kmaples posted on March 11, 2011 14:19
You’re trying to find the perfect prom dress that no one else will have, and after hours of searching, you finally find the one.
Excited, you rush to the dressing room and try it on, but as soon as you tug on the zipper, you realize it’s two sizes too small.
Before you convince yourself that you don’t really need to breathe after all, consider ditching the conventional methods of shopping for online dress stores.
“The greatest advantage of dress shopping online is the convenience,” Kim Collins, Senior Vice President at Promgirl.com, said in an email interview. “Online shopping allows for customers to shop on their own time.
“Also, you are typically not going to find as extensive of a collection of different dress styles and brands at a physical store location as you will on our site.”
More options online mean less of a chance of running into someone with the same gown.
“I buy online because there are more options and people won’t have the same dress as me,” senior Kendyll Cullum said. “You don’t want to look the same as someone else.”
Senior Kenzie Mellott also wanted a wider assortment of dresses, which brought her to Unique-vintage.com, a site that she’s ordered from twice before.
“I couldn’t find any dresses in the stores that I liked or that fit me right,” Mellott said. “The one I bought (online) was a lot cheaper than all the stores.”
Of course, virtual shopping has its downsides. Customers must buy their dress without trying it on first, unless they can find a similar model in a local store.
“We realize that customers might be hesitant to purchase a dress that they have never physically tried on,” Collins said. “This is why we really strive to provide all possible details on all the dresses we offer so the customer knows exactly what to expect.”
Many sites offer sizing charts that show the measurements for each section of the dress. Color swatches also help the buyer decide what shade would look best on them.
But if the dress doesn’t fit, alterations are always an option.
“I know my dress size and I picked the one I thought would fit,” Cullum said. “I can always get it altered, but it’s expensive and you never know how long it’ll take.”
However, more and more people are willing to take the risk of having to get alterations as the online prom dress business flourishes.
“Our online sales have steadily increased over the 12 years we have been in business,” Collins said. “As the Internet has become more popular and more people are comfortable with purchasing things online, our business has grown.”
“We expect this year to be bigger than ever.”
This is an edited version of the story. To see the full version, read page 5 of the March edition of Blue & Gold.