How eCommerce Sizing Apps Will Help Apparel Brands Break New Ground in 2023

To say that 2022 has been a chaotic experience for apparel eCommerce is a vast understatement. As the world slowly recovered from the pandemic and shopper purchasing behaviors began to shift, those who predicted eCommerce would continue to proliferate have faced inventory glut and diminishing demand leading into the most impactful sales dates of the year.

What these past months have shown us is how crucial data-driven strategies will be in successfully navigating 2023. With issues such as economic turbulence and supply chain woes predicted to continue into the foreseeable future, the best time to generate a solid 2023 game plan was yesterday. But worry not. While Q4 may be coming to a close, there is still ample time to ensure your 2023 strategy will lead your apparel brand to success, most notably through the all-encompassing benefits of eCommerce sizing apps. 

Let's take a look into how this revolutionary tech is helping market-leading brands like Vineyard Vines, BYLT Basics, SHEFIT, and more prepare to navigate the potentially rough waters ahead.

What Problems Plagued Your Apparel Brand This Year?

While the issues that plague the apparel eCommerce landscape remain relatively consistent year over year, 2022 has introduced a plethora of new challenges for apparel brands while amplifying the severity of existing ones. 

For example, raise your (virtual) hand if your brand experienced turbulence in any of these categories in 2022:

• Bracketing/Size-related returns
• Inventory management
• Optimizing marketing spend
• Cart abandonment 
• Customer service overload

Trust us; you're not alone, and each of these issues has compounding ill effects on your apparel brand.  

Let's use bracketing as an example. This decades-old defensive shopping practice entails a shopper purchasing several different sizes of one clothing product, trying them all on in-person, keeping what fits, and returning what doesn't. Bracketing has become notorious within the apparel industry for its effects on profitability and sustainability alike. As the lingering effects of the pandemic have reshaped shopper purchasing habits for good, the issue of bracketing has only been amplified in 2022.

Bracketing itself can directly lead to the following:

• Increased returns (52% of eComm returns are linked to sizing)
• Loss of viable inventory as returned products often cannot be resold
• Excess textile waste generated when these returns reach landfills
• Constant logistical headaches for your team

As we can see, the consequences of bracketing alone are substantial, and that's only one common friction point apparel brands saw in 2022. And do you know what the leading cause of bracketing is? Size confusion during the shopper's journey. Needless to say, the need for data-backed solutions to apparel eCommerce's most pressing issues is dire.

How eCommerce Sizing Apps Address These Problems

While eCommerce sizing apps do not initially appear as a cure-all solution to the most pressing issues your brand currently faces, the powerful data collected from these solutions is not to be scoffed at. We've said it before, and we'll say it again, sizing is one of the most important elements of apparel eCommerce, and sizing apps are the key to unlocking a treasure trove of actionable insights to steer your brand on the path to success in 2023.

Take WAIR as an example. As a data-backed eCommerce sizing app, WAIR provides online shoppers with point-of-sale size recommendations for any apparel products on your brand's site. This refined sizing process eliminates size confusion from the shopper's journey and empowers your site visitors to purchase with confidence, knowing they will find their best-fitting products every time. Not only do WAIR's size recommendations help reduce bracketing and size sampling, but they also boost conversion rates (by an average of 28%) by removing shopper apprehension around ordering the wrong-fitting size.

The all-encompassing benefits of eCommerce sizing apps don't stop there. As your shoppers continue to use WAIR to find their best-fitting products, their body data is seamlessly collected and relayed into powerful dashboards, which enable you to uncover the true body dimensions of your core shopper base.

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Going Far Beyond eCommerce Size Recommendations... 

This veritable treasure trove of actionable insights addresses the aforementioned core issues in the following ways:

Improved accuracy in size run forecasting

With a clear idea of what body types are purchasing your products, size run forecasting quickly transforms from a tricky guessing game to a simple and consistent endeavor.    

Product design

When your products are designed from the ground up to fit the body types of your core shopper base, size-related woes become an issue of the past.

Optimizing marketing spend

With WAIR, marketers can determine which campaigns sell hero products and which platforms attract certain body types. This opens the door for your brand to optimize marketing spend around the body types of your existing and potential shoppers.

Customer support

How many of your support tickets start with the question, "What's my size?" With WAIR's #showpredict feature, you can directly link a shopper to our sizing solution, saving your CS team's time on size guidance.

The eCommerce Renaissance is Upon Us. Don't Get Left Behind

WAIR calls the phenomenon of revolving one's business around the bodies of its shoppers "sizeless commerce," and more market-leading apparel brands are embracing it every day. As 2023 grows nearer and brands face the growing reality of the current eCommerce landscape, the use of sizing apps will spell the difference between brands that survive and those that thrive. We've passed the point where your shoppers are simply curious about these technologies; they are now actively demanding them. Apparel brands that embrace sizeless commerce have already seen a significant boost in eCommerce performance and have driven the insights needed to hit the ground running in 2023. Is your brand ready to join them and make 2023 a year to remember? 

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Are you interested in learning more about WAIR? Schedule a demo here, and be sure to follow us on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook for all your fashion content needs!