GET YOUR CLOTH PERFECTLY FIT
GETTING
SIZE WISE
With
selling customers the right fit being their biggest challenge, online clothes
retailers in India offer everything from home trials and virtual dressing rooms
to measure up
When this
writer’s sister went to Southern California five years ago, it was the perfect
opportunity to ask for clothes from high-street brands not available in India.
A trip to their websites, however, destroyed any hope of figuring out my size
for her to shop on the ground. An online shopping virgin, I was confounded by a
mindboggling variety of numbers and charts that my very Indian hips and math
skills could make no sense of.
Mercifully, it seems like desi online shopaholics will not have to endure any similar travails with Indian e-commerce retailers. Although we have overcome our fear of online payments to go from reluctant e-shoppers to savvy purchasers, we’re still wary of picking up the wrong sizes in the absence of a trial room where you can strut and evaluate your stuff at every angle. Enter e-commerce retailers coming up with solutions that seem almost too good to be true. Sample Yebhi.com’s television commercials featuring Cyrus Sahukar and Raageshwari Loomba, which explain its ‘try at home before you buy’ policy. And you can’t have missed the ads on the Facebook sign up page for Jabong.com, which also offers the prospect of checking out your purchase under the unforgiving glare of your bedroom mirror. Myntra.com recently acquired San Francisco-based virtual fitting room start-up Fitiquette. That means you’ll soon be able to virtually try the apparel you’re considering on a 3D model based on your dimensions.
SIZE DOES MATTER
There’s good reason for this wooing. At Yebhi.com, which commenced operations in 2009, the average return is 15 per cent, half of which is due to sizing. “Sizing has been one of our biggest challenges,” acknowledges Nikhil Rungta, chief business officer, Yebhi.com calling it “a deal-breaker when you wear the garment”. Ganesh Subramaniam, chief merchandising officer, Myntra.com, says 70 per cent of the returns are due to sizing problems. Mukul Bafana, co-founder, Jabong.com, cites sizing as “one of the top three reasons for returns — the others being quality and colour”.
This is despite the fact that all these online retailers have detailed sizing charts and instructions featured on their sites. At Jabong.com, crucial measurements, like those of the bust and waist, are illustrated for buyers. “The dimensions of the model wearing the garment, along with graphics showing what they mean, are provided, and we illustrate how to map your measurements to actual product,” explains Bafana, whose site also provides downloadable sizing charts that you can actually print and measure your foot against. At Myntra.com an illustrated sizing chart provides bust, waist and hip measurements for garments like a woman’s dress and also shares detailed instructions on how to map your size using a tape measure at home. “So if a certain T-shirt of a certain brand is a size M, we’ll tell you what that means for your measurements,” Subramaniam says.
Yebhi also interprets the sizing jargon for you. “Each product carries an explanation of the sizes it’s available in. If a particular brand has jeans in 10 different fits, we explain the waist and length measurements you’ll need for each,” explains Rungta.
HOW HOME TRIALS WORK
But none of that makes up for the “touch and feel” factor, Rungta admits. Yebhi.com launched a trial run of their Try n Buy facility in November 2012 and formally introduced it as a permanent feature in February. “You can only control so much, no matter how many explanations you provide on the site. One individual may not like the way the fabric stretches on his/her body, another maybe unhappy with the colour in daylight. That experience can only be offered via a real trial,” he says.
At Myntra.com, you can purchase a couple of sizes if you are unsure and then do an online exchange or apply for a return. You pay for all the products you order, and can return the second product for a full refund within 30 days. At Jabong.com, if you’re unhappy with what you try at home, the delivery person will connect you to the call centre, where an executive-cum-stylist will recommend options or solutions. If that doesn’t work, you can return the item on the spot. Yebhi has branded their delivery personnel “Yebhi champs”. “These are not average courier boys whose only job is to hand over the package and collect a signature. They know what they’re delivering, have been trained in customer interactions, and can help the customer with little details like how they should judge the fit of the shoe. If you have further queries that are more technical, you’ll be directed to the call centre,” Rungta explains. Most of these companies offer a 30-day return policy, and refunds take anywhere between 24 hours to 30 days.
Bafana believes that allowing the customer to try garments and shoes at home is their biggest USP. “The experience of trying at home has consistently got the highest scores in our customer satisfaction surveys,” he divulges. He remains non-commital on whether this has translated into higher sales. Subramaniam has a similar response. “The customer’s confidence in shopping for fashion online improves with this service. And that automatically means returns will eventually come down, and make a significant improvement to
the bottom line,” he says, adding that like most players offering these services, the cost of ground logistics have been built into their business
strategy.
GOING VIRTUAL
Despite these measures, Subramaniam found that in customer engagement programmes, the uni-dimensional approach of sizing charts was a continuous complaint. “Technology, we think, is the best way to tackle it,” he says. In April, Myntra.com announced its acquisition of Fitiquette, a San Francisco based technology platform which will be rolled out between July
and September this year. Fitiquette works by letting each customer create his/her 3D avatar based on key body measurements. You then see how selected garments look on the model. “The number of returns came down to almost zero with this prototype in the US,” Subramaniam says. “Instead of focussing on garment measurements, we’ll tell you whether a Mango size small and a Zara size medium will fit your measurement X,” he says. “That’s what we need to do as an industry — come together and ask customers for their measurements, and then match available brands and sizes.”
Pal seconds that. “Technology is part of our future strategy,” is all he divulges, though. “We would like to encourage virtual trial and sizing, since we don’t encourage too many returns and exchanges with our big discounts.”
But Rungta doesn’t set too much store by virtual sizing apps, claiming that sales and traffic to the site has gone up by almost 40 per cent in two months since the launch of the try-at-home-and-buy TVCs. “Nothing can simulate the experience of actually trying the item,” he concludes.
• NO EXTREME MEASURES REQUIRED
Not all online clothing retailers believe that it’s important to bend over backwards to get sizing right, however. Suminder Pal, GM, sales and sourcing, Fashionandyou.com, a three-year-old e-commerce player, says that though 20-25 per cent of their returns are due to sizing issues, a conversion chart explaining that a US size ‘large’ might mean ‘medium’ in India, is sufficient. After all, he contends, “We’re a discount site — you can buy most things on our website for between 20 to 80 per cent. When we’re already offering you a Versace dress at such a deep discount, we’re pretty sure you have a good idea of what fits you,” he says, revealing returns are free but in exchange for store credit only.
Pal believes the problem is only acute when you shop for an international brand. “The average Indian online shopper will already be aware that a size 38 Arrow shirt or a 32-inch pair of Levis jeans is his/her go-to.” In addition, little details like the fact that a size 30 bust can fit anyone from a size 28 to a size 32 bust and clarifications with trained customer care executives should take care of any problems, he reckons.
However, most of this would not be an issue if we just had a comprehensive, universal Indian sizing chart. Pal rues, “This needs to be addressed at a national level. In the US, it’s mandatory for brands to have standardised sizes. Our Ministry of Textiles has taken no such initiative, which is why we have to rely on UK/ US sizing. Even in stores, customers end up trying two to three different sizes.”
Mercifully, it seems like desi online shopaholics will not have to endure any similar travails with Indian e-commerce retailers. Although we have overcome our fear of online payments to go from reluctant e-shoppers to savvy purchasers, we’re still wary of picking up the wrong sizes in the absence of a trial room where you can strut and evaluate your stuff at every angle. Enter e-commerce retailers coming up with solutions that seem almost too good to be true. Sample Yebhi.com’s television commercials featuring Cyrus Sahukar and Raageshwari Loomba, which explain its ‘try at home before you buy’ policy. And you can’t have missed the ads on the Facebook sign up page for Jabong.com, which also offers the prospect of checking out your purchase under the unforgiving glare of your bedroom mirror. Myntra.com recently acquired San Francisco-based virtual fitting room start-up Fitiquette. That means you’ll soon be able to virtually try the apparel you’re considering on a 3D model based on your dimensions.
SIZE DOES MATTER
There’s good reason for this wooing. At Yebhi.com, which commenced operations in 2009, the average return is 15 per cent, half of which is due to sizing. “Sizing has been one of our biggest challenges,” acknowledges Nikhil Rungta, chief business officer, Yebhi.com calling it “a deal-breaker when you wear the garment”. Ganesh Subramaniam, chief merchandising officer, Myntra.com, says 70 per cent of the returns are due to sizing problems. Mukul Bafana, co-founder, Jabong.com, cites sizing as “one of the top three reasons for returns — the others being quality and colour”.
This is despite the fact that all these online retailers have detailed sizing charts and instructions featured on their sites. At Jabong.com, crucial measurements, like those of the bust and waist, are illustrated for buyers. “The dimensions of the model wearing the garment, along with graphics showing what they mean, are provided, and we illustrate how to map your measurements to actual product,” explains Bafana, whose site also provides downloadable sizing charts that you can actually print and measure your foot against. At Myntra.com an illustrated sizing chart provides bust, waist and hip measurements for garments like a woman’s dress and also shares detailed instructions on how to map your size using a tape measure at home. “So if a certain T-shirt of a certain brand is a size M, we’ll tell you what that means for your measurements,” Subramaniam says.
Yebhi also interprets the sizing jargon for you. “Each product carries an explanation of the sizes it’s available in. If a particular brand has jeans in 10 different fits, we explain the waist and length measurements you’ll need for each,” explains Rungta.
HOW HOME TRIALS WORK
But none of that makes up for the “touch and feel” factor, Rungta admits. Yebhi.com launched a trial run of their Try n Buy facility in November 2012 and formally introduced it as a permanent feature in February. “You can only control so much, no matter how many explanations you provide on the site. One individual may not like the way the fabric stretches on his/her body, another maybe unhappy with the colour in daylight. That experience can only be offered via a real trial,” he says.
At Myntra.com, you can purchase a couple of sizes if you are unsure and then do an online exchange or apply for a return. You pay for all the products you order, and can return the second product for a full refund within 30 days. At Jabong.com, if you’re unhappy with what you try at home, the delivery person will connect you to the call centre, where an executive-cum-stylist will recommend options or solutions. If that doesn’t work, you can return the item on the spot. Yebhi has branded their delivery personnel “Yebhi champs”. “These are not average courier boys whose only job is to hand over the package and collect a signature. They know what they’re delivering, have been trained in customer interactions, and can help the customer with little details like how they should judge the fit of the shoe. If you have further queries that are more technical, you’ll be directed to the call centre,” Rungta explains. Most of these companies offer a 30-day return policy, and refunds take anywhere between 24 hours to 30 days.
Bafana believes that allowing the customer to try garments and shoes at home is their biggest USP. “The experience of trying at home has consistently got the highest scores in our customer satisfaction surveys,” he divulges. He remains non-commital on whether this has translated into higher sales. Subramaniam has a similar response. “The customer’s confidence in shopping for fashion online improves with this service. And that automatically means returns will eventually come down, and make a significant improvement to
the bottom line,” he says, adding that like most players offering these services, the cost of ground logistics have been built into their business
strategy.
GOING VIRTUAL
Despite these measures, Subramaniam found that in customer engagement programmes, the uni-dimensional approach of sizing charts was a continuous complaint. “Technology, we think, is the best way to tackle it,” he says. In April, Myntra.com announced its acquisition of Fitiquette, a San Francisco based technology platform which will be rolled out between July
and September this year. Fitiquette works by letting each customer create his/her 3D avatar based on key body measurements. You then see how selected garments look on the model. “The number of returns came down to almost zero with this prototype in the US,” Subramaniam says. “Instead of focussing on garment measurements, we’ll tell you whether a Mango size small and a Zara size medium will fit your measurement X,” he says. “That’s what we need to do as an industry — come together and ask customers for their measurements, and then match available brands and sizes.”
Pal seconds that. “Technology is part of our future strategy,” is all he divulges, though. “We would like to encourage virtual trial and sizing, since we don’t encourage too many returns and exchanges with our big discounts.”
But Rungta doesn’t set too much store by virtual sizing apps, claiming that sales and traffic to the site has gone up by almost 40 per cent in two months since the launch of the try-at-home-and-buy TVCs. “Nothing can simulate the experience of actually trying the item,” he concludes.
• NO EXTREME MEASURES REQUIRED
Not all online clothing retailers believe that it’s important to bend over backwards to get sizing right, however. Suminder Pal, GM, sales and sourcing, Fashionandyou.com, a three-year-old e-commerce player, says that though 20-25 per cent of their returns are due to sizing issues, a conversion chart explaining that a US size ‘large’ might mean ‘medium’ in India, is sufficient. After all, he contends, “We’re a discount site — you can buy most things on our website for between 20 to 80 per cent. When we’re already offering you a Versace dress at such a deep discount, we’re pretty sure you have a good idea of what fits you,” he says, revealing returns are free but in exchange for store credit only.
Pal believes the problem is only acute when you shop for an international brand. “The average Indian online shopper will already be aware that a size 38 Arrow shirt or a 32-inch pair of Levis jeans is his/her go-to.” In addition, little details like the fact that a size 30 bust can fit anyone from a size 28 to a size 32 bust and clarifications with trained customer care executives should take care of any problems, he reckons.
However, most of this would not be an issue if we just had a comprehensive, universal Indian sizing chart. Pal rues, “This needs to be addressed at a national level. In the US, it’s mandatory for brands to have standardised sizes. Our Ministry of Textiles has taken no such initiative, which is why we have to rely on UK/ US sizing. Even in stores, customers end up trying two to three different sizes.”
SOWMYA
RAJARAM TCR 130601
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