6 ways to make sure you buy the right size every time you do online shopping

We all owe it to Natalie Massenet, the founder and former CEO of Net-a-Porter: She is a true visionary and foresaw how a global, connected, luxury marketplace was what every woman wanted. She was a true pioneer in the ecommerce fashion scene. Online shopping is now one of our favourite activities, as in what other store can you have a glass of white wine, your jammies on and be able to purchase a whole manner of things but your own home (or on the MRT, in a cafe and even on the beach)? The one downfall is when the divine dress you saw online finally arrives but, to your dismay, doesn’t fit! Most sites offer free returns these days, but that requires waiting for your right size to come through, and faffing about with repackaging everything. If you want to get it right the first time, read on…

Image: Courtesy of ShopVenture

Read the reviews

Most good sites will have customer reviews about the product, fit, and delivery time, or at the very least have taken the time to include whether it fits small or true to size in the description. If the site doesn’t, we recommend heading over to ShopVenture and searching for unbiased reviews there. It’s a community site where online shoppers and shops can read and write about their experiences, where shopping sites and shoppers alike can respond to comments and complaints! It’s amazing, and will help you avoid a lot of online shopping fails, including poor fit and items not arriving in time for events. 

Use fitting technology

Some sites these days come with inbuilt fitting technology and it’s pretty amazing. Here’s how it works. First, it allows you to input your height, weight and various measurements to ensure the model looks as close to your body type as possible. It will then show how the garment will look on your body type. Ingenious! You can even change the hairstyle, colour and model if you want to see exactly how it will look with your hair up, down etc. Personally, as someone who is too lazy to try on most items in physical dressing rooms, this is the best thing ever! Gnossem is a local site we know which already implements this amazing fashion tech. 

Know your own measurements in metric and imperial

Knowing your own bust, waist and hip measurements in both metric and imperial (that’s centimetres and inches) systems is essential when shopping online. If you’re a well-versed shopper who likes exploring sites from all over the globe, you’re going to need both measurements. Most sites will have an internal sizing chart, but the measurements could be in inches, US sizes, European sizes, UK, or centimetres. Yep, it’s all very confusing, so if you have your measurements noted on your phone or memorised as a jumping off point, conversion becomes easy. The worst is when sizes like S, M, and L are at play. You’ll definitely need to check what the internal measurements are for each of these sizes, as every single brand is different. 

A rule of thumb when converting between UK to US, always add 4. E.g a US 2 is a UK size 6. Reverse as needed.  

Ask

Yes, ask and you shall receive! We love that so many sites ranging from small e-boutiques to international players have “live” customer service staff you can chat to via instant messaging. It’s the best concept ever, especially when you’re shopping on a store which isn’t based in Singapore, as no one wants to be ringing international numbers, no matter how much Skype credit you have. (Plus, time zones also become an issue!) The last resort would be email, but the lag time between pressing send and receiving a response can be a total buzzkill on your online shopping experience (though maybe better for your bank account). 

Buy in bulk 

If you can afford it and they offer free returns, buy a size up (or down) depending on whether the customer reviews say it comes up small or big. If you’re buying an especially in-demand item, this will ensure you will have a size, even if by the time you send unwanted sizes for return, the item’s all sold out! 

Get it tailored

If you’re a real lazy girl when it comes to returns, just take your piece to your local tailor to take it in (taking in is a lot easier than making something bigger, so order up). 

If all else fails, just make sure to check the time frame for returns, as you don’t want to end up keeping that ill-fitting $300 dress you will never be able to wear, just because you forgot to return it!

See our favourite online shops at the moment right here.