Online Apparel Research Articles

An Investigation of Preference & Satisfaction Towards Online Apparel Purchase: A Customer Perspective

Internet has played a significant role in our daily life from communicating to distant places through emails, video calls, online chats, social networking across the globe to playing games with others along with purchasing the goods or services through electronic media. There are several reasons behind the tremendous inclination of consumers towards online purchase especially the purchase through the Apps over desktop, Smartphone or the tablets. In this research paper the researcher intends to find the various reasons which are propelling the growth of purchases through apps with reference to the apparels purchases along with the satisfaction level with the services provided by these online merchants. The data was collected by the primary survey of the consumers who make online purchases of the apparels. Analysis & Interpretation of data was done by using various data representation techniques as well as statistical tool such as correlation is used to draw conclusions. The study reveals that the most of the respondents prefer the online mode over the traditional method of purchases and they are satisfied by the offerings and the other aspects of e-commerce services provided by these online sites / mobile apps.

Fashion portals and Indian consumers: an exploratory study on online apparel retail marketing

Fashion portals and Indian consumers: an exploratory study on online apparel retail marketing

Influencing factors of brand perception on consumers’ repurchase intention: An examination of online apparel shopping

The research objective is to analyze the impact of brand perception on the repurchase intention in the case of online apparel shopping in Pakistan. This study is based on a more holistic approach than previous studies, incorporating multiple different theories of brand perception in order to capture the complexity of influences and to explain a repurchase intention as a dependent variable. Theoretical framework of the study was developed on the basis of schema theory, image-congruence theory, commitment-trust theory and earlier empirical findings. The study has investigated brand experience, image-congruence, affect, and trust as influencing variables. Quantitative research instrument has been applied on a total sample of 396 respondents from Pakistan online consumer market, using a convenience sampling. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used for data analysis. The results of the study showed significant positive influences of all the proposed constructs on the repurchase intention except for the brand experience.

Exploring Online Apparel Shopping Satisfaction on Sizing and Fit for Malaysian Children

The advancement for the internet facilities have encouraged the the proliferation of online shopping especially apparel segments in Malaysia. Apparel are not only for basic neccessity but also as a trendy fashion as well. Meeting an appropriate sizing and comfortable apparel are the most important elements for consideration of purchasing. This study has determined the uncertainty problem on sizing and fit of apparel for Malaysian children from the perceptive of parents or guardians. Girth and length were identified as a good key dimensions measurement. Height and bust and, height and waist were used to measure upper body and lower body respectively. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) has proved that higher income households had greater discrepancies with respect to satisfaction levels items than lower income household. Different apparel sizing system by brands and manufacturers could lead to consumer confusion and dissatisfaction in shopping via online.

Free Shipping Is Not Free: A Data-Driven Model to Design Free-Shipping Threshold Policies.

Online retailers often offer free shipping threshold policies: customers who purchase more than a threshold amount are not charged an additional fee for shipping. This paper provides a data-driven analytical model to (i) assess the profitability of a retailer’s current shipping threshold policy and (ii) identify the best freeshipping threshold policy for a retailer. The model is estimated from actual transaction and product return data. The model explicitly accounts for changes in customer shopping behavior due to a free shipping threshold, including strategically adding items to a shopping basket to receive free shipping, which we call orderpadding, and the subsequent adjustment in product return decisions. Roughly speaking, according to our model, a retailer that offers a free shipping threshold policy should set the threshold slightly abovethe average shopping basket amount. We calibrate our model to data from an online apparel retailer and determine that its decision to offer a lower free shipping threshold reduced its profitability considerably.This result is robust to a number of assumptions regarding the impact on long-run sales and possible price adjustments. We conclude that free shipping threshold policies are profitable only under a limited set of restrictive conditions.

The Operational Value of Social Media Information

While the value of using social media information has been established in multiple business contexts, the field of operations and supply chain management have not yet explored the possibilities it offers in improving firms' operational decisions. This study attempts to do that by empirically studying whether using publicly available social media information can improve the accuracy of daily sales forecasts.We collaborated with an online apparel retailer to assemble a dataset that combines (1) detailed internal operational information, including data on sales, advertising, and promotions, as well as (2) publicly available social media information obtained from Facebook. We implement a variety of machine learning methods to forecast daily sales. We find that using social media information results in statistically significant improvements in the out‐of‐sample accuracy of the forecasts, with relative improvements ranging from 12.85% to 23.23% over different forecast horizons. We also demonstrate that nonlinear boosting models with feature selection, such as random forests, perform significantly better than traditional linear models. The best‐performing method (random forest) yields an out‐of‐sample MAPE of 7.21% when not using social media information and 5.73% when using social media information is used. In both cases, this significantly improves the accuracy of the company's internal forecasts (a MAPE of 11.97%). Combining these empirical results, we provide recommendations for forecasting sales in general as well as with social media information.

Effects of price discount on consumers\u2019 perceptions of savings, quality, and value for apparel products: mediating effect of price discount affect

Extending the price–quality–value model (Monroe and Krishnan in The perception of merchandise and store quality 209–232, 1985) and means-end model (Zeithaml in J Mark 52:2–22, 1988), we developed a conceptual model to investigate the mediating role of price discount affect (feeling aroused by price discounts) in the relationship between price discounts and consumers’ perceptions (perceived savings, quality, and value) and in the relationship between perceived value and purchase intentions in the context of online apparel products. A between-subject experimental design with four levels of price discounts (10, 30, 50, and 70%) was used. Jeans were selected as the product stimulus. Web pages were developed to create a fictional online store and to collect data. A total of 209 usable responses were collected by a research firm in the United States, and structural equation modeling was performed to analyze the data. The results showed that price discount affect played an important mediating role in the relationship between price discounts and consumers’ perceptions. When the direct effect of price discounts on perceived quality was examined, consumers perceived the apparel product with higher discounts as lower quality (i.e., a negative direct relationship). However, when price discount affect served as a mediator, the feelings created by a price discount led to a positive perception of product quality (i.e., a positive indirect relationship). By considering the influence of price discount affect, our model provides a better understanding of the effect of price discounts on consumers’ perceptions of apparel products.

Online Website Cues Influencing the Purchase Intention of Generation Z Mediated by Trust

The apparel industry has repeatedly faced the problem of the return of products due to the intangibility factor. This intangibility of feel and touch of the product has constantly been attributed to the trust factor. This research endeavor tries to study the influence of online website cues such as Product presentation and Perceived interactivity) whether they have a decisive impact on the purchase intention of generation Z mediated by the trust factor. The paper examines trust as a mediating factor from the gaps of previous literature who fail to consider trust in the light of a consumer behavior perspective, as trust is a vital factor under the given conditions of risk and uncertainty. Online shopping is an activity which involves primary interaction with computers and customers, which acts similar to the concept of having a salesman in a traditional store that influences the purchase intention. Therefore trust needs to acts as the salient salesman in the web world. In the current study, a web-based survey was administered to 2000 sample size equally distributed to male and female respondents who fall into the Generation z classification.Structural equation modeling was performed to analyze the data. Results confirmed that all the necessary cues considered for the study from extensive review have a substantial impact on purchase intention mediated by trust. Therefore, Marketers and decision makers of the online apparel website must cater to the contents of the website as these are important cues which influence the purchase intention of Generation Z.

Improving Global Desirability of Apparel Design through Online Apparel Systems

Improving Global Desirability of Apparel Design through Online Apparel Systems

Shopping Orientations towards Online Purchase Intention in the Online Apparel Purchase Environment

Online apparel shopping is growing at a very fast pace in spite of the fact that online apparel shoppers face problems in online apparel shopping such as colour, size, quality etc. So it is vital to explore the factors affecting customer’s online apparel purchase intention. The objective of this study is to find the impact of shopping orientations on customer’s online apparel purchase intention and to find the construct which has strongest impact on customer’s online apparel purchase intention. It is found that impulse purchase orientation, quality orientation, brand orientation and convenience orientation, shopping enjoyment orientation are positively related to the customer’s online apparel purchase intention. It is also found that convenience orientation is the most important contributor to customer’s online apparel purchase intention.

A review on the factors influencing e-impulse buying behavior with reference to online apparel products

The Aim of this study is to identify the critical factors influencing E-impulse buying behavior with reference to online apparel products. Literature survey has been carried out from the scholarly journals and relevant factors have been identified which influences the E-impulse buying behavior. Author suggested to build a conceptual framework based on the factors such as Consumer Characteristics, Social Media Interaction, Spending Behavior, Product Characteristics. In addition, the independent variables have been identified through literature gap and the new conceptual framework has been developed hypothetically to test the factor which influences the E-impulse buying behavior with reference to online apparel products. Since the study is limited to critical literature review, the author has gone ahead with the study for the development of new conceptual framework.

Sentiment analysis based on the domain dictionary: a case of analysing online apparel reviews

E-commerce offers an online shopping environment in which manufacturers, businesses, and consumers participate. The past-customer emotion outlined in their reviews plays an important role in not only the purchasing decisions of potential consumers, but also in manufacturers' production plans and in business' maintenance of their shopping environments. This paper proposes a sentiment analysis approach based on the domain dictionary for extracting subjective customer emotion and objective commodity metadata from review pages and analysing their relationships. The value of the proposed approach was demonstrated through a case study by using online apparel reviews of an anonymous brand in China. The study found that the domain dictionary can be more effective in extracting emotional information. Coats, shirts, and t-shirts garner higher emotions than pants. Sales increase as the emotion increases and decrease as the price increases. A fixed price range, in which the clothing has higher emotion and sales, can be found.

Sentiment analysis based on the domain dictionary: a case of analysing online apparel reviews

E-commerce offers an online shopping environment in which manufacturers, businesses, and consumers participate. The past-customer emotion outlined in their reviews plays an important role in not only the purchasing decisions of potential consumers, but also in manufacturers' production plans and in business' maintenance of their shopping environments. This paper proposes a sentiment analysis approach based on the domain dictionary for extracting subjective customer emotion and objective commodity metadata from review pages and analysing their relationships. The value of the proposed approach was demonstrated through a case study by using online apparel reviews of an anonymous brand in China. The study found that the domain dictionary can be more effective in extracting emotional information. Coats, shirts, and t-shirts garner higher emotions than pants. Sales increase as the emotion increases and decrease as the price increases. A fixed price range, in which the clothing has higher emotion and sales, can be found.

Online Apparel Retailing: The Mediating Effect of E-Shopping Intention on the Association among Privacy, Website Content and E-Shopping Satisfaction

The purpose of this paper is to understand the efficiency of E-Shopping Intention and its mediating effect on Privacy and Website Content on E-Shopping satisfaction. Consumers Satisfaction is an integral part for online retailers and online manufacturers. The researcher has analyzed the relationship among independent variable called privacy and website content with dependent variable e-shopping satisfaction. The main aims of the article is to find the mediating effect of E-Shopping Intention mediates the relationship between Privacy and E-Shopping satisfaction in an apparel online shopping atmosphere. Thirdly, the article aims to find whether E-Shopping Intention mediates the relationship between Website Content and E-Shopping satisfaction. The writer has used a sample size of 242 respondents from Coimbatore college students and convenient sampling technique was used for the study. The author has used boot strapping technique in AMOS to find the mediating effect of E-Shopping Intention on the relationship between Privacy and E-Shopping satisfaction as well as the relationship between Website Content and E-Shopping satisfaction. The findings show that E-Shopping Intention completely mediates the relationship between Privacy and E-Shopping satisfaction where as E-Shopping Intention partially mediates the relationship between online E-Shopping satisfaction.

The female gaze: Content composition and slot position in personalized banner ads, and how they influence visual attention in online shoppers

With the overload of information on the internet today, consumer attention is becoming increasingly precious. Online retailers often use banner advertising for products that consumers have previously viewed so as to achieve retargeting. This study examined the attention that female consumers paid to product-based personalized banner ads for online apparel retailers, and how this attention was influenced by visual content composition and slot position. Using a screen eye tracker, we analyzed the interaction effects of ad slot position (content relevance, top-center or right sidebar slot on portal site) and the content composition (image-text ratio, discount information, use of models) of personalized banner ads on relevant eye movement data. This data allowed for increased understanding of the combinations of ad content/layout composition and slot position that gain the most attention. The results revealed that placing apparel banner ads next to articles associated with apparel and fashion increases the overall amount of attention that consumers give the ad. Furthermore, ads in the top-center slot on portal sites receive greater total contact time and number of fixations than those in the right sidebar. We further found that adding discount information and using models to display the garment in banner ads can effectively increase the total contact time and number of fixations.

Analysis of Individual Aspects Influencing Non-purchasing in an Online Environment and Consumer Willingness to Purchase Custom-Made Apparel

Abstract Purpose: The main purpose of the study was to assess the opinion of online consumers about the possibility of making custom apparel using 3D body scanning technology in an online environment and to investigate the shopping experience of consumers who purchase in the online apparel market. In order to be able to propose solutions to improve the online shopping experience, we also investigated aspects influencing non-purchasing in an online environment. Methods: An online questionnaire on shopping experience, influences on the purchase, and the process of online apparel shopping using advanced technology was prepared and distributed via several online channels to the consumers who purchase apparel online. The questionnaire was completed by 76 respondents from different European countries, the United States and Australia. In order to analyze individual aspects influencing non-purchasing in an online environment, an exploratory factor analysis was performed. Results: The factor analysis revealed that the two broad dimensions of reasons why consumers have never bought any ready-to-wear apparel online despite browsing are a misperception of product integrity and time-consuming searching. The results show that the proposed solutions to improve the online apparel experience, such as making custom apparel using advanced technologies, have a positive impact on the decision of the consumers to purchase on the online apparel market. It turned out that a high proportion of potential consumers are willing to share their body dimensions through 3D body scanning technology in order to improve the fit of the apparel. Conclusion: According to the results, we expect that the advanced 3D body scanning technology would provide substantial progress regarding fit, visualization, and manufacturing of custom-made apparel when purchasing in online stores.

Millennials' Online Apparel Purchase Decisions through Social Interactions

The purpose of this research is to explore how Millennials mitigate perceived risks that occur during online apparel purchasing decisions through social interactions based on social learning theory. Also, this research investigates concerns generated from interactions with others when consuming apparel online. An exploratory investigation was undertaken with 78 undergraduate students using an online survey that included open and closed questions. Qualitative data revealed positive relationships between consumers' social interactions and purchases of apparel products online. Specifically, information searches through social interactions with trusted individuals utilizing online channels were found to validate purchasing decisions and alleviate perceived risks with purchasing apparel products online. However, consumers were also concerned with certain interactions due to the lack of credibility regarding reviewers, channels, and conflicting information. These findings provide an insight into millennial consumers' learning processes through consumer-to-consumer interactions in social media environments for apparel purchases. As online and mobile shopping along with consumers' social media usage for interacting continue to increase, these research findings guide retailers how to turn their attention to investing and utilizing these channels to enhance millennial consumers' positive purchasing experiences online.

Effects of brand familiarity and brand loyalty on imagery elaboration in online apparel shopping

Consumers tend to imagine product features, functions, or usage that they have learned from previous exposure to and experiences with brands, especially when they engage in online apparel shopping. Prior brand-related factors, such as brand familiarity and brand loyalty, may influence imagery elaboration – the activation of stored information in the production of mental images beyond that provided by the stimulus – evoked through virtual product experience tools with online apparel websites. Thus, the purpose of this study was to empirically examine how brand familiarity and brand loyalty impact imagery elaboration at online apparel websites and consequently influence attitudinal and behavioral intention relative to the brand. Utilizing MacInnis and Joworski’s model of brand attitude formation, a conceptual model was developed. Using an Internet-based survey, data was collected from 403 undergraduates at a Midwestern university in the US. Results indicated participants familiar with, and loyal to, a brand engaged in greater imagery elaboration as evoked through virtual product experiences, resulting in positive brand attitudes and online purchase intention. Managerial implications are discussed to highlight the important roles of brand familiarity and brand loyalty on imagery elaboration, brand attitudes, and online purchase intentions.

Antecedents of product satisfaction and brand satisfaction at product receipt in an online apparel shopping context

This study investigates the antecedents of satisfaction with the product and satisfaction with the brand of consumers when they have received a garment ordered online and tried it on for the first time. We propose four antecedents of product satisfaction and brand satisfaction: (a) brand-based product expectation at purchase, (b) perceived product performance at product receipt, (c) website-visible-attribute expectancy disconfirmation (discrepancy between product expectation and perceived performance of the product attributes that are visible on the website, such as style and color), and (d) website-invisible-attribute expectancy disconfirmation (discrepancy between product expectation and perceived performance of the product attributes that may not be distinguishable on the website, such as fabric, fit, and workmanship). The research design was a 2 (levels of brand-based product expectation) x 2 (levels of perceived product performance) factorial experimental design. We developed two mock-up apparel retailer web pages for the data collection, and 120 participants provided usable responses. The findings revealed that brand-based product expectation and product performance did not influence product or brand satisfaction. Both types of expectancy disconfirmation were determinants of product satisfaction; however, only website-visible-attribute expectancy disconfirmation was the antecedent of brand satisfaction. Based on the findings, theoretical and pragmatic implications are presented.

Interactive Trial Room –A Solution to Reduce the Problem of Rampant Return of Sold Merchandise in Fashion E-Commerce Business

Objectives: To offer a software based solution to reduce the problem of rampant returns of sold merchandise in fashion e-commerce business. Methods/Statistical Analysis: The primary research data was collected via a questionnaire filled by customers buying apparel online. Cluster sampling was done by dividing sampling population into a group (based on geographical proximity as Bengaluru) called city cluster that has correlation with the main variable online shopping (as in stratified sampling) and then the selected age group (18-35) using SRS technique. Data was also collected via indepth interviews conducted with stakeholders of e-commerce industry in Bengaluru. Findings: The analysis shows that 42% of fashion apparel is returned because of the problem of size and fit. The correlation between variables where people shifted away from shopping online to shopping offline, in the last six months, points to inability to check size and fit while shopping online. 67% of online shoppers also had a view point that if virtual fitting solution were to be provided, it would help in selecting the right size and fit. According to research released by Body Labs1, 23% of all clothing purchased online is returned. According to Forbes study, of 2011 2 , those that do click on the buy button, many find that their best guess was incorrect upon receiving the item. About 70% of garment returns are because the garment didn't fit as the customer expected. The data was also collected via personal interviews of key executives of some of the largest e-commerce companies in India, and according to them, the returns percentage ranged from 12% to 25%. Improvements: The proposed solution helps customers shopping online to virtually try the garment before buying and suggests the right fit for them and therefore has the potential to reduce returns.