Consumer-Studies: Less Risk Seen in Purchasing Clothes Online

Maybe Americans don’t need dressing rooms after all.....
For the first time since online retailing was born a decade ago, the sales of clothing have overtaken those of computer hardware and software, suggesting that consumers have reached a new level of comfort buying merchandise on the Web.
The surging popularity of clothing on the Web defies predictions that fashion — which is hard enough to buy in stores, with the aid of sales clerks and fitting rooms — would be difficult, if not impossible, to translate onto the Internet.The majority of shoppers, it was feared, would never abandon the habit of trying on clothes to assess the feel of fabrics and the fit of a given size, which varies a lot by brand; but that fear has ceased by proven results. At Zappos.com, a popular online retailer of shoes, jewelry and clothing, free overnight shipping and free returns, with postage paid by the company, now make it possible for customers to treat the Web site somewhat like a bricks-and-mortar store, where they can try on and discard a dozen pairs of high heels. “We think of ourselves as Netflix,” said Tony Hsieh, the company’s chief executive. “If you don’t like it, you send it back.”Apparel retailers are eager to refine their Web sites and win over new buyers.
There is a downside, though. Return rates for clothing bought online are about twice as high (14 percent) as other products bought on the Web, Shop.org said, giving retailers the cost of restocking and reselling merchandise. Online retail executives said liberal return policies and better navigation tools on their Web sites, like the ability to zoom in on and rotate the images of a $500 handbag, have bridged the once wide gap between online and offline clothes-shopping experiences.
Online apparel and footwear retailers are decking out their sites with a range of new features. (At Timberland.com, shoppers can design their own boots right down to the color of the retailer’s signature tree logo. They can consult a detailed chart that converts sizes for customers in Japan, Italy and Greece. And they can spin, rotate and zoom into images of it.“You can virtually pick up the product, giving you the essence of touch,” said Troy Brown, general manager of Timberland’s Web site. Sales at the site, started in 2001, have grown an average of 35 percent over the last three years.)
Over all, online sales grew 25 percent in 2006, to $220 billion, including travel. Shop.org, in surveying the state of the online retail industry, said the growth suggested that e-commerce “has come of age." The report, which surveyed 174 retailers, said the young industry was in little danger of reaching a saturation point and abruptly slowing down.
(By MICHAEL BARBARO, NYTimes)