Tags
e-commerce, e-fashion, fashion and technology, fashion e-commerce, garment sizing, garments that fit, online shopping
New to meappropriatestyle will be articles in which
readers can weigh in on a topic.
This first subject concerns fashion, e-commerce and technology.
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(image from dorm room biz):
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Fashion e-commerce has become the go to shopping experience
for many consumers, and the numbers continue to rise.
For most it is the convenience factor:
– quick access to a myriad of online clothing labels
– ease of price comparison research
– stress free browsing, the not having to deal with crowded stores
– no waiting in endless queues
– the ‘save option’ for a later purchase
– early preview of sales
– special offers targeting online shopping only
– and all done from the comfort of home or office.
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The benefits seem an endless happy list.
Yet, there is the unfortunate down-side:
the annoyance of having to return an item of clothing due to improper fit.
This has become the bane for e-retailers and e- shoppers alike.
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(image from daily mail):
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For e-retailers: it’s the cost factor,
as most provide consumers with free shipping for returns.
After absorbing the initial cost for outbound shipping,
reports indicate that between 30% – 50% of garments
are returned due to ill fit.
In addition, some items are returned in a condition,
which unfortunately prohibits resale.
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For e-shoppers: it’s the emotional factor,
as an anticipatory high of expecting a new purchase
is dashed by an disappointing low when the garment doesn’t quite fit.
In addition, there is the mild irritant (for some worse than for others)
of waiting in dreaded queues at the post office
to mail back the unloved / unwanted clothing.
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Yet, wasn’t a few of the original intentions of the e-shop experience,
that of saving time, avoiding queues … a leisurely, stress free approach ?
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How to guarantee a win – win for all concerned:
the e-retailer and the e-shopper.
The solution is in finding the correct answer to the customer query:
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Nothing screams, “Poor styling!”
than poorly fitted clothes, which is to be avoided at all costs;
so as to avoid ‘all costs’ in later trying to set things right.
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(image from prime magazine):
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For the past few years, the fashion e-commerce community
has been working with technology experts to sort out
the clothes fit concern in effort to reduce loss revenue
and to maintain customer satisfaction and site re-visits.
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Two years ago, the virtual tape measure was introduced.
This was then an innovative software created by London College of Fashion
in partnership with the University of Surrey.
“(A) web-based body-scanner would take detailed measurements of the body via webcam or smartphone, create a 3D image of the user, then advise on which size garment to buy whenever (an online shopper) visit the website of a participating retailer.”
Sounds good, right?
(image/info from dailymail.co.uk)
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Yet, two years hence, and the problem still plagues.
With fashion on-line shopping booming
a viable solution to the problem of
up with proper fit of garments and
down with multiple returns
must be found.
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The business of solving the problem
is fast becoming a thriving business in its own right.
Many new companies have been sighted on the techno horizon
“(s)ome, like TrueFit, which works with Macy’s and Nordstrom, leverage algorithmic solutions to analyse fit data and recommend which size a consumer should select. Others, like Metail and Fits.me, have developed digital fitting rooms that use virtual mannequins to mimic a shopper’s dimensions and display what a certain garment might look like when worn. Still others rely on shoppers to input their own measurements, matching this data with specific garments.”
(image/info from the business of fashion)
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