Online Clothing Sales Busting at the Seams
By Valerie S. Johnson
Buying clothing is a very tactile experience. You need to feel the material in your hands. You have to try clothing on to see if it fits. Do those basketball shoes make your feet feel like they have wings? Will those stilettos make your arches ache? Do these pants make me look fat?
Just a few years ago, you wouldn’t have thought that anyone would buy clothing on the Internet. You can’t touch it, see the true colors, or try it on. Yet online shopping for shoes and clothes has become tremendously popular. In fact, last year Americans spent more money online buying clothing than buying one-size-fits-all electronic equipment, according to a survey by Forrester Research for Shop.org. Specifically, sales of skirts, suits and shoes beat revenue from PCs, printers, and word-processing software by more than $1 billion.
How to explain this phenomenon? Two explanations have been given. First, the online retailers typically offer generous return and exchange policies with free shipping. If the Air Jordans don’t fit, just throw them back in the box, send them back, try a half size larger, and it won’t cost you extra. And the ability to preview items on your screen has greatly improved. You no longer have to squint at a small picture and wonder what the item really looks like; instead you can zoom in and rotate the image to check it out from all angles.
Yes, but will these pants make me look fat? Really, will they?
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