The motivation behind the commercial web site Coldwater Creek is to display beautiful women’s clothes and attract women to purchase them. The homepage of Coldwater Creek’s web site is set up very nicely with warm earthy colors – in the clothes displayed and in the additional features of the web site near the bottom of the page. There is a lot of white space on this page so each of the features stand out on their own. Five pictures of women are shown wearing Coldwater Creek clothes and these change every few seconds. Before the picture changes to a completely different outfit, the second picture is a close-up of the outfit itself. This communicates that Coldwater Creek wants their readers to be informed before they purchase their clothing; they want their readers to have the “full picture.” This is also evident when readers click on any piece of clothing, whether on the homepage or on one of the individual garment links on the left. The reader is given the option to see an additional five views of the garment, along with a video (with some of the garment pieces.) This indicates that Coldwater Creek believes in its clothes and has nothing to hide. Readers will trust the company and feel secure in their purchases. By giving readers the opportunity to become educated consumers, Coldwater Creek shows that they take pride in the quality of their clothes.

Coldwater Creek’s web site is appealing to many different types of women. After the reader clicks on Apparel on the far left top bar on the home page, she is taken to links for jackets, tops and tees, sweaters, dresses, skirts, pant sets, jeans, and no iron collection and travel collection, to name a few. Business women will find a nice variety of appropriate clothing for work, and for those that travel a lot – either for work or pleasure. It is a web site for women on the go and women who want to look their best. Along with business attire, there are also casual and dressy clothes on their site. Coldwater Creek offers a large selection of fabrics, colors and textures.

The target audience for Coldwater Creek’s web site is for women in their 40's and up in age. Some of the clothes could be a little expensive for some women – e.g. a jacket costs $100. Coldwater Creek also keeps their outlet section on their web site full of many articles of clothing that also would appeal to the middle class woman, especially those looking for a good bargain. For example, a jacket that was originally $99.95 now sells for $69.99.

Each page also highlights the product information, size information, and fabric and care. On the page that features the $69.99 jacket in the outlet section, the reader has the opportunity to click on the tab at the top of the page to “Write a review.” Eight reviews have already been written about the $69.99 jacket. These five readers wrote detailed reviews of the jacket and scored it from 1-5, along with marking if they recommend it or not to other readers. This additional information would be very helpful to readers who were debating whether to purchase the item or not. For example, many noted that this jacket fit true to size, and that it was a very comfortable jacket. This is an example when the reader becomes a reader-writer, adding her thoughts to the web site under “Write a review.”

Coldwater Creek also wants to appeal to all women, as they sell sizes for “women,” “misses,” and “petite.” This indicates that Coldwater Creek wants to embrace all women and make them feel comfortable shopping on their web site. There is ease in shopping on this web site – from clicking on a link on the left margin of a particular garment you are interested in, to seeing all views of the garment, to reading in detail about the garment, and hearing from satisfied (or unsatisfied) customers/readers; this all makes for a pleasurable shopping experience.

Additionally, readers who want to wear the latest trends can click on the What’s New link. If the reader is unsure of what to buy, possibly overwhelmed with too many possibilities, she can click on the Best Sellers link to see what the most popular purchases are. The Top Rated link would also help readers make good, intelligent choices in their purchases, especially if they were interested in what other readers say about Coldwater Creek’s merchandise. Coldwater Creek is there to assist readers in any way they need to make wise purchases.

Besides women’s clothing, Coldwater Creek also sells jewelry, accessories and home & gifts. These links are displayed along the top of the homepage. These links communicate that Coldwater Creek wants their web site to appeal to many different desires of women, not only focusing on clothing and accessories but also the woman's home.

Coldwater Creek also wants to direct its readers to shop their stores in person. There is a link at the top of the page entitled “Stores” which navigates the reader to a map of the United States. Clicking on the state of Illinois will tell the reader there are 19 Coldwater Creek stores in the Illinois, including an Outlet store in Tuscola. Clicking on “see details” will display a map to help the reader locate the store, along with the store's address, phone number, manager’s name, and store hours. Two more links on this site will give the reader driving directions to the outlet mall in Tuscola, and a job application to work at a Coldwater Creek store.

Also at the top are links to My Account where the reader either creates an account or is already registered and enters her email address and password. Another link Customer Service will take the reader to information to contact Coldwater Creek. This can be done through email, live help, or by phone. Customer service representatives are available daily from 6 a.m. – 3 a.m. ET. This is almost 24/7; again, this communicates Coldwater Creek wants to stay connected to their reader and be available when the reader needs assistance. Readers can also stay connected via Coldwater Creek iPhone app and via Facebook. These two links are situated at the bottom of the homepage in a nicely rectangular table. Through the iPhone and Facebook links, readers will have the opportunity to stay in touch with the latest fashions, be informed of new sales, and to communicate with other Coldwater Creek customers/readers and the staff at Coldwater Creek.

Also on this page is the 100% guarantee. If for whatever reason Coldwater Creek fails to meet the reader’s expectations, it is encouraged for the reader to return the item for a full refund. Purchases from the web site can be returned through the mail or to the local store. The ease of returns makes the reader very comfortable on this web site. This indicates that Coldwater Creek acknowledges that women are very busy, and so they try to make buying and returning as easy as possible. This attitude is very appealing to many women, which will motivate the reader to shop on this web site.

ModCloth - Click here to read my Rhetorical Analysis of ModCloth's web site.


Comparison - Click here to read my Comparison of Coldwater Creek and ModCloth's web sites.


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