Shopping online has become more and more popular in recent years. If a few years ago, you were used to going to a mall, searching for the perfect dress for your event, and just roaming through the stores, now you can do it while lounging on your own sofa.
The industry of online shopping has advanced extremely over the past few years. The invention of subscription boxes has established new norms for brands that want to create their online shop. But the progress of online shopping was stimulated when the world pandemic shook up the Earth. More and more people started shopping online, because the virus spreads quickly through the air and the risk of catching it is high in closed spaces.
Now you can shop for books, clothes, shoes, cosmetics, furniture, and even groceries online. The packages are delivered to your door, so all you have to do is to surf the internet, find the best offers, add items to your cart, shop, and pay.
Online Shopping Development
So, how did online shopping get invented? The idea was latent for many years, as people were already in 1968 searching for ways to save money and time. The first online transaction happened in 1972, when students from Stanford University used their account and artificial intelligence lab to sell each other tiny amounts of marijuana, according to an expert essay writer from assignment help online.
With the invention of the internet back in 1983, online transactions developed at an unprecedented rate. Even though the internet was first created for military purposes, it was soon expanded to be of use to scientists and communicators.
The internet is now a huge thing that eases everyone’s life, helps them plan their days, search for their next destination, and shop for devices, clothes, books, and anything they like.
According to research by thesis writing services, 72% of women compared with 68% of men choose to shop online. Online retailers are constantly working to improve their online shops and attract more customers, so how is online shopping changing? It becomes easier for women to buy clothes specifically, but is it exactly happening?
Websites Are Easier to Navigate
The last decade was marked by significant technological advancements. This contributed positively to a user interface that allows customers to shop online even easier than before. Online retailers that have online shops where they sell clothes are looking to make their websites easier to navigate.
And so, the industry of online shopping grows bigger every year. The 2017 value of e-commerce was estimated at almost 24 trillion dollars. Which is incredibly huge. Fashion is the largest online market and it gets more valuable as the year passes. Only in the US, 27% of clothing sales happen online.
To this great development of the online fashion industry contributes every retailer that puts emphasis on making things smoother for his customers. Websites are easier to navigate, they are eye-candy and look great. And visuals with a strong brand identity attract more customers.
More Discounts
The fashion industry is a fierce one and every designer or brand is competing for its place on the market. More customers mean more sales, thus more money and opportunities for development. The pool of customers is limited, so they need to secure their customers and make them loyal to the brand. In the online world where every ad promotes a new online shop, they need to make their customers loyal.
And so, discounts are offered through a lot of channels. They appear as discounts in your weekly newsletter, like ads in your Facebook or Instagram newsfeed, or you just receive one because you have visited their shop. Online shopping is changing and it is trying to make everything smoother and more cost accessible. This makes it easier for women to buy clothes online.
The shipping cost is sometimes free and those discounts can save some money that can be used for something else. Besides, discounts are a great way to make your customers loyal, and women will choose cool brands that offer high quality and discounts from time to time.
Create Accounts Easier
Every online shop requires every customer to create an account. Like this, they grow their customer database and can send you newsletters or discounts. But this might seem like a boring, energy, and time-consuming activity and some people might avoid those websites.
But this was the case before social media. Now, everyone has a Facebook or Google account. So more and more online shops allow you to instantly create an account with just a few clicks. The mandatory data about yourself is taken from your social media account and everything is ready in a matter of seconds.
As technology develops, so does the world of online shopping. They are looking to make the customer experience enjoyable and smooth to increase their retention.
Payments
Even though online payments are nothing new, some changes about them are. They are more secure than before, although they can be improved continuously. Apple Pay or Samsung Pay requires your fingerprint to allow the transaction. Some banks have even created their own app that allows you to pay your online shopping easier than before.
The technology is developing, new banks are being set up, new devices and apps are invented, and the entire world is changing. Online shopping is doing the same and it evolves along with technology. The process of buying online is easy, smooth, user-friendly, and eye-candy. It makes it easier for women, who shop online in a slightly more percentage than men, to surf the internet and decide on the clothes they want to wear.
Brands Put an Emphasis on Customers
If you look at the online buying behavior, it is easy to see that most purchases are made to replace an existing item. This means that more women shop online to replace an item in their wardrobe than they go for new clothing items.
Brands that have understood this changed the online shopping experience for women. They understood that they do not have to necessarily create entire new collections every year, but supply their online stores with successful items from previous collections. Every woman has some clothing items in her wardrobe that she is especially keen on. There are those items that are trendy and versatile every year, which makes women feel comfortable, sexy, and confident.
Finding these clothing items online makes it easier to buy them. You already know your size, all you have is to find it and order it. The entire shopping experience is more pleasant than before, and this is because it is done online and it constantly evolves, develops, and improves.
Conclusion
Online shopping has changed tremendously over the last decades. And it is experiencing another boom now with the world pandemic. More and more apparel brands choose to set an online store, and this comes with more costs for them. But the emphasis is put on customers and their entire shopping experience, and so it becomes easier for women to buy clothes.
Websites are easier to navigate, you can create an account in a matter of seconds and use your card to pay instantly. All these make the process of buying clothes online smoother. On top of this, more and more brands and online retailers offer huge discounts that allow women to buy more clothes at cheap prices.
Some of these brands also feature the most loved items from previous collections, so it is easier for women to replace some items in their wardrobe.