The user experience (UX) on female apparel e-commerce websites in Brazil

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Marketing clothes online can be challenging for those who buy and sell them. They are products that people still feel the need to have direct contact with. Some of their attributes are not easily communicated digitally, such as the fit and the feel of the fabric. Besides, the lack of standardization of sizes practiced by the Brazilian clothing industry raises several doubts to the user. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this paper is to present the results of an investigation concerning the user experience (UX) resulting from the interaction with female e-commerce websites. METHODS: The methods were organized into two stages: exploratory and descriptive. The former consisted of an exploratory interview (19 interviewees), an online questionnaire (205 respondents), and semi-structured interviews with 5 fashion specialists. In the latter, 60 users were divided into two groups of 30 participants to undertake a usability test on an e-commerce website (dafiti.com.br) to evaluate the UX when buying clothes. Group A used a desktop/laptop and Group B used a smartphone. The users were then debriefed and answered the AttrakDiff2™ questionnaire. RESULTS: Users lacked technical knowledge on clothing attributes and were extremely wary about the size and fit information provided (60% in Group A and 83% in Group B were not sure about fit and size information). Surprisingly, the AttrakDiff2™ showed no significant difference between the mobile or the desktop/laptop UX (Group A: M = 4.0 SD = 0.1; Group B: M = 4.1 SD = 0.2). CONCLUSIONS: The most significant problem faced by the users concerned the fit and sizing information, as these attributes are usually poorly communicated digitally. In addition to being a usability problem, by inducing users to errors, its greatest impact was on the UX.