The Online Apparel Shopper Experience

While online and offline shopper journeys are becoming increasingly intertwined, in many cases due to the omnichannel approach of shopping, retailers are struggling to understand how this defines consumer segments and what influences the shopper journey.

The apparel industry, in particular, is straddling both sides of this omnichannel approach: For those focused on growing brick and mortar sales, they’re trying to make the most out of the value of those in-person interactions. On the other hand, many retailers are focused on taking advantage of the ease and convenience of e-commerce by identifying ways to offer better or similar benefits to shopping in-person through digital tactics.

The Research

In order to understand how brands in a variety of apparel categories can better target and message to different online shoppers, we decided to conduct an Agile Attitudes & Usage™ study. This study focuses on the specific barriers, triggers, and overall shopping experience for different segments of apparel shoppers in the e-commerce space.

The findings can be used by apparel brands to understand more about online apparel shoppers and determine what tactics they should take to encourage more online purchases with regard to their e-commerce offering—and relative to the different types of online apparel consumers.

The study sought to determine what the current online journey is for different types of online apparel shoppers, and how retail apparel brands can improve the buying experience of apparel online. Objectives were to

• Understand the shopper journey for apparel
• Identify who the online apparel shoppers are and their motivations for and barriers to buying apparel online
• Determine the comfort level of buying apparel online and what would make the e-commerce shopping experience better

The Results

The online apparel shopper is looking for convenience and lower prices when it comes to purchasing their favorite casual clothing or shoes from brands and retailers they know.

Consumers are currently buying—and most comfortable buying—more casual clothing online. They often purchase these items from brands or retailers they’ve purchased from before in order to save time and browse the large variety of items available online.

The online apparel shopper journey often starts at home and ends with the consumer purchasing up to 3 items.

Differences do exist in the journey of varying types of online shoppers. However, most often they are starting at an aggregate retailer and visiting a total of two sites during a single online shopping experience.

Targeting specific consumer segments by age or gender can help personalize and improve the online apparel shopping experience.

Depending on the type of online shopper, certain variations in barriers, triggers, and online behaviors do exist. For example, Millennials, Gen X & Boomers, men, and women all have unique aspects of their online shopping experience that should be resolved or messaged to by online retailers.

To learn more about online apparel shoppers and their journey, download the full report. You’ll learn about the specific barriers and triggers to buying clothing online and other findings that include:

• What significant differences exist among different types of online shoppers
• What specific categories and types of apparel consumers are purchasing online most often, and within that, the types of apparel they’re most comfortable purchasing online
• What site features retail apparel brands can incorporate to improve their online shopping experience