Website Design Counts When Retailing T-Shirts

Wednesday 20th of October 2010 11:20:59 PM

Website Design Counts When Retailing T-Shirts

Website design does matter when retailing t-shirts, polo shirts, sweaters or any other type of clothing for that matter. That’s especially true when the retailer uses multiple channels to sell. According to the 2010 Multichannel Fashion Report from GSI Commerce International, the value brand fashion retailers that sell in stores and online are losing out to fashion brands sold only online. That’s because the in-store shoppers are accustomed to actually touching merchandise and are uncomfortable buying the same brand online without the same ability.

Connecting with online shoppers takes a mixture of savvy marketing and a well designed website. Value fashion brands are having problems converting in-store visitors to online shoppers and website visitors to sales. The multichannel fashion retailer customers were asked what it was about the websites that stopped them from buying online and it the two top items mentioned were not lifestyle images of products and having only one product image.

You would think that low prices would be enough to convince shoppers to buy online, but it seems customers want an easy to navigate website, the ability to rotate the product, and the ability to image zoom. The bottom line is that online bargain shoppers are still looking for a good shopping experience. When shopping for t-shirts or sweatshirts, for example, shoppers need to be able to filter products for color and size. Steve Davis, an executive with GSI Commerce told FashionUnited, “It’s clear that the lower the price of your products, the more you have to do to garner that all important product quality trust with customers. The results of the report show that value retailers have to make the most of web functionality to turn a browse into a sale, so ensure that you’re not simply displaying one product image on the website.” In other words, a successful website offers shopper options.