Closing the Gap

The gap between physical stores and online stores is getting closer and closer as online product merchandising becomes more and more advanced. Cross selling in physical apparel retailing is easy enough - “Oh these knits are great to throw under this type of jacket”, “That shirt also looks great open with a singlet underneath”. Your sales assistants know the brand, know the product, and know how to put looks from the current range together. If they can recommend something that complements what your customers have already chosen, it’s generally an easy sell.  Your customers will have a varying range of skill when it comes to piecing outfits together, and you want to make it as easy as possible for them to buy an outfit that works. In store this is generally done with the help of sales assistants, product layout and mannequins. Online it is just as achievable if you employ the right tactics – Lookbooks, runway videos and related products make well put together outfits accessible and understandable for your customers, and can be extremely beneficial for your sales figures as customers lean towards purchasing entire “looks” as opposed to single items.

Lookbooks are nothing new online - it is generally easy to upload all your shots used for your lookbook, or to upload a digital copy of your latest catalogue. While this is all well and good you want customers to be able to see something they like, and add it to their cart instantly. If they view an outfit they like in a lookbook, and then have to manoeuvre back to the products page and manually search for the item, you are decreasing your chances of making a sale. They may not be able to find the product, or may change their mind in the time it takes to locate it.  Smart lookbooks are key when it comes to breaking down buyer resistance. You need your lookbook to be able to literally sell your product. A good example of a smart lookbook is Barkers Winter 2010 (www.barkersonline.co.nz). Each look can be enlarged and states exactly what products were used to create the look. You can then either click on the name of the product or the product on the model and be taken to that specific product page. From there, only once click is needed to add that product to the shopping cart. Customers can then go back to the look and add the rest of it in a similar fashion. Having these clickable hotspots enables the customer to purchase the product as soon as they are inspired by a look, minimising the time in which a customer may change their mind.

Video is also an increasingly popular way to merchandise your products. It can be used in a variety of ways but the most common (particularly for high end designers) is the video lookbook, typically a filmed runway show. These videos have the benefit of both showing how the clothing can be put together and showing the way it fits and moves. While video shouldn’t be a substitute for well shot product images they should definitely be considered to go alongside them. Max Fashions is a good example of a clothing company who has used video online well. When viewing a product page the customer could choose to watch a short clip featuring a model on a runway wearing that particular item. Viewing these clips gives your customer a clear idea about how the products sit, move and fit and can help to influence their purchase decision. Video has also been used on fashion sites for branding, tone setting and interactive purposes. TopShop.com has successfully used video a branding tool to create a feel for their “Unique” collection. A video montage of interviews, runway clips and backstage shots demonstrates the edgy fast-paced personality of the brand and underlines its presence in the fashion scene. Australian label Lover has also recently released an extremely well received video on their website based on their winter collection “The Harvest”. The inspiring video which is only a couple of minutes long succeeds in encapsulating the distinct personality of the brand and sets the mood for their new collection. This video managed to simultaneously strengthen Lover’s brand personality, promote their product, and cause a viral stir in the fashion scene, which no doubt benefited their sales.

One of the most common (and for good reason) online merchandising tricks is the “related products” suggestions. There are many variations of this - “Other products you may like”, “Others who bought this also bought” and “Complete the look” are old favourites. Essentially this is a blatant cross sell/up sell tactic, and one that works. It can be as advanced or as simple as you like online. You can choose to pull products up randomly in the hopes that the customer happens to like what pops up, or you can link all your products manually in order to tailor make the suggestions. You may manually link your products so that when a customer is viewing a product they are suggested matching items, or items that complete the look, or similar looking items. This is the more time consuming, but definitely more beneficial option as a merchandising tool as it can easily convince your customers that they need the pants to “complete the look” just as much as they need the shirt they originally had their eye on. “Top seller” categories or product recommendations are also a goodie, particularly when customers are uncertain about what they want, there is safety in numbers after all.

Your customers are often open to suggestions, ideas and even instruction on what to wear, you just need to provide the tools the take advantage of this. If you can make it easy for them to figure out what goes with what, and make it even easier for them to get these things into their shopping cart, then you have the potential to hugely increase sales as customers buy more items in order to create a look that they know works. The inspiration you provide them with needs to be set out in a way that makes it exceptionally easy for them to add it straight to their shopping cart as soon as they see something they like, in order to break down any resistance a customer may face when making a purchase. Online merchandising is often simple to implement and is a big step towards meeting your customers’ expectations when it comes to matching your offline shopping experiences with your online shopping experiences.