Clothing Stores Move to Add Web Chat Software

In the highly competitive marketplace that is fashion, any opportunity to steal a march on your competitors is not be dismissed lightly.  There are fewer more saturated industries than clothing and upmarket fashion and, while it can perhaps be argued that fashion took its time to adapting to the internet age, online fashion is now booming.

The sticking point for online fashion originally thriving was the experience offered by seeing, touching and trying on each item.  This may have been a false negative in many ways because the catalogue stores operated in ways that defied this and have always marketed strongly.  With clothing brands now enjoying a unique and loyal relationship with their customers, it was only a matter of time before online clothing stores began to flourish.

Customer service is now a huge part of the online clothing brand.  Valuable brands such as Asos and Hollister have nurtured their relationships with their customers and the reputation of the brand now extends beyond the perceived quality of the merchandise and into the customer service and after care sales experience.

An asset to the clothing brands has been the advent of live web support offered via web chat software.  Within the website experience customer service representatives are now able to answer queries on sizing, colours, styles and after care support.

Web chat software now extends the brand relationship, especially for younger fashion conscious consumers, where advice and help can be given to not only navigate the website and find the right item but also to prompt with videos and the most important factor in any purchase – reassurance.

Web chat software is perfect for clothing stores to offer advice and reduce returns where the item didn’t meet customer expectations and, more importantly, shopping cart abandonment.  Asos has estimated that a 1% fall in returns is equivalent to an increase in income of £10 million.  Similarly, UK store Schuh recently announced that web chat software has boosted sales by a minimum of £1 million.

Web chat Software is particularly well suited to online clothing stores because of its ability to advise and also prompt customers with alternative products that they may not have found or were struggling to find.  If you would like to see what online chat can do for your website, speak to our team at Click4Assistance.  Click4Assistance has been providing web chat software to UK businesses and stores since 2004.  Click here for further information