Review Analysis: Key Findings from User Feedback on Fashion Brands (2024)

Regarding the Shopping & Fashion industry, most experts are prepared for the volatility of consumer preferences. This e-commerce niche is quite broad, encompassing subcategories like Clothing, Underwear, plus Size apparel. Understanding consumer desires is the top priority, given the vast number of sub-niches and nuances.

Table of Contents

Companies must know what customers want, including their values, preferences, and complaints. The reality is that scaling a business and increasing revenue is impossible without ensuring overall satisfaction. That’s why it’s crucial to analyze what customers need. These reviews highlight areas for improvement and the general expectations people have from brands.

Realreviews.io decided to analyze all these subcategories as a leader in the review market. We selected brands like Humancustom.com, Rihoas.com, LIVELY, Cheekboss, Xpluswear, and Avenue.com to highlight the companies' strengths, customer assessments, and areas requiring special attention. Consider this study an opportunity to understand what most people truly want from brands.

Methodology

Given the complexity of the analysis and the need to process a large amount of information, we have formed a research methodology. It is divided into three key subsections to simplify the data implementation process.

Data Collection

The main source for collecting data was the Realreviews.io platform. We focused on six brands, collecting reviews for a certain period. This step allowed us to adhere to a comprehensive representation of customer feedback. The collected reviews were selected based on a diverse range of opinions since different people encountered different cases.

By scraping the content from our review platform, we tried to dig up various aspects of the shopping experience. In a situation with large studies, it is important to understand all aspects, from the quality of clothing to how support agents interacted with the client. Our key focus was on textual feedback since it reflects the situation in more detail. This approach allowed us to impartially collect data on customers and their level of satisfaction with products.

Text Preprocessing

Given the complexity of the study, our team conducted text preprocessing to prepare the data for topic modeling. Since we needed to conduct an accurate computational analysis, we cleaned and organized the data according to a pre-selected strategy. Here are the preprocessing steps we followed:

  1. Tokenization allowed us to divide the text into individual words (tokens).
  2. The stopword removal method allowed us to remove unimportant words (and, the, is, etc.)
  3. Lemmatization or converting words to their base form.
  4. Removing non-informative tokens, such as numbers, punctuation, and special characters.

In other words, we were able to adapt the collected reviews as accurately as possible for their subsequent analysis. The obtained data were free of all “noise” and looked quite convenient for machine and manual comparison.

Topic Modeling

Since we aimed to identify the most relevant topics and issues, we used the LDA algorithm. This generative probabilistic model assumes each review is a mix of topics, and each topic is a mix of words. So, the Latent Dirichlet Allocation algorithm allowed us to identify the topics and issues that are truly important to buyers. Here's how this process looked from the outside:

  1. We determined the number of topics to extract.
  2. The preprocessed text data was fed into the LDA model.
  3. The resulting topics were analyzed and interpreted to identify the main issues.

Thanks to the LDA algorithm, we analyzed the entire data set and were able to see the most important themes for buyers. Without such systematization, we would have spent months reading the reviews and manually writing out matches. Surely, you understand that such an approach would look very ineffective, so we chose automation.

Results

Let's talk about the results we got. Considering the machine systematization, we selected the most relevant and repetitive reviews. Here's what we got as a result.

Clothing

In this category, we analyzed Humancustom.com and Rihoas.com. Both companies offer similar products, so our analysis was objective and unbiased. Let's move on to the companies and their results.

Humancustom.com

Analyzing Humancustom.com, we discovered that product customization is a key area of ​​interest. Customers were extremely happy with the ability to personalize and choose designs and many parameters. This aspect was noted by many as an advantage of the company.

At the same time, many customers experienced problems with the delivery times. Their orders arrived later than initially stated. Customer service received mixed reviews. Customers' opinions were divided, as some people noted that support agents cannot always solve problems.

Quotes from reviews:

  • I got a T-shirt with my peps on it. Got it late after Easter. Not happy about that. But the T-shirt is nice though.
  • Lovely custom designs! Really pleased with the shoes.

Rihoas.com

Rihoas.com is another trendy brand that we analyzed. The company sells stylish clothing, and many buyers have noted this fact. The quality of the products is mostly high, although less than a quarter of buyers noted minor problems with seams and other parameters. Some people encountered sizing issues and fabric quality, although most buyers did not have such problems.

Quotes from reviews:

  • The cost was extremely low for the quality and size.
  • The fabric didn't stretch much, so keep that in mind.

Underwear

We know how important underwear is for most people. Comfort and style make customers feel 10 out of 10. That's why we analyzed two popular underwear brands.

LIVELY

In the case of LIVELY, many customers are satisfied with the quality of the products, fast delivery, and effective customer support. At the same time, some people were forced to exchange the goods due to minor defects or the wrong size. The number of dissatisfied customers is about a quarter, based on reviews. That is why the company should work on how to form orders with fewer logistical and factual errors.

Quotes from reviews:

  • Now, these bras, they're a whole vibe – comfy and top-notch quality.
  • Bras from Lively. I bought three. They fit well. However, one has two very scratchy surfaces where straps meet cups

Cheekboss

Cheekboss is a brand that offers a wide range of underwear in various sizes. The company focuses on trendy, comfortable products and highlights all the advantages of the female body. Most reviews note the high quality of the underwear and the ability to order free samples. However, some buyers lack the variety and customization of underwear.

Quotes from reviews:

  • Cheek Boss has a lot of choices and patterns. The patterns are fun!
  • The prints are appealing, although a greater variety would be appreciated.

Plus Size

Xpluswear

Xpluswear is an online store offering a wide selection of plus-size clothing. Many customers praise the company for its timely delivery and quality fabrics. At the same time, about a third of people are disappointed by the lack of email notifications and the difficulties in communicating with support agents. They do not always respond on time, which creates unnecessary delays.

Quotes from reviews:

  • I really love the styles, colors, fabrics, and sizes they offer!
  • While the color isn't as vibrant as the pictures suggest, the quality and price make it a worthy buy.

Avenue.com

Here is today's study's second representative of the plus size category. Avenue.com offers clothes of all sizes, even for those who need maximum solutions. Most buyers praise the store for the assortment, compliance of the goods with the photos, and the quality of the fabrics. However, some people are disappointed that sale items cannot be returned, and the support agent responds extremely slowly.

Quotes from reviews:

  • Their clothes aren't just bigger, but made to fit my curves.
  • Customer service is non-existent and indifferent.

Analysis and Discussion

Now let's discuss all the details and compare the important nuances. Since we analyzed thousands of samples, comparing different patterns will not be a problem. So, here are the details that we noticed.

Clothing Subcategory: Humancustom.com vs. Rihoas.com

For infographics

Humancustom.com wins when it comes to clothing customization. At the same time, Rihoas.com offers fashionable designs. The quality of clothing is slightly higher at the former, while Rihoas.com tries to make style the number one goal. Both stores may have decided to choose different niches while offering similar products tacitly.

Both companies face discrepancies in sizes compared to those stated on the website. Also, buyers are unhappy that communication with support agents is not always established quickly. Delivery delays are also common problems for both companies. Although the number of cases does not exceed 20%, this trend is not positive.

Part of Humancustom.com signals about the company's problems regarding post-payment communication. Some buyers complain that they must spend a lot of time communicating with support agents and ordering status updates. In the case of Rihoas.com, about 10% of buyers signal that the fabrics are of low quality. Perhaps the problem is with suppliers, but the store should not allow such a mistake.

Underwear Subcategory: LIVELY vs. Cheekboss

Most buyers state that both brands provide quality underwear, and the quality of the materials corresponds to the stated ones. Both companies sell stylish underwear and a wide range of sizes. In this regard, the companies have an advantage over other brands.

At the same time, common companies periodically send products of the wrong size, making up about 15% of the total reviews. Support agents do not respond as often as we would like and are not always ready to offer alternative solutions to problems quickly.

In the case of LIVELY, the company recently had problems with their mystery boxes, as they added monotonous products of the same color and size. Cheekboss faced more common problems, such as a lack of product color range. Also, some underwear was slightly narrower than required in the chest area, which caused unnecessary friction.

Plus Size Subcategory: Xpluswear vs. Avenue.com

Xpluswear and Avenue.com offer a wide range of plus size products, which is important for many people. The variety of styles and types of materials is also a plus for both companies. Buyers have left many positive reviews regarding the range.

Among the common problems, it is worth noting the problems with the return of goods due to some technical failures on the sites and problems with activating discounts. Both companies take a long time to answer buyers' questions, which should be fixed immediately.

Xpluswear somehow does not have email notifications about order placement, which is very strange. Buyers say that the order status can only be tracked on the website. But the basic notification should be sent to the email of any buyer! In the case of Avenue.com, buyers received inactive or invalid discounts for subsequent purchases.

Conclusions and Recommendations

As a result of a detailed study of user experience, common problems were identified for all six companies. Regardless of the type of goods and brand positioning, problems with sizing, pricing, and shipping were identified. Despite a large assortment of goods, compliance with color schemes, and type of materials, some goods were of inadequate quality. Users also noted problems with communication and return processing, which is relevant for all six brands.

Recommendations

Based on the issues found, we recommend that companies enhance quality control of the goods they receive. All brands also need to improve shipping and return policies so that customers can return and exchange goods without problems. All brands should also improve data validity control before shipping. Situations where a customer receives the wrong size, material, or type of goods are unacceptable.

Conclusion

After conducting a detailed analysis of the Shopping & Fashion category, we were convinced that all six companies need to implement new approaches to quality control and customer communication. Even though all companies have strengths, they must monitor customer reviews closely. Comments from real people are a tuning fork that something is going wrong.

That is why it is important to monitor all comments and analyze weaknesses. What is an isolated case today can become a negative trend tomorrow. Monitoring the work of personnel should also become a priority for improvement in any company. Incompetent support agents should improve their skills or leave the company. Consider these tips key for most companies in the Shopping & Fashion category!