Have you ever imagined how people will shop online ten years from now? Not just shopping for gadgets and gizmos. We are talking about shopping for fashion goods: clothes, shoes, jewelry, cosmetics, etc.
Internet has totally changed the landscape of shopping for computer and electronics. Even when people buy in a store, their decisions on what to buy is pretty much decided by their research on the Internet. This transition started in 1995, and by 2005 the total change was in place. When it comes to shopping for fashion goods, the brick and mortar stores continue to dominate when it comes to shopping for life style goods, especially fashion goods. Online sales for these products are still only 2% of their total sales. In general, shoppers still have fear of buying without seeing or feeling or trying on.
However, a new change has already taken its root. In 2006, the online sales of apparel crossed the sales of computers and electronics. Many young people are now open to shopping online from something as inexpensive as a T-Shirt to an expensive item such as a diamond ring. Ten years from now, this change will totally transform the way people shop fashion goods. Instead of going to mall, people will sit in their living room and use a plasma TV to browse the products using a remote control, or may be a wireless keyboard. Shoppers would see three dimensional views of the products. A robotic personal shopper will be there to help them find what looks right on them and what is good for them.
A few innovations are needed for this change to succeed. First, online merchants need to change from showing 2D images to 3D video clips of the products, giving shoppers full view of products such as Endless.com does for shoes. Second, shopping search engines need to make it easy for users to search the products and personalize the results. The keyword based search does not work for fashion goods. Third, similar to Zappos.com, more and more merchants need to provide free shipping and free returns, so shoppers are not afraid of shopping online for fashion goods. Finally, the most important change which will make this transition happen is the emergence of tools that provide online shoppers the same experience they get when they walk in a high end boutique and personal shoppers are there to guide them.
The release of MyShoppingPal.com marks the beginning of this era. MyShoppingPal.com combines the fashion and expert knowledge with the style and preferences of users to rate the suitability of products for them. For example, if you are buying clothes, it will tell you whether they will look good on you or not. It also has a simple interface which makes it very easy to browse the fashion goods. Users can also continuously train the website about what they like and what they don't to further personalize the search results.
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