you a quick background.

Companies like eBay and Amazon – both of which sell items from third-party vendors – have a rating system. You’re likely quite familiar with them. These rating systems give the buyers a chance to review and rate specific items sold on those websites. It’s a great tool for customers to use when determining whether to buy a specific item. If a product is rated well, those products are more likely to sell. Makes sense.

But these legit ranking systems on websites like eBay and Amazon are creating a new trend for other websites. These other websites are now creating a ranking system of their own. So what’s wrong?

These other websites aren’t selling products of third-party vendors. They are selling their own products.

Think about that for a moment.

ABC website sells its own products, and then maintains its own rating system for its own products. The result?

Well, take a guess what happens when someone leaves a bad rating for one of the website’s products? Think it gets published? Yeah, I doubt it too.

A couple of our competitors (who shall of course remain nameless) have implemented their own rating system. Now guess how many bad ratings there are among the thousands (yes, thousands) of products that they sell? You guessed it – none. Zero. Zilch. Nada.

Thousands of products, and not a single negative review.

Now guess how many five-star ratings there are for its own products? Many. Mucho. Lots.

So this potential customer of ours thought what came naturally – “Wow! What a great store! Thousands of items – many with five star ratings – and not a single negative rating to be found! What a great place to shop!” Wrongo.

When he received his apparently poor quality tie, he submitted a negative review for the tie. He was fairly blunt (he emailed it to me), but nothing disparaging and no bad language. Clearly, this review would be helpful for the next guy to shop on this website.

But will anyone see this review? Nope. Why? Shockingly, the review wasn’t approved (can you hear my sarcasm?)

This shouldn’t surprise anyone. If the website published the review, do you think the other 57 ties of that design would ever sell again? Probably not. So why publish it?

Ah, yes. Because that’s honest business. Well honest business isn’t what’s going on here.

My suspicion about this website is validated when you actually read those five-start written reviews of its products. They all read the same way. Many of them are nearly identical, and they all have that same positive tone to them. Indeed, you’d think that these ties cure cancer or spit out money like an ATM. Never has so much enthusiasm been made for a single tie. And this type of review can be found on many of their products.

Now I ask – did someone buy 173 products from this website and then proceed to give 173 individual glowing reviews for each of these items? All of which he happened to love? Yep, I doubt it too.

Something’s fishy. What are the odds that these five-star reviews are legit? I think McCain has a better chance of winning the presidency in 2008 – and this blog entry is being written in December 2008.

I’m not trying to pick on this one website, but it is a great example of how websites create a completely misleading, fraudulent appearance of themselves online without anyone ever noticing – not even the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) who is supposed to govern these matters. And you, the shopper, is at risk with no one watching your back.

So here’s the point. Don’t take rankings so seriously.

Instead, here’s a simple idea for you. If you see something on a website that looks good, first check to see if that website has a reasonable return policy. If they do, and you like what you see, order one product. If it works out, great. Buy more. Buy a million, I don’t care.

But if it doesn’t, send the item back for a refund. Just be sure to leave a negative review for the item, and watch to see if it appears on the website after you submitted it.

I’ll bet you a tie that it doesn’t.