
Surprising Findings About How People Actually Buy Clothes and Shoes - wallflower
https://hbr.org/2018/06/5-surprising-findings-about-how-people-actually-buy-clothes-and-shoes
======
clarkevans
_Myth: Consumers always want something new. Fact: Very often, they are happy
to rebuy the same or a similar item._

This is something I wish more retailers would get. Once I find a pair of shoes
that fits me that I like... I really, really don't want to go though that same
discovery process 1-2 years down the line. I just want to buy the very same
make/model of shoes I've grown accustom to.

~~~
dbatten
My solution to this with shoes was to start buying really high-quality shoes.
Bought some Red Wing Heritage chukka boots that look nice with jeans and
business casual attire. I've been wearing them every day at work for over two
years now, and they look like they're barely broken in. I expect them to last
for a _very_ long time, especially since I can get them re-soled when the
soles wear out (which they're nowhere close to).

Did a similar thing with Allen Edmonds dress shoes. Yes, they were expensive
initially, but given how little I wear dress shoes, I wouldn't be surprised if
they last me the rest of my life.

Now if only I could find a solution for clothing...

~~~
mattmanser
I got a pair of clarks desert boots a couple of years ago and they've lasted
ages even though I'm tall and heavy. I thought the crepe soles might wear down
quickly but they're still good. I usually have real trouble with soles as I
walk almost everywhere and they wear down quickly on cheaper shoes.

Here in the UK, CDBs are £80 vs the £200 you're talking about (or $70 vs $170
that I can see on amazon.com).

Basically avoid really cheap, but you don't have to go to $200 though.

Also, we seem to be in a weird spot fashion wise right now. Hipster fashion
doesn't seem to be fading. Reddit's MFA (male fashion advice) was recommending
chukka boots and white trainers like 6 years ago and we're still there, same
with skinny suits, etc.

Fashion, while apparently highly disposable for women, seems to have
stabilized for men. MFA talk about "timeless" pieces, but in reality wearing
chukkas, white trainers or slim suits in the 90s or early 2000s would have
made you look like a plonker. When I was young Doc Martins were cool, then
they weren't, now they kinda are again? I also remember Hush Puppies with a
particular look were cool that really aren't today.

Same with dress shoes too, black, square fronted dress shoes were considered
good, while pointy brown dress shoes were incredibly old fashioned. Now it's
the other way around.

~~~
iamben
CDBs are the only shoes I've ever worn through the sole of. I wore them the
great regularity for 2 years. Rest of the shoe is still fine. Clarks are
definitely worth the extra cash.

That said, those crepe soles are like ice skates in the wet...

~~~
mark212
the D stands for desert after all! :-)

------
josefresco
_In a store, however, a sales associate tries to guess a shopper’s tastes in
real time._

Shout out to the people who can afford to shop at stores with a business model
that supports "sales associates" that actually do something besides take your
money (or help unlock a dressing room) I can't remember the last time I was
helped personally while shopping for clothing.

~~~
alexgmcm
I don't shop at expensive stores but sometimes I get asked if I want help by
an employee if they are standing around.

I always say no though - it feels awkward.

~~~
pbhjpbhj
My knee-jerk reaction is always to reject shop-assistant help, but recently
I've had a couple of experience where the assistant instead offered advice
about what I was looking at ("there are more of that style on such-and-such
aisle", "this model has 2 hdmi inputs, if you need more I can recommend
something", that kind of thing) which has made the assistant seem much more
approachable and given them an air of knowledgeability that makes me feel they
actually can help too.

~~~
exergy
Trouble is there are many people, me included, who would never just walk into
a store and buy something. If I'm about to buy something (and there are no
limits to how trivial that thing may be), chances are I've done some research
online.

Often it seems I know more of what to look out for than the sales associate,
making the help moot.

------
spronkey
Is it just me or are the conclusion recommendations in this article all
completely reaching?

I would hate stores to implement half of the recommendations. Swiping my
smartphone on entry?!

I'd prefer to shop at the distributor's warehouse.

~~~
AznHisoka
This is probably how the typical executive thinks in those retailers. “Hmm.. I
need to use big data and personalization to create a better customer
experience, I know a genius idea that will do that! Swipe their smartphones!”

~~~
tzahola
"Those hip-hopster kids will love it"

~~~
Rjevski
Sadly a lot of idiots would love it and completely disregard the privacy
implications, until the precedent has been set and you won’t even be allowed
into the store without tapping your smartphone and being tracked.

~~~
organsnyder
A lot of so-called "idiots" make the rational decision that prioritizes
convenience at the expense of privacy. It may not be the decision many of us
would make, but that doesn't mean it's not rational.

~~~
Rjevski
Setting a precedent that would completely remove the option of privacy is
rational for you?

~~~
gowld
Yes. Trading a constant distress of fear of paranoia for a chance of invasive
harm is rational for some cost-benefit measurements.

------
amelius
Can we put a ban on the analysis of consumer behavior?

And can we stop measuring the growth/success of the economy by how many
redundant items are bought?

~~~
nerdponx
I agree with your sentiment, but studying consumer behavior is interesting for
other reasons.

Then again, the fact that anyone had to do a study to figure this out is
indicative of a bigger disconnect between business people and their customers
than I expected.

~~~
icebraining
_the fact that anyone had to do a study to figure this out is indicative of a
bigger disconnect between business people and their customers than I
expected._

I'd caution you against assuming that business people don't know this. This
article is just a marketing post for Oliver Wyman (a management consulting
firm).

~~~
TheOtherHobbes
There's no evidence business people do know it.

Most stores seem to redesign their clothing ranges for both women and men
annually, and then make a big deal of it.

There are a few exceptions, like branded jeans with stable styles, and no-
brand generic staples like tees and polos.

But generally when you find an article you like, it disappears within a few
months.

It's astounding that clothing retail has been around for centuries, but hardly
anyone has considered that at least some customers might prefer a stable
product range.

~~~
icebraining
I just warned against assuming. That said, what people like is just one of the
inputs in the decision, the goal being profit. I'd say the fact that there
_are_ exceptions shows that companies do know about it, and they are
deliberately choosing to eschew it.

~~~
pbhjpbhj
I'd think from a profitability point of view clothing retailers want to like
it just enough to buy it -- and return to the shop -- but not enough that you
want to keep wearing it rather than but a new one.

One way to do that is to change the fashion regularly in order to apply social
pressure to not wearing older clothing.

Another way appears to be making clothes very thin so they wear out quicker.

Of something is good, but not great, you'll but from that brand again -- and I
bet sooner.

------
ssharp
I was surprised some of these myths were actually myths!

When it comes to online shopping, which makes up a majority of my clothing
purchases now, these facts from the article are very important:

1\. Spend is dramatically higher at brand stores and websites than in
multibrand stores.

2\. Very often, they are happy to rebuy the same or a similar item.

3\. Most journeys are still overwhelmingly single-channel, though this is
changing.

For me, finding clothes that fit right can be difficult. I'm tall enough that
many shirts are too short but many tall sizes are too long. Most brick-and-
mortar stores don't stock tall sizes, so I had to go online to even try them.
Since it's enough of a pain, I've settled on two or three brands whose sizing
I know can work for me.

If I were to shop somewhere like Macys or Macys.com, I'm dealing with several
dozen brands, each with different sizing. If I stick with a brand, say Banana
Republic or Gap, it's substantially easier and I'd tend to spend more money at
one place rather than buying pieces here and there. On the other hand, I do
not like online returns at all, so I try and stick with brands that have a
physical presence I can utilize for returns.

Additionally, many stores offer really great discounts that can be hard to
parse and take advantage of in stores. They may have a %-off coupon valid for
certain things, in combination with BOGO discounts that you can stack for big
savings. Toying with that in an online shopping cart is really easy but is
much more of a hassle in a store.

------
iClaudiusX
The two most frustrating parts about online shopping are 1) the Byzantine
pricing model, and 2) the inability to keep anything in stock.

I don't need the silly vanity of thinking I got some amazing "deal" at 40% off
when your prices are clearly just inflated by 40+% across the board to start
with. It's a tremendous waste of my time to have to figure out which items
qualify for which promotions, only to be disappointed at checkout by some
technicality.

Even worse is finally picking a few hundred dollars worth of clothing to buy
only to find out none of the normal sizes are in stock. I cannot believe how
many retailers are still failing the absolute basics like inventory, yet
insist on investing billions in tracking everything we do, everywhere we go to
hijack our privacy and attention with ads.

------
pmulv
>Shopping journeys concluding in online purchases have baskets that are 25%
larger, on average. When someone first visits a physical store and then
purchases online, the effect is even more pronounced: Baskets are 64% larger.

Something that's not addressed in the article, but I have noticed about myself
is that I am more likely to order multiple sizes of a piece of clothing
online, and return all but the piece that fits the best. That might contribute
to larger purchase sizes. Sites like amazon make this particularly easy.

~~~
lkrubner
I do this a lot with shirts, especially if I'm going to a meeting and want a
new white shirt that will look impressive in that meeting. I'll buy three
white shirts, try them all, keep the one that fits best, and return the
others. When traveling, I've sometimes been put in the position where I'm told
suddenly that I should meet with a client at 10 AM tomorrow, and right now it
is midnight. The trouble then is finding a clothing store that opens before 10
AM, so I can go shopping before the meeting.

------
latchkey
This article should have postfixed itself with '... in the United States.' I
live in Saigon now, there is literally hundreds of thousands of clothing
stores here. I can't go 20 meters without seeing something for sale. Why?
Because most clothes you buy are actually made here. Which also has the added
benefit of making them extremely cheap. I can get a big name brand shirt here
for $4 that costs $50 in the states.

~~~
Double_a_92
What would stop you from actually selling those yourself on ebay or so?

~~~
latchkey
The Vietnamese govt. loves to tax things coming into and out of the country.
Sending enough quantity out of the country to make a profit selling it, would
require a lot of shipping contacts. Not impossible, I'm sure people do it, but
it isn't easy to do without getting a lot of attention.

Also, legality of it all... name brand stuff here is usually some level of
fake. For example, the labels, patterns and fabrics may be from the factory
(likely removed without knowledge), but they were assembled by the same
factory people, working out of a shop in their living room.

I bought a nice Pull&Bear t-shirt the other day for 100k vnd / $4.39.

------
dmichulke
> However, while omnichannel is growing in importance, our study suggests that
> 83% of shopping journeys still happen within a single channel —
> overwhelmingly in traditional stores, which account for almost 80% of
> apparel purchases today.

The problem with this is marketing. Today, there is no effective way of
targeted marketing for those 80%. That's a shame and there are tools to solve
it, one is coalition loyalty programs. It's like a store loyalty program but
for a coalition of stores. An important European brand for such a program is
payback.

I'm working on improving such a programs (and there aren't many, and this in
spite of 80% store purchases) by making it location and customer-aware and
suitable for even small businesses to enter the coalition. Currently it's a
working server back end and I need another 2-4 months to come up with a good
demo. I'm looking for potential clients and/or strategic investors to make it
a real product if anyone is interested.

email in profile.

~~~
gowld
> email in profile.

Nope. This is almost never true when someone writes it on HN.

~~~
dmichulke
Uff, there's an email field but turns out it's not visible. Anyway, fixed it,
thanks!

------
mrep
Somewhat related, my mom the consultant loves to talk about a study on how men
vs women shop.

When shopping, women tend to go to many different stores comparing items and
prices at each one and then at the end, they go back to the one they liked
best and buy it. Men on the other hand already know exactly what they want and
so they go straight to the store that has what they want, buy it, and leave.

It is especially fun when you tell that to a group of guys and girls. My dad,
brothers and I were so for the 'get in and get out' strategy but the girls
were all talking about how it is fun to look at all the different options and
look for good deals.

~~~
watwut
Women clothing has more variety - typically I don't find what I want in place
where I found that last time (and often I don't find it, period). Most of time
I am doing a sort of trade off. I would go to store that sells exactly what I
want predictably, if it would exist.

Can confirm that I spend more time trying to get better deal then men I know
who buy first regardless of price.

------
bpyne
It's interesting just how much I've come to fit the facts stated in the
article. Previous to online shopping, I'd wear clothes until they were
threadbare to avoid going to a retail store, often having clothes for 10+
years.

Recently, I found that I like LL Bean for the style, quality, and sizing for
both business and casual. So I'm slowly revamping my wardrobe and intend to
replace pieces more often.

Shoes, however, I am still going in-person to find. I have a pair of
podiatrist-made inserts to deal with my collapsing arches. It's devilishly
tough trying to account for them when purchasing online.

------
bhouston
My wife is probably single-highhandedly causing retailers that she favors to
fail. I feel for them.

She orders a ton of clothes online and then returns something around 75% of
it. They give her free shipping and they take the returns in store at no cost.
She prefers to order when there are sales.

What she is doing is completely logical and encouraged by their policies but I
do not understand how they make any money?

~~~
danepowell
Clothing, especially designer or specialty / technical clothing, can be marked
up 1-10x. In other words, a jacket that costs $10 to produce might sell for
$20 or $100.

Don't worry, they are still making money on your wife.

(This is just based on my experience working for a major outdoor clothing
retailer, not any sort of real data)

------
GuyPostington
I've got a pair of 36x36 Duluth Trading flex firehose work pants that have
finally worn out after 2.5 years. They were worn almost every day.

------
Pica_soO
I found military boots to be literally ever lasting. The problem is that alot
of different political associations are connected to those boots.

You are obviously a facist or punk for wearing uncapitalistic everlasting
boots.

~~~
gowld
Wear what you like.

"I mean, really, how often do you look at a man's shoes?"

    
    
      --Shawshank Redemption.

