It is the survival of the fittest in the online fashion industry.
Whether you have an online apparel store or thinking about starting one, this article is helpful for both, and to eCommerce enthusiasts looking to know the must-have features in an online fashion store.
The eCommerce industry is taking the world on the storm. According to the report, the ecommerce industry has generated a whopping $517 billion in 2018, which is 15% higher than the previous year. We can see almost all industries have adopted online selling, and soon it is going to be a part of unexplored sectors as well.
The online fashion industry has seen a boom in the past decade. Not many of us have thought that there will be hundreds of ecommerce web-store to shop for fashion clothes, accessories, footwear, etc. And, people will actually buy products online without even trying or even actually seeing them.
There are many fashion stores available online, and in such crowded space creating a unique image for your brand and to get noticed is a big challenge. For that, you will need some extra efforts as well as some out-of-the-box ideas to grab the attention of your target audience and win their trust.
Let’s have a look at what needs to be incorporated to offer the ultimate shopping experience for your customers.
Easy Navigation and Attractive UI
A minimum effort experience is key!
A study suggests that around 76% of end-users consider easy-to-use navigation and design is the most crucial factor in a website, and they prefer to shop from the store with easy search options.
The easy it is to search, the keener customers would feel to the shop.
The prime objective of an eCommerce store is to make users click on the buy button, and with the assistance of a simple UI combined with effective navigation and relevant images, it becomes easy to win over users.
Mobile Shopping
Mobile is a game changer!
A leading research organization forecasts that mobile commerce will dominate online sales and expected to account for over 50% of overall ecommerce sales by 2021.
As per the report, it is clear that the mobile medium is going to be the biggest channel of online sales.
Ensuring that your ecommerce store is mobile friendly and create a responsive online store is the most effective way to increase traffic on your website so that you can convert visitors into consumers.
No Misleading Data
Rebuilding customers’ broken trust is impossible.
Every product information and image available on the store must be correct and are related to the product displayed. For fashion store, providing an accurate size of apparel, colors, its features, and other details is a must.
Earlier, customers would walk into physical stores and purchase products after trying out, which is not possible in the case of online shopping.
Customers have trust on the sellers and expect to receive what they see online. Hence, it becomes important for retailers to show real data and images of the products.
Quality Images
Because images have their own voice.
Images play an extremely important part in fashion businesses, as it created the first impression of the product and offer the power to your business. Bad quality, blur, and small in size images could be the backburner for an ecommerce store.
On the other hand, images with good quality that can be viewed from different angles enable customers to get a better look at the product and give an idea of what to expect.
The images have the power to influence the buying decision of customers.
Product Reviews
Boost brand loyalty and trust with product reviews!
People usually go for products that have been already purchased by others and have users’ recommendations.
One of the easiest ways to know genuine feedback about the product is by reading online reviews about products, including dresses, footwear, cosmetics, fashion accessories, etc. According to the research, around 93% of customers get influenced by reading online reviews.
Allowing customers to share their opinion about the products and services will help you to understand and serve your customers better by improving your services.
Reviews are considered as a sales booster, for sure.
It has worked in the past, and it still effective for online shopping.
Easy Pay Option
Easy checkout makes a lot of difference.
While designing an ecommerce store, you should ensure that the payment process on your store is quick and hassle-free.
Offering advanced and multiple payment options can add benefit to your business. If your store does not support multiple payment options, there might be chances of increasing the cart abandoned list by one. Hence, consider integrating multiple payment options, including PayPal, debit card, credit card, net banking, cash on delivery, etc.
In the case of a physical store, a customer might be hesitant to walk down to another store if not happy about the payment mode, but this cannot be the case with online shopping. By lacking in offering multiple payment gateways, you are pushing your customers towards your competitor.
Wishlist
Help customers to create a bucket list by offering a wishlist option.
Some users purchase the products; some don’t.
However, if they like something in your store, they will come back to buy the same. Hence, it is important to have a wishlist option, so that customers can shortlist the products that they wish to buy later.
Not only for customers, but the wishlist also adds fortune to business owners. It helps to know customers’ preferences and tastes that help businesses to launch marketing campaigns to target customers by reminding them about their shortlisted products.
Update Offerings on Regular Intervals
Fashion is an overnight trendsetter, and keep updating it is a must!
No one can predict how and when the trend in fashion will change. Trends are always changing and evolving based on the current preferences and tastes of consumers. Buyers would like to adore themselves with the trending fashion apparel and accessories; and always lookout on for new items.
To stay relevant to the changing market trends, it is important to stay updated about changing trends so that you can upgrade your products accordingly.
Keep your product range updated so that your customers will get to see something new every time they come to your store. To increase traffic and grab eyeballs, running a marketing campaign is a must before releasing a new product range.
Return Policy
Product returns are bad, but as a business owner have to deal with it.
According to a research report, around 30% of the purchased products are returned by the customers, and 92% of them said they would reconsider purchasing from the same vendor only if the return process is easy. Over 75% of the returned products belong to the fashion category.
Defective products, product misrepresentation, and buyer’s remorse are some of the common reasons behind returns, read to know how to minimize return rates.
Offering free return empowers users to make a buying decision without any hassle. And, in most of the cases, firm return policies prevent/reduce product returns and increases sales. Not the other way around.
Quick Loading Time
Each second is important.
In this fast-paced world, no one has time to wait for a website to load. The more time your website will take to load, the chances of users drifting away will increase.
As per the report published in Forbes, websites that take more than 3 seconds to load lose around 40% of their visitors and 52% of buyers say their brand loyalty is depended on the website loading time.
Page load time is a crucial factor for any online store to improve customer experience, and especially when it comes to ranking on a search engine. To improve page load, you should use lightweight product design software and other elements that will load quickly.
It is important to optimize online store to prevent the slow loading time be the reason behind customers leaving your store.
Special Offers
Attract customers with special offers.
Customers get excited after receiving special offers, which lead customer spending more time on your store and purchase products. Holiday season offers, discounted products, mid-year sales, and slashed rates are some of the ways which can pull customers to your online fashion store.
Customer segmentation and seasons play an important role in increasing sales and revenue for your online store. This helps business owners to analyze which set of customers like to buy what kind of products. Once manufacturers/retailers have information about the customers’ shopping behavior, they can run specified campaigns that can be helpful to provoke customers to make their buying decision.
The same phenomenon applies to seasonal sales; merchants should run the campaigns depending on the seasons, as there is a fashion for every season.
Product Category
Make it easy for users to find what they want.
If buyers do not find the items they are looking to buy, they are going to run away from your store.
This is as simple and clear as that. Also, you need to understand that all individuals are different from others; hence, their needs are different. The onus lies on retailers to offer a huge variety of product options to make sure buyers of all kinds can find out the products they want.
Utilizing common as well as highly searched names for your item category will not only boost your SEO rankings, but it will also help your customers to search efficiently.
While categorizing products, ensure they are not too broad.
Cash On Delivery
Make your business popular with COD.
With top ecommerce players like eBay and Amazon dominating the industry, what can you do to increase your sales or to make your business popular among people.
Buyers think twice before buying from a newly launched store or less-popular store. Someone needs to break the ice and talk about your brand to instill credibility.
Shoppers are concern about the packaging and delivery, and even they are worried about whether to share their card details and so on. In such cases, providing an option for COD would seem to be a great solution to improve credibility on the brand.
Attractive Homepage
First impression last forever.
Users see the homepage as they come to your website, and you should ensure that they get the first impression of your business.
According to a survey, many people come to a conclusion about the website after having a first glance at the website’s look.
The homepage is the heart of any website and receives the most traffic. Hence, it should be a combination of products and services you are offering with catchy product captions and attractive visual imagery to delight the shoppers.
Also, the homepage should have an easy-to-navigate menu and should not be filled with products. With the launch of a new product, updating the homepage is very important. By integrating the product configurator, it will be a breeze for you.
Here is a top-secret which many fashion stores are incorporating to their online store…
Offering Product Customization
Who doesn’t like to add a personal touch to products they wish to buy?
Earlier, it was difficult to satisfy all the tastes and preferences of customers. It still is. But with the assistance of product customization software, this gap has been reduced as merchants are now offering customization options to their customers to design exactly what they want.
Check out the advantages of integrating product customization and how offering customization can change the game for you.
The growing popularity of customization sends a strong message to eCommerce business owners: Product customization is here to rule the market.
Are you ready to offer a platform to your customers to design their own products? iDesigniBuy is here to integrate customization software to your online store. Contact us to explore more about customization and our other tailoring software.
