This Size is not What I Expected - Tackling the Issue of Size Perceptions in Online Retailing

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this study is to explore the use of visual communication in the form of product images as a tool to improve sizing perception for customers in an online retail environment. Online retail is continuously growing, as consumers take advantage of the convenience of online shopping. An issue that many online retailers are facing is increasing return rates. Size is one of the common reasons for returns, and in an online environment size has proven to be hard to present and therefore needs to be optimized for both business and online shopping experience. The study uses a quantitative approach with an online-based self-completion questionnaire as the primary source for data collection. The Picture Superiority Effect, Familiar Size Bias and Perceptual Fluency were the theories used to explore the subject. The primary finding from the study is that by adding measurements in the product image the Familiar Size Bias decreases for a small off-sized familiar product and the size perception thereby improves.