Now going to offline shopping malls to buy clothes really feels more and more like a "counter-chronological experience."

The most obvious feeling is that online shopping has eliminated many hassles, but offline still remains in a very primitive state.
For example, online, adding items to the cart automatically calculates discounts, member benefits, and the final price at a glance.
Today I took my child to buy clothes offline, just to ask, "How much is the total after all discounts?"
The salesgirl could only take out her phone calculator, inputting prices one by one.
The key is that each piece of clothing has a different discount, and by the end, the whole process is no longer shopping, but like solving a word problem on the spot.
What's more embarrassing is that after manual calculations and discounts, the final price in the store turned out to be 1,200 yuan more expensive than the official Taobao store.
This makes it very hard to convince oneself to continue shopping offline.
Returns are the same.
Offline stores also support seven-day no-questions-asked returns, but the premise is that you have to make another trip to the mall.
Travel time, parking, queuing, communication—all are additional costs.
And how convenient has online shopping become now?
Many times on JD.com, 88VIP, returns don’t require shipping fees; you can directly schedule a pickup, leave the clothes at the door, and wait for the courier.
The entire process almost requires no effort.
Of course, offline shopping is not completely without value.
Its biggest advantage is still being able to see a large variety of styles in a short time, directly touch the fabric, and judge color, fit, and texture.
These real experiences are hard to replace with online pictures and buyer shows.
But the problem is, just being able to "touch and try on" is no longer enough.
If offline shopping wants to become attractive again, it must at least first make up for two basic experiences:
First, align online and offline prices as much as possible.
Consumers are not unwilling to pay a little more offline, but they shouldn’t feel like they’re being gouged due to information asymmetry.
Second, the checkout system must be upgraded.
Offers, discounts, member prices, cross-category promotions—all should be automatically calculated by the system, not manually done with a calculator by the staff on the spot.
Only by filling in these basic experiences can offline stores then offer value that online cannot replace, through better service, more authentic try-on experiences, and more professional styling advice.
Otherwise, the problem with offline malls is not "people don’t like shopping anymore."
It’s that after shopping, people find it easier and more worry-free to just go home and order online.