Why consistency wins on the digital shelf for apparel brands

The digital shelf is the default shop window

As of 2024, 21% of apparel sales occur on the digital shelf. That number may seem low, but digital touchpoints are key for most consumers:

• A quarter of shoppers only purchase online
• The majority of buyers spend $50-$100 online per month 
• Even those who shop in-store discover their favorite brands via digital channels

Digital dominance is no surprise: The average consumer spends over six hours daily on their devices. That’s far more time than consumers spent at the mall in the heyday of brick-and-mortar.

Throughout those six hours, shoppers see apparel products via organic channels (like TikTok and Instagram) and paid ads. That means online browsing is the new window shopping, and every digital touchpoint is an opportunity to showcase your wares.

But once customers venture beyond the window and begin considering a purchase, you must provide a positive shopping experience if you want them to convert.

Success on the digital shelf requires more than simply listing products across multiple channels. Apparel brands need a comprehensive digital shelf strategy that ensures consistency, optimizes content for each platform, and monitors performance in real-time. Without this strategic approach, brands risk creating fragmented customer experiences that undermine trust and reduce conversions.

Inconsistency kills confidence (and conversion)

How can you drive sales without a dressing room? By providing customers with all the information they need for a seamless checkout. 

Budget-conscious shoppers may view your clothing on multiple sales channels. They’ll search for the best price, factoring in welcome coupons, sales, shipping costs, and return policies before deciding where to buy.

Building a strong digital shelf strategy starts with understanding what information customers need to make confident purchase decisions. You must provide consistent information everywhere your product is sold, including:

• Photos
• Product descriptions
• Sizing information
• Materials
• Sourcing and sustainability
• Care information
• User-generated content (UGC)

If there’s inconsistency across your channels, shoppers will likely become confused. For example, if your product description on a retail partner’s site recommends sizing up but your own digital shelf lacks this directive, shoppers will wonder which size to buy.

Similarly, conflicting information on sourcing can raise red flags for consumers seeking sustainably or domestically made clothing. And with confusion comes potential negative consequences.

Abandoned carts

A “check out” click doesn’t guarantee a sale. Over 70% of carts are abandoned.

This can be driven by a variety of UX issues, including:

• Extra fees at checkout
• Lack of easy one-click options (PayPal, Apple Pay)
• Website errors

But don’t underestimate the role hesitation plays. If shoppers encounter inconsistent product information, they may decide to play it safe and shop elsewhere.

Returns

While retail returns hover at around 8%, online orders are returned at upwards of 24%.

Some consumers shop intending to keep only part of their order (selecting what they like best and returning the rest). However, the majority of consumers cite fit as the reason for returns.

If some of your channels lack missing or inaccurate details about sizing or valuable UGC like product photos of real bodies, you’re opening your brand up to increased returns and eating into your revenue.

Frustration and poor brand perception

Over time, the customers who abandon their carts and return ill-fitting items will likely voice their negative opinions on social media and in product reviews. 

Increasingly, LLMs and search engines draw on this user-generated content and deliver it to customers who search for your brand. Addressing negative PR can be challenging, so prevention is your best strategy for maintaining a positive reputation.

Preventing these issues requires proactive monitoring and optimization. Digital shelf analytics helps apparel brands track content completeness, pricing accuracy, product availability, and review sentiment across all sales channels. With real-time visibility into how your products appear on retailer sites, marketplaces, and your own e-commerce platform, you can quickly identify and fix inconsistencies before they impact sales.

Why legacy workflows can’t keep up with omnichannel demands

Apparel is a seasonal business, with new inventory arriving constantly. How does your team manage all of that product information? 

If sales, product, and marketing are disconnected, wires can easily cross. Photos taken for a new Meta campaign might not be included on your digital shelf, and changes made to sizing on a bestselling style may not be reflected across external retailers’ channels. 

If your team makes manual updates as new and revised assets arrive, they may introduce even more unintentional errors.

Inconsistencies and omissions lead to missed opportunities and consumer confusion. In extreme cases, such as missing sourcing data for the EU market, that error may impact your time-to-market and, consequently, your sales.

That’s why apparel brands need a robust Product Information Management (PIM) solution.

“Thanks to the many functionalities that Inriver offers, we can process our product content more efficiently. Where we previously had to go through articles piece by piece to make changes to the product content and related statuses, we can now update styles simultaneously by means of mass updates. Giving advice on model and size as well as shop-the-look has become possible. And we quickly have insight into the statuses of certain styles within the process. That saves a lot of time. In short: a major improvement.”

– Nicolette Romeijn

European e-Commerce Product and Content Manager at WE Fashion

Read the full case study

Building your digital shelf strategy for apparel

Creating consistency across channels doesn’t happen by accident. It requires a deliberate digital shelf strategy that addresses three critical areas:

• Content governance: Establish clear standards for product photography, descriptions, sizing information, and brand messaging. Your digital shelf strategy should define what constitutes complete product content and ensure these standards apply across all channels.
• Channel optimization: Different platforms serve different purposes. Your Shopify store might showcase lifestyle imagery and brand storytelling, while Amazon requires technical specifications and search-optimized titles. A strong digital shelf strategy accounts for these nuances while maintaining core consistency.
• Performance monitoring: Track how your product content performs across channels. Are complete product listings converting better than incomplete ones? Which channels have the highest return rates? Digital shelf analytics provides the insights you need to continuously refine your approach.

For apparel brands selling across multiple retailers, marketplaces, and direct channels, digital shelf management becomes a cross-functional discipline. Product teams need to collaborate with merchandising, marketing, and e-commerce to ensure every touchpoint reflects your brand accurately and compellingly.

The role of a centralized PIM in delivering seamless experiences

A PIM establishes a single point of truth for every item in your inventory.

You’ll start by importing your existing data, allowing sales, marketing, product, and external suppliers to collaborate. Additionally, you can import information from your sales channels (e.g., UGC). From there, your PIM will create a new, structured dataset, providing each product with easily accessible, enriched data.

With all your data combined in one place, you can syndicate it across your sales channels, ensuring accuracy and visual consistency across the board.

“We successfully streamlined operations while keeping our ambitious e-commerce strategy and KPIs on track. The SAIL team embraced the challenge of redistributing responsibilities and improving processes. Now, we are more efficient than ever, achieving better results with a leaner team.”

– Francis Laroche

Product Experience Specialist at SAIL

Read the full case study

How Inriver helps apparel brands stay in sync across every channel

Every apparel brand needs a PIM to ensure consistent product data. Without it, you risk losing online sales and eroding brand trust. Conversely, enriched product data (up-to-date photos, videos, rich descriptions, UGC, and more) can help you stand out online. 

However, not all PIMs are created equal. At Inriver, we’ve developed a unique, composable PIM solution that automates syndication across retailers, marketplaces, and D2C sites.

“At Horze, we use the Inriver PIM in a unique way. It is the focal point for managing all product information across the company. Instead of starting with the ERP system to create the basic information, we directly use Inriver as our main source – from start to finish in the entire product data management process.”

– Christian Terporten

Head of Content Management at Horze

Read the full case study

Moreover, it empowers you to customize and enhance your content for each unique channel. This allows you to track real-time data and build on what’s working. Similarly, translation tools enable you to reach new markets and grow your brand effectively.

Beyond content syndication, Inriver provides the digital shelf analytics capabilities apparel brands need to monitor and optimize their performance. Track how products appear across retailer sites, identify content gaps, monitor competitor positioning, and measure the impact of content improvements on conversion rates. This closed-loop approach ensures your digital shelf strategy delivers measurable results.

With Inriver, you can ensure your customers have all the information they need to stock their wardrobes with confidence.