6 Zara Shopping Hacks You *Need* to Know

I must confess I love Zara, but shopping on the brand’s website and in store can be such a headache, with an exorbitant amount of stock to sift through. But before you give up completely, I’ve learned a few tips, tricks and hacks to make the whole shopping process smooth sailing. Now that Zara's fall fashion collection is up for grabs with some of the best jackets for autumn, you’re going to want to jot these tricks of the trade down if you know what’s good for you. Here are the six secrets you need to know if you shop at Zara.

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First things first, do yourself a favor and download the Zara app from the App Store. You may not realize it, but this app unlocks a host of cool features, including the option to save items you love to your favorites folder, which you can return to later or revisit it once they go on sale. Within your favorites, you can create custom lists and organize your items into folders that make sense to you, from “must-have skirts” to “denim I dream about.”

There’s also a designated QR code within the “Purchases” section of the app, and if you present it at the register during checkout, your receipt will save digitally within your account. If you forget to do this, you can still add it later by scanning your physical copy with your camera. Trust me, you don’t want to skip this step—Zara won’t accept returns or exchanges if you lose your receipt, and this can save you a lot of hassle down the. Speaking of QR codes and photos, Zara also has a barcode icon in the search section, allowing you to search for items online manually, with NFC scanning or by camera. Like I said, the Zara app is a gamechanger if you want to shop efficiently, which leads me to my next point…

Yeah, you heard me—you can reserve a fitting room at Zara. This often-overlooked hack lets you skip those insanely long lines that seem to somehow wrap around the store. (And don’t get me started on how the Kids’ and Men’s fitting rooms are always closed.) To book your room, you’ll need the Zara app. Start by finding your designated store, which you can locate in two places: under your profile in the “Stores” tab at the top or in the search tab, where there’s a location icon. Once you find your preferred store, the app will present you with three in-store experiences, including “place an order with express pick-up,” “search for and find items” and—most importantly—“reserve your fitting room.”

The catch? You can only reserve a fitting room through the app while you’re in the store. To make this work, I recommend reserving your dressing room as soon as you walk in, especially if lines are up the wazoo. That way, you can browse at your leisure and build your try-on pile without feeling overwhelmed with anxiety or leaving altogether.

One of my least favorite things about Zara’s website is the clutter. With everything from videos to large editorial images stretched across the page (IYKYK), it can be confusing and hard to navigate through the chaos. Since the brand defaults to what I like to call the flashy Iayouts, I always adjust the pageview when I shop on Zara’s website or app. Here’s how I do it: There are three icons located at the top right corner of any section of the site—a square, two rectangles side-by-side and four small square. The square is the default option, but if you click on the second and third icons, the products will reorganize and appear in uniform grid, eliminating the distracting videos, glitchy images and frilly photoshoots that detract from your browsing experience.

Shop smarter, not harder—that’s my motto when it comes to my next secret: A better shopping experience starts in the search bar. It may seem a bit basic, but it’s just as important as the previous tips. The key (pun intended) lies in using the right keywords. As TikTok creator @andoej mentions in the video above, adding the word “new” in the search bar will dredge up all the pieces from Zara’s latest collection, free of that clustered imagery. You can refine your search even further by adding the specific item you’re shopping for to the end of that same search term, such as “new skirts” or “new bags.” Andie’s favorite hack is to search for “special price point,” which will display all the items currently marked down.

This is for anyone who’s misplaced their receipt and skipped step one (downloading the app). If you’re trying to return your shipment and having no luck, call or chat online with customer service. During this chat, TikToker Jaserah mentions that the specialist will ask for your full name, location of the purchase, the date of the purchase, the total order of the purchase and the last four digits of the credit card you used. With this information, they can pull up your receipt and help you process your return sans headache and stress.