Just some general notes around this retailer, after finding a news article (linked ahead).
Nordstrom's new approach to combining web-based and store-based inventories is earning them some significant success - Nordstrom Links Online Inventory to Real World. If there's something out there that you're interested in buying, their online shop will help the user reserve it for pick up or seamlessly get someone at the store to ship it to the customer.
After a quick jump into their site, I stumbled into a campaign, Career Mode, centered around documentary-style stories from professionals - Melissa: Interior Designer. I normally despise auto-play video, but the pace, personality and warmth of these clips seem like a perfect fit for their (fantasy) audience of rich, mature, creative, design-sensitive professionals.
The clips remind me of matchmaker tv ads, offering the perfect story/sound/person that you want to be like (and apparently shop like). Melissa has a link to her favorite online shopping areas, like skinny pants, adding a nice dynamic.
These docu-interview videos are 99% fake, but I don't care right now. They've painted some believable portraits and stay fluid with their image/brand. I assume this campaign was launched in the past few days, but there are already some "coming soon" stories listed (smart to bring visitors back).
Hope that they continue to invest in the overall production quality of these videos, guessing they could easily run on HGTV or Travel Channel. Maybe keep them an online surprise to some degree. (Again, the "skinny pants" favorites link, mentioned above, was a pretty awesome and clever manuever. Makes finding these videos online worthwhile.
There are some users complaining about their use of Adobe Flash. Too bad that the "No Flash" screen instructs users to download the plugin, when it could improve by indicating that Flash is not available for the user's device. Potentially, the users could be directed to the content that is already existing on YouTube.
While iPad and iPhone users might be grumbling there, the Nordstrom homepage uses Adobe Flash too, but they've solved the problem (at first glance). Instead of breaking the experience, the desktop and mobile experience is extremely simlar. They've worked in some of the fluid interactions/animations and the content is the same at both access points. #impressed
Not to pass it up lightly, their integration of social tools is great. There are comments from (seemingly) real users complaining about Flash, plus a good use of a simple "like" feature. Users can "like" both the content and the comments. Too bad they're not taking time to talk to the iPad users and point them to that YouTube content. #missedopportunity
If the user wants to "post a comment," they will have to register online. Nordstrom treats the user like a potential customer and even gives a nice list of registration benefits. If I were interested in shopping, seems like they're presenting a good case for me to share my info. The process is not filled with content that comes off fake and strategic, it just seems to state the facts with some sense of respect. I am not going to sign up, but can tell via the URL that it will send me back to the original "post a comment" page after registration. #thoughfuldesign