Shopping for clothes online is no cakewalk. It’s true despite there being plenty of apparel websites today.
Small and big clothing brands alike feature and sell their creations online.
But, having too many options can be overwhelming for many people. We’ve compiled a few tips to make the choice easier.
Following these tips will make your online shopping experience more rewarding.
- Choose Between Boutiques and Department Stores
The market for online shopping grows bigger every year. People often prefer to buy from large clothing retailers online.
Online department stores have huge collections of products from hundreds of brands.
The huge choice of products can be confusing and time-consuming to go through.
It’s a better idea to buy from a boutique if you know what style of clothing you want. Several women’s clothing boutiques online offer you curated apparel collections.
These boutiques feature clothing from designer brands and smaller labels alike. So, they have options to fit into every budget.
Also, it’s useful to shop from boutiques if you’re looking for a specific type of clothing.
For instance, if you want tall women’s clothing, you’re more likely to find it in a boutique than in a department store.
But, there are advantages to shopping online from department stores too. These stores have everything under the same roof.
You can find accessories to match your clothing or vice versa on these sites. For instance, if you want to buy pink clothing, a boutique will give you a few curated options.
But, a department store will give you options for pink clothing in various categories. These categories include dresses, shirts, skirts, etc.
So, your choice here depends on whether you prefer quality or quantity.
- Create a Wish List
Most online shopping sites have a ‘Wish List’ feature. Some boutique clothing websites have a ‘Favorites’ feature instead of a wish list.
These features perform the same function. They allow you to save items you’d like to buy later.
There are many advantages to using wish lists while shopping. One, it helps you keep a record of the products you like.
Keeping a record will make shopping a breeze since you already know what you want. You can come back and refer to this list whenever you need to.
Also, a wish list can help you save money. Often, people get distracted on clothing sites and buy products they don’t need.
In this way, they spend more money than they plan to spend. Referring to a wish list while shopping can prevent this.
Reminding yourself what you need rather than what you want can help you save money in the long run.
Besides, if you’re looking for a specific item in an online clothing boutique, you may not find it.
But, if you keep your options open, there’s a good chance you will. A wish list makes it easy for you to save such options.
In the process, it helps you save time and effort you’d otherwise waste on looking for a specific product.
- Shop From Reliable Brands
Online shoppers lose billions of dollars to fraudsters every year. Thanks to the growing dependency on eCommerce portals, this figure is ever-increasing.
It’s important to stay safe online. You give websites access to your credit card details and other sensitive information.
You shouldn’t let them access this information if you don’t trust them. Remember to read reviews about a company before you buy from it.
See how long it’s been in business and how customers responded to it since its start. This information can help you understand how trustworthy a brand is.
Also, check the number of reviews these brands have online. The more reviews a brand has, the more popular it is.
The more popular it is, the safer it’ll be to buy products from it online.
- Read Customer Reviews
Often, products you view online appear very different from the products you receive. There are several factors contributing to this difference in appearance.
One, it could be an innocent mistake. After all, pictures sometimes fail to capture the colors and textures of clothing.
Lighting, resolution, and other technical factors affect the appearance of clothing in pictures. An online company will showcase its products in how customers would want to see them.
So, it’s not wise to take the pictures and descriptions of their products at face value. Instead, you should dig around a little.
Pretty much every women’s clothing website online features a ‘Customer Reviews’ section. Customers post about their experiences with the company’s product in this section.
Trust reviews that have a ‘Verified Buy’ tag on them as these reviews are from genuine buyers. Buyers often describe the color, fit, and quality of the apparel they bought in their reviews.
They also often post pictures of themselves wearing the product in natural lighting. You can discover what a piece of clothing may look like on you by going through their reviews.
- Keep Size Differences in Mind
Different brands have different clothing sizes. If you shop online, you’ll know that a size 6 according to one brand differs from a size 6 according to another.
You can’t depend on generic clothing sizes and buy clothes in the same size across all websites. If you do, you’ll spend days returning products that don’t fit you.
Besides, if you realize you picked the wrong size a few days too late, some brands may not offer you a refund.
Or, in some cases, brands offer you a refund by deducting the shipping fees for the same.
So, it’s better to be safe than sorry here, especially if the product you bought was expensive.
There’s a good way to save time and money on sizing issues, though. Measure yourself before you start shopping for clothes online.
Measure yourself around the shoulders, bust, hips, and waist. You could also measure your height.
Measuring your height helps you understand how long a piece of clothing will be on your body. You can compare this to how the same piece looks on the model wearing it in the picture.
After recording your measurements, look at the sizing chart on a website you like and find your size.
Sizes can be in numbers (eg. 4, 6, 8, etc.) or small, medium, and large (S, M, L, etc.).
Conclusion
Online shopping can be as fun as it is sometimes challenging. The key to a successful shopping experience is to focus.
It’s easy to get dazzled by the wide array of products you see online. Remind yourself what you want and need and you won’t go wrong with online shopping.
Iskra Banović is our seasoned Editor-in-Chief at BlueFashion. She has been steering the website’s content and editorial direction since 2013. With a rich background in fashion design, Iskra’s expertise spans across fashion, interior design, beauty, lifestyle, travel, and culture.
