After reading Pei Hsuan Huang’s post, “Reflection on False Marketing“, I can fully understand what she meant because I also had many unpleasant experiences of online shopping.
There are numerous clothing stores online which feature many fabulous clothes that celebrities wear or clothes that are on the top list in magazines. However, the actual clothes that I received are totally different from the ones shown on the pictures. When I complained it online, the sales person would say that “Oh it looks different because of the lighting of the camera. If you don’t like our products then you are welcome to shop at other store…” People can do nothing about it because if they want to return the product they have to pay the shipping fee themselves. Therefore, if people are looking for high-quality clothes with accurate size that fit them, they should try out the real clothes and buy them in actual stores.
A picture displaying the dress on a gorgeous model.
The actual cloth that customers receive.
What is more, almost every clothing store is applying photoshop to make their models looks pretty and skinny in order to attract customers who want to look like them. Below is a set of pictures I found to be ridiculous and I was so shocked to see how professional these people are who can change the entire clothes without being noticed.
One online store uses photoshop to change celebrity Taylor Swift’s clothes with clothes in their own store in order to attract more consumers. On the left are real clothes that Taylor Swift worn, and on the right are clothes in the store.
At first, people are very surprised to see Taylor Swift appearing in this store and are interested in buying the clothes she is wearing. However, when people finally found out that the store deceived them, it aroused people’s anger, especially Taylor Swift’s fans. I really hope that these people who operate online store can be honest to their customers. At least, displaying real model with real clothes can avoid customers’ post purchase disappointment, and in turn, it can increase customers’ loyalty and retention.
So true about how easy it is to be disappointed when online shopping! How do you think increased use of social media and improvements in e-commerce can help consumers make better choices?
Online agents can help customers decide whether the cloth is exactly what they are looking for and help them pick the size and colour that best suit them. What is more, post-puchase comment box and satisfaction statistics can give other new customers a sense of the quality of items in all the stores.