Despite retailers’ interest in moving away from thin-model photography to embrace body-size diversity, online fashion shopping predominantly features thin models. While concerns about negative consequences for sales impede industry-wide changes, we demonstrate that consumers and retailers benefit from optimally portraying diverse bodies. Three studies unveil the “Dissimilarity-Risk Deterrence Effect,” wherein thin models dissuade consumers with larger clothing sizes from online purchasing due to perceived body-size dissimilarity and heightened fit-risk perception. Eight experiments demonstrate that models of consumers’ own size mitigate the effect, enhancing online purchase decisions, while controlling for mechanisms like positive affect, authenticity and social identification. The effect extends across various clothing items but attenuates when body size matters less to fit evaluation. Moreover, the effect is concealed by retailers’ risk-reducing strategies, such as measurement information and free product return policies. This research underscores the strategic significance of diverse product imaging to improve supply chain efficiency and consumer well-being.

尽管零售商有兴趣摆脱瘦模特摄影，转向拥抱身材的多样性，但网上时装购物的主要特色是瘦模特。虽然对销售负面影响的担忧阻碍了全行业的变革，但我们证明消费者和零售商可以从最佳地描绘多样化的身体中受益。三项研究揭示了“差异风险威慑效应”，其中苗条的模特会因为感知到的身体尺寸差异和更高的合身风险感知而阻止服装尺码较大的消费者在线购买。八项实验表明，消费者自身规模的模型可以减轻影响，增强在线购买决策，同时控制积极影响、真实性和社会认同等机制。这种效应适用于各种服装，但当身体尺寸对合身评估的影响较小时，这种效应就会减弱。此外，这种影响被零售商的风险降低策略所掩盖，例如测量信息和免费产品退货政策。这项研究强调了多样化产品成像对于提高供应链效率和消费者福祉的战略意义。