Welcome to True Fit's four part series guiding you to gift a great fit this 2022 holiday season. In part one, we take deep dive into the current ecommerce retail landscape - setting expectations and provide you with digital shopping industry insights.
Insight from True Fit’s Fashion Genome, which brings together data from 80 million active shoppers and 17,000+ brands, has revealed that consumers are beginning their holiday shopping earlier each year. This year, however, the returns landscape might impact how and when shoppers decide to tackle their holiday shopping list.
Early trends from September and October reveal that digital browsing remains high. True Fit has seen 14% growth in traffic across its network of retail partners in September over last year but our data has also revealed that shoppers are lengthening their discovery and consideration phases with checkouts dipping 8%. What might be causing this hesitancy? Many major retailers are tackling the rise in returns by shortening their return windows and adding restocking fees to their policies as they gear up for the holiday season. The Wall Street Journal states in a recent article titled Good Luck Returning your Unwanted Clothes and Electronics that shoppers had become accustomed to using their homes as fitting rooms during the pandemic and now stores are stepping back from free shipping and free return policies and instead instituting sharp measures for curbing that habit.
“Retailers and brands must ensure that consumers are supported during their buying journey with rich, relevant and meaningful customer engagement from first-look right through to the checkout.”
So how can shoppers be supported by retailers as they tackle their holiday gift list and take advantage of holiday promotions and sales? True Fit’s own Sarah Curran states recently in The Industry’s article Online Fashion Browsing Grows but Purchases Drop as UK Shoppers Remain Cautious that “retailers and brands must ensure that consumers are supported during their buying journey with rich, relevant and meaningful customer engagement from first-look right through to the checkout.”
Giving the Gift of the Perfect Fit
According to Bain research, fit is the number one barrier to shoppers buying apparel and footwear online. Unlocking this barrier means providing shoppers with trusted and dynamic fit guidance. But what about as they shop for family and friends this holiday season? With our ‘Shop for Others’ feature, True Fit shoppers can seamlessly tackle their holiday shopping list anywhere they see the red T. Shoppers can create and link profiles for family and friends to their own and be guided to the best fit for mom, dad, friends and children.
How can you give the gift that always fits this holiday? Shop with True Fit at some of our store partners! Stay tuned for True Fit’s holiday round up, a shopping guide for everyone on your list!
Want to learn more about how True Fit’s shop for others feature drives conversion, revenue and improves your customer experience? Book a Demo Today