During the early days of ecommerce, big retailers offered free shipping and return to juice growth and help customers overcome their misgivings about ordering online. However, sustaining such initiatives is becoming increasingly unaffordable. But with the advancement in technology, the brands don’t have to suffer the consequences of return. Similarly, our online fashion designing software helps brands control the returns because they can allow their buyers to design, try it on, and then buy.
3D Clothing Design Online Helps Brands in Setting-up Virtual Trial Rooms
These days, people are very busy, and they don’t like to order a cloth, wait for it to come, try it on, and return (if it doesn’t fit). These are all very long processes to invest time; therefore, the urgency to provide virtual fit has again relegated online. The technology has been extended to stores, where the pandemic has made trying on clothing more complicated. In fact, statistically, ecommerce return rates have spiked 95 percent in the last five years. Happy Returns forecasts that returned goods’ value will rise from $350 billion in 2017 to $550 billion by 2020 in the US.
These problems are too big to be ignored, and brands need to urgently adopt strategies that help them control the return rate and enable buyers to try on the product before buying virtually. Besides the time, consumers are forced to maintain social distancing while stepping out, and therefore, they are a little reluctant to share the same fitting room as someone else. Fast fashion companies like Zara and H&M are also investing in better fit analysis, with both now relying on software that suggests sizes for online customers after they input their height and weight.
Let’s see how technology helps the brand to solve the return rate problem:
- A Great Way to Enhance Customer Experience
Earlier, the ideal fit was all about personal preferences as it is about measurements, and without having a consistent sizing across all brands. But very soon, “One size doesn’t fit all” started, and people were recommended and asked about their precise measurements, which helped both the customer and the brand. But during the pandemic, with retail stores hit hard, brands are relying on fitting room tech not just to bring customers back into stores, but improve the experience. A new sense of urgency could unlock virtual fit, be it online or in person. Therefore, many online brands, like Levi’s, Ralph Lauren, and Kate Spade, are now having conversations with every one of its partners to use the tech in stores.
Our online dress design tool works on a similar principle and helps brands to let their buyers try out the outfit they have designed aids them to gain a complete idea of how it would look on them after buying.
- The need for Contactless Fitting Room
As per the government’s new guidelines, the new reopened stores are mostly contactless, meaning that fitting rooms are closed, restricted, or just unappealing. According to a First Insight study, 65 percent of women feel unsafe trying on apparel in dressing rooms now. Thus, shoppers are left to guess the size and fit — and more inclined to adopt the buy-then-try behaviors that mimic e-commerce. The phenomenon has compromised a fundamental value proposition for stores; fit is the top reason for online returns, which for apparel can be 40 percent. Even before the pandemic, returns overall cost retailers one-third of their revenues annually.
- Profound Interest of Millennials and Gen Z in Technology
Providing virtual fitting is a great way to attract millennials and Gen Z because they are born in the era of technology and know-how to play with it. BrandLab, a virtual reality showroom developer, has experienced a 2,000 percent increase in customer inquiries as fashion brands rapidly seek new routes to market due to Covid-19. Buyers can browse through 360-degree showrooms, including individual garments and close-ups of fabric textures with clickable links to product and price information, watch catwalk shows filmed exclusively on BrandLab’s 50-foot catwalk and add products directly to orders.
Conclusion-
Even as the need for technology increases, challenges stand in the way of it becoming mainstream quickly. And achieving standardization is a logistical nightmare, reducing a brand’s carbon footprint the more comfortable and more immediate option. But sometimes, a simple technique helps in sustaining for a longer time. The design your own clothes virtually by iDesigniBuy enables brands to capitalize on the trend of virtual trial room and allows their buyers to “try-it” before they buy it.
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