Shopping online makes it impossible for customers to physically touch or try on different items. That means choosing the right size is a big challenge. Since the eCommerce marketplace grows increasingly competitive every day, online clothing retailers must do everything in their power to satisfy customers and earn their loyalty. That’s why a size-recommendation tool of some kind is a must-have for these businesses. Let’s explore three benefits eCommerce merchants can enjoy from integrating a sizing tool, and discuss some tips for creating a sizing chart for your online business.
Benefit #1: Reduce return rates and associated costs
One size doesn’t exactly fit all. Any savvy shopper knows that a size-six skirt from Shop A won’t necessarily fit the same way as a size-six skirt from Shop B. This can be quite frustrating for customers—and for business owners too, since customers often end up buying different sizes of the same product and returning the ones that don’t fit. The average online apparel retailer suffers from a return rate of 28%, and 80% of these returns are due to fitting issues. In other words, eCommerce companies are losing a great amount of money from customers returning their orders. Fortunately, however, there’s a solution to this problem: the online sizing tool.
eCommerce companies can tremendously reduce order return rates and expenses by offering a sizing tool or fit recommender for their customers. An accurate sizing guide helps ensure that the buyer receives their desired fit in the first place, thereby reducing the need for ordering multiple sizes as well as the possibility that they’ll return the product afterwards. If you’re offering custom-made products, having a comprehensive size chart will also help you protect yourself from these extra losses as a merchant. It’ll allow you to focus on how to increase sales, instead of spending so much time and money handling customer returns.
Plus, offering an informative online sizing chart can increase customer trust in your brand, whether you use an eCommerce platform like Shopify, WooCommerce, or any other. It tells shoppers they can feel confident that they’re getting the right size and won’t have to go through a frustrating and time-consuming returns process later. That means a sizing chart can not only lower return rates, but can help reduce cart abandonment rates too.
Benefit #2: Improve the customer experience and boost conversions
A well-crafted sizing chart is an important component of a seamless online shopping experience—and we all know that a seamless customer journey leads to higher sales. This type of tool reduces the time shoppers have to spend on choosing the right size, which makes the entire purchase process quicker and easier.
Remember to make your sizing tool relevant to all customers. If you’re serving a global audience, include international sizing conversions for more intuitive and accurate purchases. Additionally, if you sell clothing or footwear for women, men, and children, make sure that you offer respective sizing guides for each market segment. Finally, since the majority of online transactions are completed via mobile devices, your size chart should also have a responsive web design (RWD) that caters to mobile shoppers for their convenience.
Benefit #3: Reduce customer support costs
When customers return their order to an online clothing retailer, it generates additional and unnecessary customer support costs. These expenses may include repacking fees, extra labor from examining the returned goods, time spent on restocking activities, and other return costs. All of the extra work may lead to staff being overwhelmed, leading businesses to hire more staff and increasing costs that way, too.
Also consider that half of returned products lose value, or were used and therefore can’t be resold at all. Even if they can be, the total costs of a returned good may add up to 20% of the item’s price, taking transportation, warehousing, and restocking expenses into account. All of these factors are causing retailers to lose more from their already thin profit margins. A helpful online sizing chart can reduce these losses as well as customer support costs for eCommerce companies, leaving them with greater profits.
Another benefit of reducing these costs: It gives merchants more capital and resources to invest in valuable tasks such as enhancing product quality or personalizing product recommendations. Check out Zalando’s website to see one successful example of a retailer that increases customer engagement and revenue by adding sizing tools to their customer journey.
Tips for creating a sizing tool
Now that you’ve learned the benefits of including a sizing tool in your eCommerce business, here are a few pointers to help you design your first sizing chart.
Select the right sizing plugin
eCommerce owners should choose the sizing plugin that best fits their business model. The first thing to consider is the compatibility of the sizing tool and the online selling platform you’re using. One helpful tool most merchants can take advantage of is Kiwi Sizing. It integrates seamlessly with more than 10 different eCommerce platforms, including the major ones like Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce.
The next factor to consider is the simplicity of the deployment process. Since not all eCommerce owners are IT professionals, the installation process should be as easy as possible so sellers can quickly get the sizing tool up and running. Some sizing plugins even offer size chart templates for different merchandise, so sellers can input their product details in a more efficient way. If you choose to use a customized size recommender like Kiwi Sizing, you’ll also be able to create a sizing chart by uploading a CSV file. You’ll then be able to customize the chart’s layout, images, content, and color to visually attract customers and help them make accurate purchase decisions. You might also consider adding smart sizing capabilities to help you offer accurate sizing information using machine learning techniques.
Make your size chart visible and easy to read
Make sure your sizing chart is easily visible to shoppers across your website. Recommended positions are at the top of the page, or right next to a product introduction. Remember: Global sellers should also include international sizing conversions (like showing measurements in both centimeters and inches), use the right size terminology for different regions, and provide multi-language charts.
Some apparel businesses may also benefit from mentioning the model’s size in images to give customers a better visualization. After all, visitors tend to be more confident about ordering when they can identify with a similar body type. eCommerce owners should make it clear that the given size chart only corresponds to their brand to avoid confusion and enhance customer trust.
Use visually attractive images
High quality images are crucial for any online retailer. Various studies have shown that humans process visual content like photos and videos better than text alone. eCommerce sellers should offer clean, consistent photos of every item including all necessary viewing angles, with a size chart to match. Product videos and an image zoom-in feature are also recommended, if possible. (Consumers are 85% more likely to buy a product after viewing a product video!). You can even show user-generated content like images and videos of your customers trying out or wearing your products to offer a compelling story element and a sense of trust to help increase conversions.
Add a sizing tool to your eCommerce store today
Integrating a fit recommender with properly displayed size information is what eCommerce businesses need to cut costs, improve the customer experience, and increase conversions. With the tips introduced above and the right strategic planning, a well-designed sizing tool can give your online sales a major boost.
To reduce the return rate after a successful sale, we also recommend that you can create a size chart with unit conversion to make your customers pick the unit they are most comfortable to think in to make a purchase decision.
Or use Kiwi Sizing AI Size Recommender as a size chart tool. It will recommend the most suitable size of products for customers to reduce return rate, help you decrease the cost of the return, and to create a positive cycle of your e-commerce business.
- Official Website：https://www.kiwisizing.com/
- YouTube Tutorial：https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQpP0NIIALWyMIa6NrFH3dw
- Demo Website：https://demo.kiwisizing.com/
- Showcase: https://www.kiwisizing.com/showcases/size-charts
