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Do These Sales Make My Bottom Line Look Fat? By Michelle Megna December 7, 2007 Strategies for Snaring Stylish Shoppers "Despite such healthy growth in online fashion sales during the past five years, the distribution of fashion buyers is widespread across a number of retailers, allowing for plenty of opportunity in the years to come," states the report. To capitalize on the future growth in this category, e-tailers should do the following: Foster a sense of control with strong product detail pages. Online apparel consumers demand alternate product views, enhanced zoom and user reviews to assure them of the proper fit. "Web shop owners would also be wise to capitalize on increased broadband penetration by offering innovative content like video to mimic the in-store experience and interactive virtual models to alleviate concerns about fit," according to the research. "Customer reviews can also bolster product detail pages and can supplement sparse product detail information and inaccurate sizing charts — problems that all too often plague online apparel retail." Reduce buyer uncertainty with free shipping offers. Consumers increasingly expect free shipping to be an industry standard, especially for items like apparel and footwear that see a higher-than-average exchange/return rate. The study suggests raising gross margins on product prices to partially offset the cost. Enable a convenient cross-channel experience. Nearly three-fourths of online fashion buyers have researched a product or service online and bought offline, a trend that will only increase as consumers become more comfortable with the Internet, the report says. For those fashion retailers with a catalog, store, and/or wholesale business, functionality like a robust store locator, inventory lookup, and consistent promotions across channels will empower the consumer and drive online shoppers into the stores. Michelle Megna is managing editor of ECommerce-Guide.com. Do you have a comment or question about this article or other e-commerce topics in general? Speak out in the SmallBusinessComputing.com E-Commerce Forum. Join the discussion today!

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