Comment: Seeking a perfect fit for online fashion

The job of selling fashion online is an unenviable one. The fashion industry thrives on image, aspiration and style – desires that are easier to feed in the bricks-and-mortar environment where consumers can touch, try on and generally make an emotional connection with clothing. Historically, the inability to physically interact with products has been a major barrier to growing online fashion sales, not to mention a key reason for the high rate of returns that torments ecommerce directors. Yet advances in technology and improvements in data exploitation are slowly helping to break down the barriers that have prevented shoppers from fully embracing online channels.

Three questions in particular continue to occupy the thoughts of ecommerce chiefs – how to increase conversion rates, how to reduce returns and how best to exploit the raft of data that exists on customers? What we hope to show is that these questions are all interconnected and solutions to them should not be sought in isolation. Whether it’s by harnessing virtual fitting rooms or through the introduction of social media, technology is improving the user experience and generating invaluable customer data, while at the same time giving consumers the confidence to convert their web visit into a purchase. We’ll also be giving some pointers as to where we think the next big technological leaps will come from.

• Nick Hughes, Supplement editor