The Application of Gestural Interactivity Technology to Online Fashion Retailing

This research examines how fashion retailers can use image interactivity technology on touchscreens to improve consumer product visualisation. Retailers report that the inability to physically interact with an item prevents consumers shopping online for fashion (Hughes, 2012a). Inaccurate, incomplete or unsatisfactory product information results in abandoned online shopping carts, incorrect product selection and product return (Quick, 1999). The returns rates for online fashion currently average 25% of all online sales (Morell, 2013) and managing the returns represents a significant retailer cost. Our focus is the challenge of cross-channel inconsistency in browsing and purchasing experience for customers. One solution is to improve product representation online through removing the uncertainty that comes with lack of touch, feel and try-on possibilities. Novel forms of image interactivity technology enable better product visualisation for consumers buying fashion online. This research aims to reduce consumer decision-making mistakes and thus reduce the costs associated with retailers processing returned items and the opportunity costs of abandoned online shopping carts.

We focus on fashion retailing as it is the fastest growing and most popular category of online shopping, outperforming all other categories including books, travel and music (Mintel, 2010; Mintel, 2012). In addition, smartphone and tablet penetration has led to growth opportunities in m-commerce, with smartphones becoming increasingly integral to the shopping experience from research to purchase (Gallagher, 2013). However, despite this growth, online sales remain dwarfed by bricks and mortar sales, with clear challenges remaining for fashion e-commerce and m-commerce revenues (Hughes, 2012a). We focus on the SME fashion retailer, for whom the online sales channel has many benefits, providing not only cost savings but also an effective means of competition with larger firms, greater access to national and international markets, scope for increased breadth and depth of stock, and increased customer service without the need for a physical store. However the online sales channel also presents risks and additional costs; this research specifically addresses the risks and costs of online presentation of fashion items.

Touchscreen technology has the potential to provide a more intuitive and enhanced consumer interaction with a product but this potential has not been fully realised. Consumers increasingly use their own touchscreen devices for product research, browsing and shopping while in the physical store (Thomson, 2013) and more retailers are bringing digital technology into the physical store by providing touchscreens for consumers to browse and place orders for items not in stock (Goldfingle, 2012). Touchscreen technology permits greater interactivity between consumers and websites due to multi-modal (vision, touch, sound, vibration) capabilities, without the need for a mouse. This project applies Shoogleit technology that has been developed by Heriot-Watt University's School of Mathematical and Computer Sciences to both online and offline fashion retail contexts. Shoogleit is a web application that create interactive media from short video clips (http://www.shoogleit.com/). This technology supports production of engaging and interactive product representations at low cost and with ease and without the need for expensive or specialist equipment. Our research will gather data on the perceptual gap between digital and physical product evaluation both online and in the physical store environment, will examine the potential of image interactivity technology in fulfilling consumers' utilitarian and hedonic online shopping motives and will identify the barriers and facilitators of adoption by fashion retailers with a focus on SMEs. The research outcomes will enable further refinement the technology so that it delivers value to retailers and consumers.

The key beneficiaries of the research outputs will be SME fashion retailers with online operations and the wider public, both current online fashion shoppers as well as fashion shoppers who have not yet fully engaged with online sales channels.

The research outputs have the potential to increase revenues for SME fashion retailers by reducing the cost of managing high returns rates and reducing the opportunity costs of abandoned shopping baskets online. The successful application of the technology to online fashion retailers will enable them to compete more effectively with larger companies who have greater resources to invest in online product visualisation technology. SME fashion retailers dominate the economy in terms of revenue as well as employment, and the fashion e-commerce business sector provides excellent start-up opportunities with low barriers to entry for creative entrepreneurs. As such, the research outputs could contribute towards the sustainable success of online fashion retail start-ups.

There are also beneficiaries within the charity sector that could use the research outputs for their advantage. As charity retailers e.g. Oxfam increasingly use the online sales channel as a means of increasing revenues for donated clothing items, the implementation of improved product visualisation technology could increase conversions and consumer engagement with the webshop, as well as reduce returns and customer frustration where the item is not as expected.

For consumers, the research outputs have the potential to overcome a key barrier to online shopping, which is the intangibility and lack of product visualisation possibilities, and therefore enable a wider demographic beyong the typical 18-34 yr old online fashion shooper to engage with the online sales channel for fashion shopping. The benefits for this user community would be increased ability to evaluate products online and therefore to make an informed purchase decision, which would result in less frustration when the item received is not as expected. The technology also has the potential for increasing engagement and enjoyment with the online shopping task itself, thereby providing an improved consumer experience and encouraging consumers to return to this sales channel.