Perception meet Reality : A pilot study of the self-congruence of female online shoppers

Abstract: The goal of this research is to better understand the gap between the consumer's actual self image versus their perceived ideal image; in which, could help an online retail company to respond more effectively and provide a better service to its target customer with an added goal of reducing the rate of returns. A two-phased mixed methods approach was applied to this research to test for participants perceived and actual ideas of themselves, as well as their attitudes towards ideals. The first phase consisted of manual measurements taken and recorded, following a semi-structured interviewed. The second phase consisted of a 3D scan (digital measurements) taken and recorded followed by a four question survey comprising of three Likert questions, and one open ended question, concluding with researcher observations noted. The results showed that while the participants were mostly congruent with regards to size, they were mostly incongruent with regards to shape, and had zero congruence between the actual and the ideal self. All participants also experienced varying levels of fit issues with several areas mentioned, though pants/bottoms being the number one fit struggle. All participants expressed interested in the 3D scanning technology, felt it was easy to use, but there was a lack of continuity between participant self-reported survey answers, and their verbal answers as well as research observations.