If you love designer women's clothing, then you will want to know where to get the best items at the best price. We have the answer: the internet. Anyone who loves designer clothing will be aware that designer clothes are much cheaper online than they are in the real world. Having said that, many people are reluctant to shop online, and for that reason, miss all the fantastic bargains available through the internet.
There are many reasons why people avoid online shopping, and a major reason is price. People believe that because designer clothes are cheaper online that these clothes are either, fakes, of poor quality, second hand, or damaged. However, there are legitimate reasons why designer women's clothing is cheaper online, which we will discuss here.
When comparing the price of an item in the real world, with an identical item on the internet, we are normally thinking about the item as it is priced in a large shopping centre or retail park.
When we talk about prices being lower, we are often comparing them to stores that are more traditional. When we talk about traditional stores many of us will be thinking about shops that are typically found in town centres, shopping centres, or possibly even on retail parks. The main reason that the retail park and shopping centre prices are so much more expensive is largely due to the running costs of operating in such a prestigious and much sought after location.
Firstly, they will be paying a premium on the premises because of their location, in a modern shopping centre, the cost of renting a store is astronomical, and the shops must cover their overheads by hiking up prices. Further, they will have to pay council rates on the premises, and the more upmarket the area in which the shops are located, the higher the rates - they work much like council tax on homes, the better the location, and the bigger the house, the more you will have to pay.
Running a real world shop floor incurs many other expenses. Refurbishments are required on a frequent basis, and these can run into hundreds of thousands of pounds, each time. Moreover, the electricity, water, and telephone bills will also be extremely high. Staffing costs are also much higher, as real world retailers need to employ front-end staff, to meet and greet the customer, and to operate the tills. Again, shops need to cover their overheads, and they do this by hiking up prices.
An internet retailer, however, incurs very few such costs as mentioned above. True, they will need premises - both from which to carry-out all the administration work, but also to store their goods -, but these can be much smaller and they can be located anywhere, so premium rental properties are not necessarily needed. In addition, online retailers require very few staff, particularly in comparison to real world retailers, and this costs money. These expenditures do mean that online retailers need to mark up their goods in order to cover their overheads; however, the mark-up is not as great as a real world shop.
One more reason why designer women's clothing is cheaper online than in the real world is that there is greater competition between online retailers. Online, retailers are competing in their particular field, on a global scale, real world retailers are competing with their neighbouring shops, which never amount to more than 200, - the difference are vast. Due to the increased competition, online retailers need to offer the best possible prices; they do this to encourage customers to shop with them, rather than another retailer selling identical merchandise.
So you see, the reason online prices are much cheaper than prices in the real world, has nothing to do with the quality of the goods being poorer, nothing to do with the possibility of the clothing being fake, but everything to do with the differing market pressures each type of retailer is subjected to.
