How Apparel & Fashion Brands Win on Amazon
The increased dominance of eCommerce, especially marketplaces like Amazon, have created challenges for brands of all kinds. Shifting the customer experience from a store shelf to a screen happens more naturally for certain categories, and creates unique challenges for others.
Apparel and fashion brands face some of the most dynamic shifts from brick and mortar, and the ones that win on eCommerce have mastered the art of transitioning their strategy for the digital shelf.
No more dressing rooms
Customers can’t see, feel, or try on clothing before buying them on eCommerce. As a result, apparel and jewelry have the highest return rates across all categories on Amazon, reaching as high as 40%. With such high customer returns, apparel brands need to employ a variety of strategies to both ensure satisfied customers and increase margin to be profitable on eCommerce.
Detailed sizing information
One of the most common reasons for both returns and negative reviews are sizing issues. Customers are less likely to return a product if it fits exactly as expected. Luckily, Amazon has some tools to help ensure customer satisfaction.
Size charts
For each available size of your product, be sure to include accurate sizing information for all variations. While not every customer will check the chart before buying, it also can help with influencing Amazon’s sizing recommendations.
Leverage Amazon’s recommendations
For customers who have purchased apparel on Amazon in the past, the platform will use an algorithm based on both product information and your purchase history to determine a recommended size.
eCommerce-specific content
Content, such as images, feature points, and product details can do a lot to set customer expectations.
Accurate photos and videos
One of the most common reasons for customer dissatisfaction (read: returns and bad reviews) comes from broken expectations based on listing images.
Colors being inaccurate, even slightly, can lead to returns. Brands that invest in proper color matching techniques, which exist across both photography and post-production color grading, can reduce their return and refund rate.
Product images and videos should also be used to highlight features, making sure the customer knows exactly what to expect. Showcasing the product from all sides is critical, ensuring that they don’t miss any fit details or stylistic choices they may disagree with.
If your product has unique sizes that vary from common expectations, be sure to include content, such as image charts or feature points, that highlight the differences. A common example is highlighting the type of fit (such as slim fit) in a prominent location.
Smart catalog management
Apparel and fashion brands offer some of the greatest number of variations across all categories. If a product comes in multiple styles, colors, and sizes, it’s critical to consolidate all variations into a single Amazon listing, or Parent ASIN.
This strategy is two-fold – it both enhances the customer experience, making it easy to find exactly what they need, while boosting the search visibility of your product by combining all sales numbers and reviews.
Amazon’s apparel-specific programs
Amazon has made moves to increase the effectiveness of apparel and fashion sales on its platform, introducing programs like Amazon Fashion and Prime Try Before You Buy.
Amazon Fashion is Amazon’s destination for apparel and accessories, giving customers a curated experience. Brands featured on Amazon Fashion benefit from increased visibility, and are slotted into relevant categories split by style, type, gender, and more.
Prime Try Before You Buy gives customers the option to have a product delivered for a 7-day trial period, and return items that do not fit. This helps mitigate some return issues brands face, as there are greater restrictions around how products can be returned.
Many of Amazon’s programs are primarily available to brands with a direct 1P relationship with Amazon, particularly when they’re recently launched.
Reduction in gray-market sellers
All of the above strategies can be thwarted by unauthorized sellers. Sellers are able to change product features and content without brand approval, offer margin-damaging prices, split the catalog into fragments, and ship incorrect colors and sizes. Without managing distribution and mitigating issues from third party sellers, apparel and fashion brands will have a difficult time making Amazon a profitable and sustainable channel for their long-term strategy.
For help with optimizing your catalog on Amazon, managing MAP violations and addressing unauthorized sellers, visit the following link to schedule a Free Brand Assessment today!