California Apparel News

Once upon a time, Web pundits said nobody would buy clothes on the Internet. The arguments against e-tailing apparel ran the gamut from “You can’t feel or adequately see the merchandise” to “Sizing is not consistent, and security cannot be trusted.” Of course, a growing spate of retail-based technologies has proven them wrong.

Apparel has become not just the No. 1 consumer product sold online, but it’s also pulled ahead to $18.3 billion per year (up 25 percent over last year), reaping a billion dollars over what used to be the largest non-travel category—consumer electronics. (read related story here)

Now we are on the threshold of a wi-fi, or mobile, Internet-access revolution that will result in the next wave of e-commerce, called m-commerce. The naysayers are back, noting the un-user-friendly smallness of the screen on iPods and other Web-integrated devices.

“The stuff people are interested in buying on a mobile device tends to be mobile-related—like ring tones and SMS [short messaging service] or short news stories,” said Keith Waryas, an analyst with Farmington, Mass.–based market research firm IDC (International Data Group). While the observation may be accurate now, we believe that such statements will soon prove irrelevant.

Major cities such as Philadelphia, Mexico City and San Francisco are close to going totally wi-fi. “We will not stop until every San Franciscan has access to free wireless Internet service,” declared San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom in an interview recently published online at Wi-Fi Planet (www.wi-fiplanet.com). With wi-fi service already available at the city’s baseball park, Newsom is planning on deploying wi-fi in the Union Square shopping area next.

“Unwiring” is the new buzzword, with enhanced security and new m-commerce opportunities as some of the rewards. As this more portable Internet sister to hardwired Web access prepares to launch in a big way, major players such as eBay-owned PayPal have geared up to make person-to-enterprise purchases easy, secure and reliable. Several global companies are experimenting with advanced “smart cards” using biometrics (fingerprints, voice recognition, iris and face scans) to build consumer confidence while solving the inadequacies of passwords and PINs, which are too easily forgotten or forged. (It is generally believed that fingerprint identification will likely win out over eye and face scans, which presently cost thousands of dollars more and have some negative connotations for consumers.)

Already, shoppers in wi-fi “hot spots” (located along many well-traveled urban streets and malls) can be seen in bricks-and-mortar stores such as Macy’s and Nordstrom checking their handheld devices to compare prices, availabilities and alternatives to what they see in front of them. Shoppers will be able to determine what’s in walking distance or nearby by private vehicle or public transportation. Or, they can simply place an order remotely and have it shipped.

M-commerce may become the vast shopping mediator—as routine as, though more information-rich than, a phone call or newspaper ad was in the 20th century. It’s clearly on the horizon.

Site Update: ShopForClothes.com Adds Pay-Per-Click Product Placement

ShopForClothes.com (www.shopforclothes.com)—a good-looking, easy-to-navigate Los Angeles–based e-commerce portal reviewed in a previous installment of this column—has added a pay-per-click option for online merchants looking for top placement within the popular shopping engine. Pay-per-click has become the norm and a major revenue generator for most search engines on the Web. The practice presents products on the Web site, with placement according to the price paid by the merchant.

ShopForClothes.com Director of Technology Brian Grady pointed out the advantages of the feature. “Our PPC engine allows merchants to get their goods directly in front of potential customers who are actively seeking their products. Since our business is exclusively clothing and accessories, we invite a far more focused user who isn’t distracted by products in irrelevant categories like electronics or furniture,” he said.

A pay-per-click registry for merchants at ShopForClothes.com is accessible directly on the Web site home page, presented as “Featured Products,” or at the “Merchant Area” (with membership). It’s subtle marketing, so consumers may not know just how a merchant’s status is “earned.”