Well, I am obsessed with Shopbop (bought a bunch of things since they just went on sale!). I feel Nordstrom does not compete with Shopbop in terms of merchandise. I find Nordstrom to be confusing with all of their different "shops" like Saavy and TBD etc. I hate the way every single thing from Nordstrom comes in separate boxes. I like the way when I order from Shopbop, everything comes in one box.
Love their service and returns though so I will put up with a lot because of that. However, right now I just don't find the merchandise I want as much as on Shopbop or Revoleclothing.com. When someone started a thread about returns I went back and looked at all of my purchases over the past year and in terms of satisfaction level I was most happy with my selections from Revolve and Shopbop. I think these two are more fashion-focused whereas Norstrom tempts me with more mainstream/cheaper merchandise which I am later not happy with.
Not sure if any of that resonates with you.
I believe Norstrom has the resources and technology to offer more focused, fashion-forward merchandise to compete with these newer on line retailers. They could offer on-line only merchandise and try to expand. I know they are trying to get more fashion-focused, look at the Topshop promo.
