1. Online fashion shopping game set to change
Firms arrange online trial of clothes, start own delivery service
THE online fashion industry is growing in size, and there are several factors behind it. For example,
Zalora has 50,000 unique visits every day.
Online stores are proving popular as they allow consumers to shop beyond normal operating hours
for retailers, and this means they can shop globally as well in markets in different time zones from
their own.
Noting this trend, eBay recently revamped its website in Singapore to include an inventory of over
40 million new items from overseas.
"We are seeing a trend where our consumers' purchases are becoming more varied, they are
increasingly buying products and brands not found locally," noted Danny Lim, CEO of comGateway, a
digital concierge service.
Traditionally, for clothes a key concern was with fitting, but now there are methods to alleviate that
fear with 2D fitting - virtual fitting and size guides that include a sophisticated mannequin which will
adapt to one's size.
For example, shops such as Thomas Pink will take the measurements for their customers which can
be entered on their website with the mannequin adapting to the customer's size, showing the
customer exactly how the outfit would fit as if they were physically trying it on in-store.
Another concern has been the reliability of shipping, which often resulted in angry customers not
receiving their packages or receiving them long after they were promised to arrive.
Client : PayPal Country : Singapore
Publication : The Business Times Section : BizIT
Date : 10 June 2013 Page : 30
Topic : Online fashion shopping game set to
change
Circulation : 37,500 (daily)
URL: : N/A

2. This may be due to postal services not being able to cope with the high volume but it continues to
reflect badly on the brand, and a shopper having a bad experience is unlikely to continue to
patronise the store.
Therefore, companies such as Zalora have created their own delivery fleets which transport the
goods from the warehouses and distribution centres right to the customer's doorstep, a method
which they consider to be cheaper, faster and more reliable.
Online stores have a different cost structure from the offline world as they do not have real estate
cost, a cost that they translate into logistics and marketing.
It is important for brands to ensure that their brick-and-mortar stores are complementary to their
online stores. This could be done by using promotional tools such as giving shoppers discount
vouchers when shopping online to be redeemed the next time they shop in-store.
Having a seamless experience from in-store to online gives the consumers choice as they may start a
shopping journey by browsing online and might finish it through purchase in the store or on the way
home on the tablet.
Zalora, for instance, sees a conversion rate (the rate at which a customer who browses the site
eventually makes a purchase) to be on average one in 100 customers for South-east Asia as a whole.
It sees a lower conversion rate on mobile as customers feel more secure purchasing on the
computer and prefer to make their purchases on a larger screen.
"The key is that you want the same experience online and in-store," said Malcolm Pinkerton, senior
e-commerce analyst, Planet Retail, who spoke to BT on the sidelines of the Asian Fashion Festival.
Customer service also becomes ever more important online as social media provides an immediate
feedback of customer experience. Therefore, it may be prudent to have integrated teams to manage
their social media, such that when a comment is placed on social media the customer service can be
alerted to handle it. To ensure that customers are able to voice their feedback, companies such as
eBay have dedicated channels such as a feedback rating where the customer can give immediate
feedback to the sellers.
They also have a detailed seller rating which measures sellers on the shipping time, the shipping
costs and the description of the goods and the strength of the communication. Mobile is another
aspect set to be a major game changer in the retail market.
Overall, the mobile commerce market in Singapore is forecast to grow tenfold to reach S$3.1 billion
in 2015, translating to 70 per cent of the online market in 2015, according to PayPal.
With mobile technology, consumers will be changing the way they compare prices while shopping.

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