This spring I was all manners of disappointed with my shopping experience at the US La Redoute website . Since then, I have placed two orders, and I have to say things have got a lot better. The first time, nothing had really changed, it was just that things were working out and going smoothly - but with no greater than usual effort from them, or from me.

This time, things have changed, and for the better. My favourite feature of the new website - aside from the forwarding from the simple laredoute.com - is that when items are added to the shopping cart, it will warn you if the item is backordered, and for how long. Genious! Since LR doesn’t offer free shipping for things that have to ship separately, this is a brilliant way of avoiding buying things until they are in stock. Let’s just hope they keep the databased up-to- date, or this feature will be pointless.
I also like the fact that you no longer have to deal with the coupon for the next purchase in the shipping confirmation email - it just appears on login on the website. So far, so good.

But it’s not flawless. For example, according to the website, you can “track your order, minute by minute.” The truth? Orders have three statuses; “Not yet processed to ship”, “Currently processing to ship”, and “Processed to ship” (the latter is LaRedoute-speak for shipped, by the way.) After that, you can track your order with USP (one would certainly hope so, for the shipping price charged) but standard shipping is not very fast - I would like to see free or discounted shipping for orders over a certain number.

I shall return with a more definite opinion after my next order is placed, once that sweater is no longer backordered.