Some notes on fashion e-commerce

Summary

instead of having a static website that is disconnected to your physical shop opening activities, perhaps we can make the website drive customers to the shops, in order to increase foot traffic.

This multichannel approach is something that might work or might not work because of the current scale of operations, but it might be worth trying for the lessons to be learned.

Target Market

• Working adults (female) aged 25-50
• brand resonance: taobao, uniqlo, H&M, mango
• filipinoes (low to mid), indian, chinese

Proposed methods

Summarized features for a preloved fashion website

1. effective filters for size, color, price
2. hover zoom / rotation (a way for the customer to look at it from as many angles as possible)
3. customer reviews (video collected from physical location or online reviews)
4. ways to bring customer to physical shop to purchase.*
5. (optional) taking and storing user's measurements (app / cookie)
6. (optional) filtering by your defined set of measurements (they have to be specific enough to help the customer, e.g. bust / waist / hips)
7. at-a-glance information of your product range.*
8. product specs including material.*

<small> <br/> Additional Notes: <br/> <br/>

<span class="text-highlight-2">4*</span> since the stall moves from place to place, we could make it look like a limited-time event (e.g. pokemon go rare pokemon hunts). when the stall is not opened, the location points to home.

<span class="text-highlight-2">7*</span> (Quote) The stats also show the value of kiosks in stores so that consumers can browse the entire product range. 42% of respondents said they would like to see more of these. - An online store can also provide an at-a-glance information of your product range on the homepage (every product, laid out in a fun and interactive manner)

<span class="text-highlight-2">8*</span> (Quote) Fabric is a telltale indicator of whether an article of clothing will look "cheap," so the section on the product page with more details on the materials is crucial. - Product information that matter to the customers

</small>

Research

45% of consumers prefer shopping for clothes online. link

Learning from the best e-commerce sites

top 5 Important features for an online shopping website

1. effective filters for size, color, price
2. hover boxes / hover zoom
3. product zoom and rotation
4. customer reviews
5. multiple purchase and delivery options

the biggest worry for online fashion is fit.

actually the biggest factor for a clothing shopper's decision making process is fit, whether it is online or offline.

ways to solve that problem:

• accept refunds
• accept returns (replace with another item of their choice)
• try it on at the shop
• filter by size + color
• very clear product descriptions
• customer reviews

based on FB messenger conversation

so we usually ask for what they are looking for, and most of them will say they are just looking for anything. which means they did not have the intention of buying anything in particular in the first place

(from chat): could be an indication of wanting to browse the entire stall's product range.

as long as they like the design and can fit in.

(from chat): this probably indicates wanting to find a design that catches their eye (through either browsing or glancing at the whole shop to see what stands out), and then deciding to try it on for size. A web experience could be translated as a page (homepage) where they see as many products as possible (or see a random selection everytime), as well as being able to input their sizes and finding matching clothes. What are the most critical sizes for clothing fit?

some will say they dont wear short skirts, some say they have too much black, some say they have similar clothes ady

filters, with a 'surprise me' button for people who already have similar clothes

...but i think the key point of their decision making is mummy XD

i think actually the next best thing will be chatbots / live chat. connecting a chat bubble to the website allows users to chat with mommy or you to have a conversation about clothing.

other things to watch out for

Data required from you (the client)

1. sorted groups of clothing sizes regardless of clothing brand (your shop's medium may be Uniqlo's XL and H&M'S S size)
2. customer feedback in physical store

Possible expansions

• working with a delivery service like taskrabbit/goget.my

Further Reading

addressing 5 e-commerce fears

top 10 e-commerce fears

taking your own body measurements

best fashion e-commerce sites and what you can learn from them