Women like the tactile experience of going into shops and experiencing what they are going to buy, but online shopping
has now found a place in our hearts too, writes CLAIRE O'MAHONY

WHEN IT COMES to a deep and meaningful retail experience, psychologists say women want it to be a tactile and sensual event. They wish to pick things up and feel them and, essentially, be seduced into a store. They need to be able to examine merchandise at length; they like to linger in shops and are far less goal-driven than men, who tend towards a more need-it, see-it, buy-it and leave approach.

But what the psychologists think doesn’t really tally with the enormous and growing appetite for online clothes shopping, where women are the main drivers, especially when it comes to high-end garb. While you can buy in a nano-second, you can’t try it on and you certainly can’t caress it.

Despite this, Irish people are wholeheartedly embracing online shopping and are high on the global scale of buyers at online British retail giant, Asos.com, which last month revealed a 41 per cent jump in annual profits to £28.6 million (€32.6 million).

So what are Irish shoppers stocking up on? “Our dresses do really well, especially in colour. Maternity is also a hit among customers in Ireland,” says Matt Hiscock, head of international sales. “Asos is our top performing brand, while high-street brands Whistles and Reiss are also very popular among our Irish customers.”

A seismic shift has occurred in the last 10 years. Back then, naysayers shook their heads and warned that buying clothes on the internet would never take off. They were very wrong.

An example of how often and how quickly online transactions take place can be seen on shopping site Net-a-porter’s new app, which tells you what other shoppers are buying around the world, in real time.

Net-a-porter Live makes for compelling viewing. “Click”: someone in Russia has added an Alexander McQueen chiffon dress to their basket. Another click – a shopper in Saudi Arabia has bought Miu Miu metallic leggings, and a fashionista in Romania has gone for a Dolce Gabanna sequined jacket. Meanwhile, in Australia, they’re stocking up on the Tory Burch bags.

Not only do users feel a sense of belonging to some greater shopping kinship but it also stokes the flames of retail envy and one-upmanship. If “anonymous in Birmingham” is buying jewelled Gucci flat sandals, why shouldn’t you?

One reason why shopping for clothes online is more common, is the greater access to high-speed broadband, improved security, and better-designed websites, which makes it easier to cross-compare products. It suits the “time poor”, as well as the cash poor who are keen to seek out internet bargains, of which there are plenty, especially if you’re fine with picking up last season’s gear. Attractive options like next-day delivery and free shipping often sweeten the bill.

Doo-lally.ie is an Irish website which stocks over 70 brands including French Connection, Miss Sixty and Rare. It has free next-day delivery and free returns over €30. This means that the instant gratification factor that online shopping usually lacks is somewhat overcome.

“Customers can buy something, try it on the next day and send it back if they don’t like it,” Doo-lally’s Karen Reid says.

Last week the site was selling a pair of Miss Sixty “magic bottom-lifting jeans” reduced to €33.60 from €112.

Bargains abound when you know where to look. Savvy shoppers look to BrandAlley.co.uk, which has up to 70 per cent off designer brands, and theoutnet.com, the designer outlet from the team behind Net-a-porter, where on-trend labels such as Halston Heritage, Erdem and Issa (one of the British Duchess of Cambridge’s favourite designers) have up to 75 per cent discounts.

But it’s not just price driven. A pair of on-trend J Brand coloured skinny jeans costs €250 in Brown Thomas Dublin, as they do on Net-a-porter, except shoppers have to factor in €29.04 shipping with the latter.

The lure of shopping online is also the wider selection of products available. “For Irish shoppers, the choice here can be a little bit limited. When you go to a wedding or a christening, you might end up wearing the same thing as somebody else,” says Image magazine fashion editor, Sive O’Brien.

“You’ll only get half a collection, whereas online you might be able to get that amazing Prada dress that hasn’t arrived into Irish stores. Anything limited edition or that you can’t get here is very attractive. It’s like when a new shop opens and everyone goes bananas for it.”

Renata Wasiluk is an avid online shopper who favours Asos but also likes All Saints and Zara, which have shops in Ireland. So why shop online at those two stores? “There’s more choice online and most of the times they have my size. If I go into the shop, it’s messy and sizes are missing,” she says. “It’s handier. Shops shut at 6pm and online never closes.”

As easy, accessible and enjoyable as it might be, 24-hour access to shopping presents its own problems. That terrible ennui – when you can’t carry any more bags, have had enough of piped music, queues at tills and unflattering mirrors in changing rooms – doesn’t happen when you’re comfortably ensconced at the kitchen table with your laptop. There’s also that sense of dislocation from the actual act of buying – when you don’t physically hand over the cash, it doesn’t feel as if you’re spending money at all.

Online retail websites target their customers very carefully too, remembering recent purchasing and browsing history and so know what buttons to push in terms of mail-outs of new products.

It can all be too easy, says psychologist Allison Keating of Dublin’s bWell clinic. “If you’re the type of person who gets a buzz out of shopping, I think it’s more dangerous online than it is in a shop.

“When you get to look at something, feel it, see what it’s like, try it on, you might think, ‘It’s not that great’, but when you look at something, especially when it’s on a model and she looks gorgeous in it, you’re more at risk of making a mistake. Once something arrives at your house, yes you can send it back but you’re not as likely to.”

In the US, online shopping while drinking has been documented. After a few glasses of wine, inhibitions come down, the spending commences, and a $2,000 (€1,411) Jason Wu dress seems like a fabulous idea.

There hasn’t been in-depth research into the phenomenon yet but Keating sees how it could easily happen. “The people who are drinking the wine might be women who may have had a busy day, have put the children to bed and are thinking, ‘This is my time to do something for myself”. It’s that kind of reward behaviour that is similar to gambling.” The moral: don’t shop under the influence.

Another cautionary tale comes from seasoned online shopper Fiona Gill, whose obsession with a certain Louis Vuitton scarf – which had a waiting list in Ireland – saw her buying one on eBay. In her excitement, she didn’t check the dimensions and ended up with something handkerchief-sized for €500 instead of the long shawl-like version she had envisaged. She ended up selling it on again for a fraction of the price. Plus, she also learnt her lesson with US sites.

“They are very seductive in that they offer free shipping to Europe. They say you may incur local taxes on delivery but you don’t know what those taxes are. Then the delivery man arrives with your parcel and tells you you owe €97 in cash.”

One way of circumventing this is to buy vintage and children’s clothes, neither of which incur customs fees. Otherwise, caveat emptor.

Like Asos and Net-a-porter? Then try these. . .

Mytheresa.com

Featuring fashion from more than 160 designer collections, this German site is a great port-of-call when Net-a-porter has sold out of the Lanvin flats you had set your heart on

Matchesfashion.com

Cooler-than-thou London boutique with 14 stores in the city’s best neighbourhoods and where you need to click if you’re looking for an Azzedine Alaia dress or Diane Von Furstenberg skirt

Mrporter.com

Where all the best-dressed men hang out. It is headed by former Esquire editor, Jeremy Langmead, and offers the chicest looks in designer menswear