An Article About Online Shopping For Clothing

There are a variety of online retailers selling clothing. This includes traditional stores that also have online stores as well as retailers who operate exclusively online. Buying clothing online is extremely popular particularly for those customers who don’t have acceptable time to go to conventional stores and spend some time scanning and trying on clothing. It is also a popular option for consumers seeking an outfit for a special occasion who have not been satisfied with the options they found available to them in local traditional stores. This tract will supply info on some of the well-liked online outlets of clothing as well as info on selecting clothing items online and handling items that don’t fit correctly.

Lots of major standard stores that sell clothing also have a web version of their store where patrons can flick thru the inventory, make purchases and have items shipped straight to them or to mates or family members. Examples of popular traditional stores who also offer online versions of their store include Old Navy, Banana Republic, Abercrombie and Fitch and Ann Taylor. In addition, shops like Target, Macy’s and JCPenny which don’t solely sell clothing make their clothing alongside other products, available thru the net versions of their stores. Shoppers who opt to peruse the online stores for clothing could find a bigger selection than there’s available in standard stores. The online stores may have items available which are only available online. Additionally, the online stores may have access to a greater inventory unlike traditional stores which may run out of popular sizes rather quickly.

When purchasing clothing online, consumers have to be somewhat cautious. This is because it may be difficult to tell how well a clothing item will fit without trying it on first. Also, it can be hard to evaluate the feel or colour of clothing when shopping on the web. Internet shoppers should read product outlines scrupulously and pay particular notice to sizing charts when shopping on the net for clothing. This will help the consumer to make wise choices.

Internet buyers should also concentrate on the outline of the cut of clothing items and should rigorously compare these outlines to the pictures shown on the internet site of the net retailer. This is a very important consideration because shoppers may like certain cuts which are way more flattering to them while other cuts may not look as appealing. Paying particular attention to this information will help the consumer make wise decisions when shopping for clothing online.

Regardless of a consumer’s most honorable intentions, there could be times in which they purchase clothing items they should return because they don’t fit well or just as the customer changes his mind about the item after making the acquisition. For this reason, all online shoppers should carefully review the return policies of online clothing retailers before making purchases. Most online retailers will take items back regardless of the reason for the return but some of them may only assume responsibility for the shipping fees associated with the return if the item is defective. Nonetheless there are some online outlets that won’t accept returns on certain items and the shopper must be aware of these limitations before making a purchase.

Why Mobile Shopping Could Be As Big As Online Shopping

Although few consumers make purchases using their phones, smartphones are playing a critical role in purchasing decisions, according to a study released by ForeSee Results on Monday.

The study, which surveyed 10,000 visitors to top e-retailer sites, found that 11% of them made a purchase using their phones this holiday season, compared to only 2% at the same time last year.

Thirty percent of visitors, however, used their phones to compare product details, look up prices, or find store locations. In 2009, only 11% of consumers surveyed said they used their phones to do this kind of research. Shoppers who were highly satisfied with a retailer’s mobile experience were 30% more likely to buy from that retailer both online and offline.

Mobile’s role in retail today has many parallels to the Internet’s role in retail when online shopping was in its infancy. About three years after Amazon (1995) and eBay (1996) launched, estimated online sales totaled $6.1 billion — only 0.2% of total retail – according to a Gartner Survey quoted in a Time Magazine cover story that ran that year.

As the study suggests is the case with mobile users, many Internet users started making relationships with retailers online long before they purchased from them there. In 2000, a Pew Internet survey found that while 46% of surveyed Internet users had made a purchase online, 73% had used the Internet to research a product. Even so, forecasts in the early years of online shopping estimated as much as a 233% increase over two years.

The future looks similarly bright for mobile shopping. eBay reported that mobile shopping on its app increased 134% this holiday season, and Amazon is bringing in $1 billion annually from mobile sales. A report by ABI Research found that mobile online shopping in the United States rose from $396 million in 2008 to $1.2 billion in 2009. The same survey predicted that mobile would bring in $119 billion by 2015.

That’s not to say that mobile commerce doesn’t face some significant obstacles in becoming mainstream. A 2009 survey put smartphone penetration at about 17% in the United States. That still leaves out a lot of potential customers. But so did Internet access before it became nearly ubiquitous.

“I question if it’ll ever be big,” one man told the Time Magazine article’s authors about online shopping in 1998.

As online retailers brought in more than $1 billion on last Cyber Monday alone, this comment sounds a bit silly today.

While smartphone penetration is still low, smartphone sales are soaring. Might mobile retailers one day have similarly smug feelings toward today’s critics of mobile commerce?

When Online Shopping Is Not Ideal

There are a number of distinct advantages to online shopping. Some of these advantages include the ability to shop at a convenient time, a potential for cost savings, the ability to shop at stores around the world and the ability to find rare collectible items. While these advantages draw many consumers to online shopping there are also some situations in which shopping online is not the best option for all consumers.

This article will discuss some of these situations such as shopping for clothing online, shopping for decorative items and shopping for used items. Although some consumers may be able to shop for these types of items online there are some consumers who will always have difficulty shopping for these types of items online.

Shopping For Clothing Online

Shopping for clothing online is often difficult. This is because consumers are used to being able to try on items in traditional stores before making a purchase. The ability to try clothing items on before making a purchase is so important because it allows the consumer to evaluate the size, fit, material and color of the garment before making a decision about whether or not to make the purchase.

Although some consumers may be able to make decisions about purchasing clothing items easily without trying the item on, the majority of consumers will not be able to make these decisions easily based solely on an image and a product description.

While shopping for clothing online is not always easy the upside to this type of purchase is making returns on clothing is usually a fairly simple process. Clothing is light and relatively easy to ship so as a result there is usually not a substantial cost in returning clothing items. This ease of shipping often makes consumers more likely to make clothing purchases online even though they are not sure how well the item will fit.

Shopping For Decorative Items Online

Shopping for furniture and decorative items online is another area in which consumers may wish to avoid online shopping. They may browse online retailers to get ideas about the types of products they want and the costs of these items but it many cases it is wise to make these purchases in a traditional store as opposed to an online retailer. Consider purchasing bulky pieces of furniture such as couches, beds or tables.

These items can be rather expensive to ship and the cost of having these items shipped can significantly add to the overall cost of the item. Although the consumer may pay a delivery charge when purchasing furniture from a traditional store, this fee is usually considerably lower than the cost of having the item shipped. Also, consumers have the option of avoiding delivery fees if they are capable of transporting the item themselves.

Shopping for furniture and decorative items online can also be difficult because the consumer may want to see these items in person before making a decision. This is important because seeing the item in person enables the consumer to see the color, feel the texture and make any necessary measurements which will help to ensure the item is a good fit for the home.

Shopping For Used Items Online

Shopping for used items online can also be difficult. This is because the consumer may want to evaluate the item carefully for wear and functionality before making a purchase. Although the seller may provide photos and a description of the item for sale, these images and words may not fully describe the product for sale. Although this may be completely unintentional on behalf of the seller there are also situations in which the seller will attempt to misrepresent the item deliberately to deceive potential buyers.

Online shoppers may find a variety of great used items for sale at excellent prices but care should always be taken with these purchases to ensure the item is described accurately. Consumers who purchase used items online are advised to ask questions and ask for additional photos of the item if necessary.

Shopping online vs. malls or stores: The variables

The answer, as with many such equations, depends largely on the variables, and one option doesn't win outright over another. We'll ponder the energy required to do both, and a few variables that change with every purchase, like packaging, and a few that are tough to put a number value on, like the relative value of supporting a local Mom & Pop Shop down the block. With that in mind, and, as always, considering that the greenest purchase is the one you've already made, let's begin.
The case for online shopping
This really comes down to scale. All products have to be shipped from the warehouse where they're stored after manufacture, and it can be quite a bit greener to cut the retail store -- and all the building, lighting, cooling, heating, and so forth that the store requires -- out of the equation. According to the Center for Energy & Climate Solutions, shipping two 20 pound packages by overnight air -- the most energy-intensive delivery mode -- still uses 40 percent less fuel than driving 20 miles round-trip to the mall or store or wherever you're going; ground shipping -- which is much more efficient than overnight air -- checks in at just one-tenth the energy used driving yourself.

How does that work? While your car is likely to get more miles per gallon than the truck that's likely shipping your stuff (truck freight accounts for about 2/3 of U.S. domestic shipping), your car only has you (and maybe a passenger), while the truck can be hauling up to about 30 tons of cargo (that's a fully-loaded truck at the legal limit for gross vehicle weight). So you, your buddy, your car, and your 40 pounds of package (on the way home) burn about one gallon of gasoline in those 20 miles.

Shipped 1,000 miles in a truck, your package accounts for about 0.1 gallon, and if you choose to ship by air freight, that number hops to 0.6 gallons; it's all thanks to the hundreds of other packages that are presumably along for the ride. And, even though your online order doesn't go from warehouse to your front door in the same loaded truck or airplane, companies like FedEx and UPS are working to upgrade the efficiency of their routes and fleets, since faster, more-efficient service saves them money.
The case for shopping in stores
This comes down to real-world details. It'd be great if everything could be as efficient as the numbers above bear, but there's more to the process than just shipping. Shopping online results in 2.5 times more packaging than shopping in stores, so having many separate packages shipped can really add up. New Yorkers, for example, left more than 8,300 tons of cardboard and mixed paper to be recycled in the first full collection week after Christmas 2005, a 21 percent increase over the previous year. While all that can be recycled, it takes energy and infrastructure to do so.

Plus, every trip you make to the store isn't 20 miles round-trip, and every mile you don't drive to the store cuts back on the energy required to retrieve your stuff. If you live in a dense urban area, or have access to reliable public transportation, then a portion (or just about all, if you're walking) of your transportation energy is negated, and can tip the scale toward the brick 'n mortars.

A few other options to consider buying from retail stores include: Goods made locally; stuff that you are more likely to return (like clothes) if you can't try it on first; and, supporting stores who are owned and operated by locals, pay local taxes, and make where you live a more interesting and vibrant place. It's tough to put a price tag, environmentally or otherwise, on the social aspect, but it's important to consider.

Understanding Online Shopping

Have you ever thought twice before using your credit card in an online store? Shopping sites, banking sites, even sites for the lovelorn say they are secure, but what does that mean, really? Can't your credit card number or social security number or grandchild's name be hijacked as they whiz through the Internet from your browser to the remote site's servers? And if it is really secure, how do you know?

To tell you the truth, I do a lot of shopping on the Internet and haven't had any security problems. I've bought books, software, flowers, gifts, ink and labels for my printer, blank CDs and DVDs and services. I even paid for the Lansing Star's logo over the Web. Why get jostled at the mall when you can have things delivered to the comfort of your own home?

The key to Internet security is Hypertext Transfer Protocol over Secure Socket Layer, or HTTPS. Regular Web pages use Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and that's why their Web addresses start with "http://." HTTP sends plain text, readable by anyone.

If you have shopped on the Internet you may have noticed that when you get to the part of an online store that actually takes your order that Web address prefix changes to "https://." So the regular address may be something like http://www.myproduct.com and the order taking page might be https://www.myproduct.com/onlineshop/.

HTTPS depends on two things: it needs your Web browser to have secure capabilities (virtually all modern browsers do) and it needs the Web store you are visiting to have the same capabilities. When your browser sees that it is visiting a secure site, it sends your requests and information using a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) in encrypted form, instead of just plain text. The secure Web site knows how to decrypt your information once it gets there.

The Web site must have an SSL Certificate on its server. This is a unique file that allows your browser to authenticate that the Web site it is communicating with is actually the one you think you are communicating with. There are a few different vendors of these certificates, and they must be renewed annually by the site owner.

Another clue that you are on a secure site is that some browsers have a little symbol that appears when it is securely connected. For example, Internet Explorer shows a little yellow padlock in the lower status bar. Opera shows a gray padlock right next to the Web address. Firefox and Mozilla show it in the lower right corner. Netscape shows the padlock in the lower left.

That's what goes on under the hood, but there are some things you should do to be sure you are not sending your personal information to a secure site that is run by thugs.

Always type the address of sites you trust. Don't click on addresses sent to you in e-mail. Bad guys sometimes send official looking letters with a link that looks OK, but actually goes to a clone site instead of the real one.
Only deal with sites you trust. Amazon.com is trustworthy. TakeMyMoneyAndRun.com probably isn't.
Check the Web site to see if there is an address and telephone number. If you are still nervous about ordering over the Web you might be able to phone in your order.
Only deal with reputable companies. You wouldn't hand over your credit card in a storefront called "Sleazebag Emporium" so why would you do it in a questionable Web store?

How is Online Shopping Evolving in India?

Online shopping has had a rather slow and tumultuous journey in India, it has not picked up as much as it should have primarily due to the fact that internet penetration itself is quite low and secondly (and importantly) the online shopping experience has been bad to say the least.

Although their are grass root problems, I still believe that Online Shopping in India is evolving fast and has the potential to grow exponentially in the times to come, as the internet penetration reaches far and wide across the rural area.

Traditionally, Indians are conservative in their approach to shopping. They want to touch and feel the products and test its features before buying anything.

In fact, selected price-savvy customers would also like to squeeze in an economical deal for themselves with appropriate price negotiation with the vendor. They are not the ones to accept the price at the face value. Well, nothing wrong in that as well ;)

With the passage of time came an era of less popular tele-shopping which dealt in limited range of products such as Astrology and spirituality products (such as Rudraksha Mala, Hanuman Kavach, Bal Raksha, etc), Health and fitness equipments (such as Tread Mill, Leg Massager, Height Increaser, Sauna Belt, etc) and even some of the Cooking ranges (including Juicers and Mixers, Vegetable Choppers, etc). But, most of these products could be termed as low-intensity and niche products which could interest only a limited target of people.

Most of us are also a witness to the recent mall culture where all the products are available under a single roof and at competitive price points. Little needs to be analyzed about it over here as most of you might have visited a mall at least for once as a past time on a weekend, if not for shopping precisely. Well, I often do it, to be frank. J

n a sort of change of version from tele-shopping to a broader form of online plus television shopping saw the emergence of a 24-hour shopping channel from Network 18 – TV 18 Home Shopping Network.

As per the report, this fast growing channel has spread speedily with market presence across a range of products. It accounts for 4.5% of all digital camera sales in the country and largest seller of Reebok merchandises. In fact, the report further says that Home Shop 18 sells 480 brands under its portfolio.

It is akin to mentioning that, “I am wary about implications of carrying out online transactions to pay my utility bills fraught with risks of phishing and hacking fraud. But, since I wouldn’t prefer to stand in those long and cumbersome queues (and keep pondering as to ‘Mera number kab aayega?’) with my busy schedule, I would like to latch-on to online bill payments. I could as well write an article for Trak in those 30-40 minutes which I spend standing waiting in those serpentine queues.

Thus, with modernization and fast paced life, came the constraints of time and eventually increasing dependence on online shopping. This has led to online shopping coming off age in India. People have commenced shopping through the convenience of online portals from the comforts of their drawing rooms.

With case study of Home Shop 18 narrated above also points towards a new trend of convergence of online and TV shopping. It is needless to say that shopping has been revolutionized by its wide spread presence across the various mediums such as TV, online portals and even cell phones now that even internet can be accessible through affordable category smart phones.

Given above all the facts, Indian marketers are also increasingly becoming conscious about the viability of returned goods, if customer is not satisfied with the product. This may not sound true over here, but it is a part-and-parcel of the game involved in online shopping.

It is estimated that about a fifth of the buy orders get returned for the goods bought online. As such, most of the online sales are carried out on the condition of ‘If not satisfied with the product, full money to be returned’. Another factor is that most buyers pay on delivery which also keeps their options to return good open, if they do not like a particular product.

Online shopping growth to slow in next decade

When Internet pioneer Amazon.com began doing business in 1995, eager analysts forecast a day when people would sit around all day in their pajamas, relying on their computers to order everything from dog food to groceries. Many consumers would see little reason to venture out to the shopping center and visit an actual store, analysts predicted.

More than a decade later, online stores have become an established part of the retailing world but those early predictions appear unlikely to ever pan out.

In the next five to 10 years, those who are already comfortable shopping online are likely to grow even more so, funneling more and more dollars to Web sites as they continue to increase the number and amount of products they buy online, experts say.

That’s the good news for online merchants.

The bad news: The bulk of the people who haven’t already dabbled in online retailing are likely to stay on the sidelines, analysts say. That’s going to make it harder for companies to continue the ultra-rapid pace of growth they experienced in the early, halcyon days of the online retailing boom.

“Pretty much, most of the people who are ever going to be buying online are online,” said Patti Freeman Evans, senior retail analyst with Jupiter Research. “From the standpoint of behavior change and big shifts in adoption, it’s happened and it’s done.”

Jupiter is expecting online retailing to dip below double-digit percentage growth rates sometime by around 2010, and to plateau at some future date after that.
Advertise | AdChoices

At this point, analysts also expect that traditional, store-based retail will continue to dwarf online retailing. Forrester Research expects U.S. online sales to grow from $132 billion in 2006 to $271 billion in 2011 — but still to comprise just 9 percent of overall retail sales.

Still, online retailers do have growth potential, especially if they work hard to improve their game in the coming years, analysts say. Most mainstream retailers maintain a Web presence, but many of those online shopping experiences are woefully inadequate, said Forrester analyst Sucharita Mulpuru.

“I hardly think that retailers have done everything that they can do to make sure that they’re getting (what they can) out of the channel,” Mulpuru said. “There’s still a lot of mistakes being made, still a lot of basic oversights.”

Problems include Web sites that don’t include enough information about a product, such as detailed pictures, a size chart or accurate measurements. Many also aren’t good enough at maintaining up-to-date information about things like product availability, further alienating a loyal audience that might like to devote more of their shopping dollars to the Web, Mulpuru said.

“They want to use the channel, but they can’t always use the channel as much as they would like because the information isn’t there,” she said.

As more companies solve those problems in the coming years, she thinks there will be opportunities to boost sales, especially in areas such as home products, clothes and cosmetics.

Mulpuru also sees an opportunity to revive an online retailing trend that failed spectacularly in the early days of the dot-com boom — online grocery shopping. While groceries will remain a small part of the overall market, Mulpuru says such Web sites could do more to appeal to affluent, busy people, such as working moms.

Retailers also have another incentive to improve their Web-based sales arm. Even those customers who opt not to purchase many items online are expected to increasingly turn to their computers to research items including cars, houses or even engagement rings.

As online retailing growth slows, Evans says stores will gain a competitive edge if they can get better at integrating their online and brick-and-mortar operations. Already, some stores are experimenting with things like ordering online for in-store pickup, or offering a limited assortment in stores combined with a wider online selection.

A trip to the mall or a downtown shopping center is — and will remain — a form of entertainment for many Americans. Still, Freeman said that’s not the only thing keeping people from shopping online. Even now, many remain wary of turning over financial information to online retailers, or unsure of whether they will receive the product on time, in the right color or even in one piece.

“It’s more trust,” she said.

That’s one reason she believes the outlook for online retailing would perk up considerably if new technology were developed that gave people the ability to much more easily mimic the real-life experience of, say, touching or trying on a product. Unfortunately for technology geeks, however, the ability to do something like conjure up a life-size hologram of a coffee table in your living room is, for now at least, not even on the horizon.

“Online is very convenient (and) it has a lot of offer,” she said, “but there’s certain things you’re going to want from a store.”