How Can We Beat Online Shopping Fatigue?
Blog post written by Akash Mandavilli (Founder/CEO of Rex)
Etsy, Pinterest, Amazon, eBay, Facebook, …the list goes on and on. Today’s young online shoppers are inundated with endless options and not enough information. Almost every platform has been taken over by flashy ads for new clothes, trinkets, or gadgets. A platform like Instagram in which users used to connect with friends, laugh at memes, and share snapshots of their lives, has transitioned into a marketing platform where users are constantly tempted by new fast-fashion players. The worst part? It’s working.
Fast fashion has successfully convinced (for better or worse) consumers that personal branding is a keystone for recognition and individuality. However, it has been left up to consumers to decide where to shop and what to buy. The breadth of online shopping offerings has left consumers feeling like they’re at a restaurant with a 100 page menu and every cuisine imaginable. This overwhelming abundance of choice has led to 42% of consumers abandoning online shopping transactions (Humanizing Digital 2020).
Although Amazon normalized the idea of gargantuan inventories and consumer choices, it was not the first. The shopping mall was the first attempt at offering dozens of brands and choices under one roof. But, shopping malls had one clever workaround for choice fatigue: social shopping. By adding restaurants, seating areas, holiday events, and much more, the mall branded itself as a social, recreation activity. The mall is a place where you and friends/family could discuss which brand has the best jeans, if the t-shirt you chose fit your vibe, and which new styles to try. Why can’t we have this seamless discovery experience online?
At Rex, we ask ourselves this question every day. Over the past few months, we have built a platform to bring the mall experience online. We do this by allowing our users to save any product across the web to a dashboard, ask friends for feedback in one click, and compare products across brands/platforms. In the near future, we will be adding functionality to send out polls, create collaborative “closets”, and sort/search through all your products.
Through this functionality, we hope to help online shoppers find products they like, share feedback with one another, and make decisions on what to buy. We believe this will be the first step towards creating an enjoyable online shopping experience. However, we have a long way to and could use your help! Try our beta extension at rexfriends.com and let us know how we can continue to improve your online shopping.
