Try It, You'll Like It, Part Two How to Sell Products When Fit is an Issue By Meredith Keller Merkell, Inc. Founder and President Selling clothing and footwear online is most problematic because your customers can't try things on before they purchase. Consumers are wary of plunking down $50 on a pair of shoes, plus shipping, only to find the shoes are uncomfortable and then have to be bothered with the hassle of packing up the item, shipping it back and paying for return shipping on top of it all. With all that hassle, who wouldn't just trek on over to Foot Locker? Sure, you're selling something more unique and much cooler than what Foot Locker may have to offer, but if you're not selling the consumer confidence and convenience you're still at a huge disadvantage. Fear not, however; there are some ways to overcome this problem. Truth be told, my favorite place to purchase footwear isn't Foot Locker or Nordstrom or Nine West; it's zappos.com and here's why: I know I wear somewhere between a size 5-1/2 and 6-1/2 in shoes. Which size I need totally depends on the shoe. When I shop with Zappos I know that if I see a shoe I like I can order one pair in two or three sizes, try them all on, keep what fits and return the rest. All the shipping is free, all the postage is paid, all the packing material and shipping labels come right along with the shoes. It's no hassle, no risk and as a customer I love it. So with customers like me running up their shipping bill, how is Zappos making money? They're charging premium prices for their shoes. I realize I'm going to pay $100 for a pair of sneakers on that site and I might get the same shoes for $60 at a mall. Zappos is selling me convenience. I don't have to get in the car, deal with parking, flag down a sales person to get my size, or trek from shop to shop in search or something to even try on.

Even as a small retailer, you can employ many of the same tactics a mega-store like Zappos uses to gain consumer confidence. Even if you have to raise your prices to give your customers confidence that buying from you isn't going to be a pain in the neck for them, do it. In the long run, if you have a great product, people will buy it, even if you raise prices for the sake of offering convenience.

Once you've come up with a game plan to make returns easy and free, be sure to post your return policy in a place customers can easily find it. If a customer has to hunt down this information they may just assume you do not have a return policy and give up. Posting a little link that says something like "our guarantee" on each product page is a great way to make sure they know buying from you is risk-free.

Your next objective is to try to get as few returns as possible. A few things you can do to achieve that:

• Always post detailed fit and sizing information on anything that has a specific size, including belts, apparel, shoes, etc. Do not just say "small, medium or large." Tell the customer if something runs small or has a snug fit. Tell the customer how many inches long or wide the item is. Include a sizing chart on every single product page so the customer can always find it.
• Show the item on a model. For example, sometimes if you see a shoe without a foot it's hard to tell how low cut the front of the shoe is.
• If you are selling a unisex item like a t-shirt, show the product on both male and female models. Sometimes a screen printed pattern looks one way on a flat male chest and another on a curvier female chest.
• Shoot your product photos in clear lighting and retouch them in a program like Adobe Photoshop so colors of the items are as accurately represented as possible. I've seen websites that describe a shirt as "white" even though the shirt appears to be light pink in the photograph because of a bad lighting setup when the product photo was taken. This kind of mistake makes shoppers unsure if you even know what you're selling and does not instill confidence.
• Shoot your product photos from every possible angle. Customers want to know how items look from the back and the side, not just the front. This may not always be necessary if you're selling a plain old t-shirt, but it's essential for things like dresses and footwear. Also, display close up shots of the detail on an item. If a shirt has beading or other embellishments, get a close enough shot that the customer can really see what he or she is going to get.
• If you're selling a product that is for a certain kind of customer, like petite or plus sized for example, use an appropriate model. You probably won't sell a mid-calf length dress to a petite woman just because the dress looked wonderful on a 5'10" model.

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