Zalando has come up with some interesting insights based on a survey it conducted with YouGov Analysis Institute showing that the experience in high street changing rooms isn’t at all satisfying for shoppers and often leaves them feeling frustrated and low in confidence.

It said that 39% of respondents experienced negative feelings when trying on clothes.

And 36% of adults are put off from buying due to those experiences. Meanwhile, 40.3% of online shoppers also cited poor-quality size guides as a major barrier to purchasing.

The company spoke to 14,609 adults from across the UK and Europe “to understand emotions connected to purchasing fashion online and offline and how their experiences impact consumers’ shopping habits”.

It’s all part of the support behind the launch of its own Virtual Fitting Room and Body Measurement tool.

The research didn’t only highlight frustrations with fitting rooms as poor size guides and the need to make frequent returns were also bugbears for many shoppers.

So, let’s look at the details. Respondents reported experiencing emotions such as insecurity (19%), frustration (19%), and disappointment (16%) when trying on clothes in-store with cisgender/transgender women impacted even more.

And as well as the 36% of shoppers across the countries who said a negative experience would stop them from making a purchase, in the UK, that number rose to 41%.

Some 46% also say their mental health is negatively impacted when their clothing fits incorrectly, with 19% of shoppers surveyed feeling always or often affected.

Problems with traditional changing rooms include a lack of space (41.1%), worries about how the clothing fits (23.6%), and feeling rushed (23.1%), something consistent across markets.

Of course, some consumers are happy with the changing room experience. But while that number is 34% in Austria, it’s only 9% in Denmark.

Respondents in Germany (37%) and the UK (39%) highlighted privacy as a key factor, preferring to try on clothes at home. These numbers are significantly higher than the average (29%) of all respondents in the countries surveyed. 

Zalando said the research supports the development of its size and fit solutions, such as the Virtual Fitting Room, where customers can try different sizes of an item on a 3D avatar that represents their bodies, and the Body Measurement tool, which offers size recommendations based on unique body measurements.