The retail industry hit some important milestones last month. First, clothing is now the second largest category in online sales, just behind travel. The relatively young online retail industry was dominated by sales of computers and related hardware. It’s a tremendous accomplishment for the ecommerce industry to move from selling computers and electronics to early adopters to now selling high-touch products like shoes and designer jeans that rely on a perfect fit.

Unfortunately, there was also some downside news this month as well. The overall U.S. retail sales figures for April 2007 were, according the Wall Street Journal, “among the worst on record.” Same-store sales across major retailers were down 2.3%. Some of that is attributable to their own missteps, and some to external factors like gas prices and the U.S. housing market. The bright side for ecommerce though is that consumers now feel comfortable buying almost anything online. The cost of filling up the SUV might keep Ms. Shopper from the mall, but it needn’t deny her a new pair of Jimmy Choos.

Since ecommerce is about 3% of total U.S. retail sales and growing faster than the total market, let’s take a look at the bright side. Here’s what the apparel industry has done to grow online sales:

  • Better images – consumers want to see multiple high-resolution images and now predominantly have the necessary high-speed Internet connections
  • More liberal return policies – if shoppers are afraid of getting stuck with something that doesn’t fit they are unlikely to buy it in the first place
  • Custom designs – why dress like everyone else when you can design your own shoesfrom Nike, Timberland, Vans, and others?
  • Virtual fitting rooms – some online retailers let you enter your measurements to create a virtual model and see how an item would look on your body
  • Enticing promotions – it’s easier to quantify free shipping (and no sales tax) than to wade through the disheveled racks of marked down merchandise at the big mall stores
  • Personalization – your local department store probably doesn’t help you find something new based on your past purchases, but a savvy online retailer will

At ChannelAdvisor we focus solely on helping online retailers so we are very excited about the future of eCommerce. If you are an online retailer you can probably find some ideas and inspiration from the success of the apparel industry and apply them to your own business.

Share your thoughts in the comments, or if you are a ChannelAdvisor Merchant user, contact your account manager to talk about ideas for growing your sales.

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