Online Shopping for Clothes Ph

 The conventional shopping channel is via physical shops with online gaining popularity for convenience, pricing edge and searching ease.

Passive online shopping through Lazada and Shopee has lately been supplemented with live online where human sellers display, present and model their goods to streaming potential buyers interacting with them.

Behavior changed, new lingoes are introduced, and a new outlet of spending game changed shopping and commerce requiring logging in the internet.

“Flex. Profile. Comment. Code. Mine. Yours. Screenshot. SSD. Check out. Follow.” Words one must be familiar with to navigate and to complete a transaction in a live online selling.

Looking for a blazer, it led me to TikTok live online selling based in Baguio. To my amazement, the three shops specializing in pre-loved blazers for men I’ve been directed to owned by a sole entity have about hundreds of apparels for all user sizes, shapes, informal and formal occasions paraded starting 8 a.m. to midnight.

How can one select given sizes and preferences must be matched? Online selling has sharpened the system with a structured approach.

Prospective buyer must provide info on height (in feet), weight (in kilos), general build (S/ML/EL), shoulder size (in inches). The young professional, courteous at times playful seller then “flexes” several suits with his size as reference. They show how the sleeves extend to his hand, how much allowance it has at the tummy, and upper body.

This initial parade triggers a series of presentations on colors, design, fabric, buttons, back slits, inner lining and pricing. Price is a surprise as it just ranges from P350 to P700 for the branded and premium items.

The good sellers interact with the buyer suggesting even occasion suit can be used. Other than the usual debut, wedding, travel they mention other interesting occasions such as events hosting, court hearing and would you believe, thesis defense.

Attending to one buyer at a time, when one selects an item, he claims in the comment section “mine” plus the code given. Sellers from the shop I spotted disclose details of the suit from inner linings, buttons, slits, issues. With a good hi-reso camera and lighting with close up capability, texture, patterns and details are seen. The buyer is then asked to screenshot the suit selected with price and code as reference.

The critical step is in entering the order using the yellow basket, choosing modes of payment from COD, credit/debit cards and GCash. Seller patiently guides the buyer on steps to do from choosing the price, putting it in the basket, writing the delivery address, and putting the data in the basket.

The shop partnered with J&T where costing is surprisingly about the cost of a special tricycle rate considering transport from Benguet to Metro Manila in 2 days. Tracking number is provided navigating through their profile chat.

While this system of shopping is quite new, one who is open to change can easily adopt. When the seller addresses all the buyers’ concerns without pressuring the buyer to claim mine and checkout, the buyer feels the power.

When one is stuck in the house, this mode of shopping is certainly a novelty, conveniently a 24-hour activity, with thousands of possibilities and fun.

As a social science observer, I wish to explore further how this approach picked up, the system developed, how the sellers developed their skills set to be good at online selling and how it gained traction generating income for the shop owners challenging the more established physical stores.

Disclaimer: This positive experience is simply based on a live online selling of one entity. Other accounts have different approaches.

https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSYHmtcP5/

https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSYHmrHqM/