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One of the fastest-growing industries in today’s world is fashion. Having a look back in the past, the fashion industry has changed in enormous ways, starting from production to the point of selling.
The unexpected impacts of Covid-19 led to increased mobile and internet usage, making the social media channels and e-commerce the main selling channels. This has made its impact on the small and medium fashion retailers as well, creating new opportunities, as well as challenges that brands need to pay attention to today.
Let’s deep dive into this a little more.
The fashion industry has become more competitive than ever, as there are growing sectors and businesses on every corner, starting from local brands - to retailers and wholesalers.
Another sector worth mentioning here is the second-hand thrift stores that are also becoming very popular. Customers now have more options to choose from due to this diversity in the market, making it a necessity to keep up with the latest trends and competition.
The new era of shopping has shifted to online stores and mobile platforms, and it all began with the Covid -19 breakthrough. People started avoiding in-store shopping and moved to e-commerce platforms or social media pages and online catalogs. So, most fashion brands are now struggling to find the most appropriate channel to gain customers both online and offline.
In addition, according to a study by Google, 59% of shoppers stated that an option to shop on mobile is an important factor in choosing which brands they shop with. So this is a challenge that small and medium fashion businesses face, as the need for an app emerges. However, there are still brands that only use Facebook, Instagram, or WhatsApp as channels for communication and placing orders for their customers.
So, we can say for sure that the retailers need to be flexible and adjust to the new customers' behavior.
What does this mean for the fashion industry? What should brands do to adjust to these transformations and stay on the cutting edge? Let’s take a look at some strategies to explore.
Sharing some worldwide statistics: Women’s Wear Daily reported that more than 1,875 fashion stores closed last year, yet according to Statista, revenue in the fashion segment is expected to increase from £360.7B in 2018 to £534.5B in 2022. Isn’t this a bit contradictory? Well, the answer is – the internet.
The customers' habits are now changing and most people prefer shopping online rather than going to an onsite location. So, one thing to consider is moving from a fashion brand to a fashion e-commerce brand and creating a website page where the customers can directly buy your products and services.
However, always allow shopping on multiple channels and don’t give up on using Instagram, Facebook, or WhatsApp messages for receiving orders from your customers, as each tends to target different audiences.
As a fashion brand, you should always be mobile-friendly, as people tend to use and browse with their smartphones instead of desktops. You will need a responsive web page that resizes content according to the screen if you are an e-commerce brand, or just being always reachable on your social media accounts, if that is your primary platform for customer service.
This is something that usually fashion brands do it right away, but we must mention it as it is super important to have social media marketing. In this way, you can connect with your target audience and build relationships and community.
You can use Instagram, especially for better promotion and keeping with the trends, or find the platform most suitable for your business. If you have an online store, you can also integrate it with channels like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest, meaning that if your audience sees something they like as they browse through your catalog, they can buy it right away.
The global fashion influencer market has been valued at $1.5 billion, with an expected 35.7% growth rate by 2027. This means only one thing: start identifying your influencers.
Influencer marketing is like a high school, the influencers are the popular kids, and their followers are the other kids that want to be like them.
One of the most effective ways for brands to get social media influencer support, no matter it happens organically or through a paid partnership, is with an already established presence on social platforms.
There are several types of influences for you to consider:
· Nano: Influencers with fewer than 5,000 followers. They tend to be the cheapest to partner with but have the most engaged audiences.
· Micro: Influencers with 5,000-20,000 followers.
· Mid-tier: Influencers with 20,000-100,000 followers.
· Macro: Influencers with 100,000-1 million followers.
· Celebrity: Influencers with more than a million followers.
However, remember not to count only the number of followers, as that is not the most important thing to consider. Look for influencers with high engagement rates on their content, and whose interests overlap with your target audience. The influencers need to trust the brand they are recommending, if they don’t, then their followers won’t too.
Once you’ve found your influencer, create a mutually beneficial partnership, it can be in the form of providing free clothes, paying to sponsor a post, or giving their audience a discount code for purchasing.
As we witness the advancement of the latest technologies and artificial intelligence, why not use that for your fashion brand. If you have a web page make sure you use Chatbots, as they act like 24/7 customer support.
People can ask questions, or you can leave the most asked questions answered, but it is good for them to have someone to guide them as they land on the page. If chatbots can’t answer some questions, they can also be taken over by you.
By using re-marketing you can retarget the people that have already visited your web page, meaning that they were interested in your products.
You will increase the chances of making a purchase rather than making just a regular social media ad, as you know they were already looking for something on your web. This enables you more exposure, better targeting, and higher conversion rates.
As a small or medium fashion business, this is something to do next, once you have your web page. Content marketing can improve your organic search rankings and also provide you with better exposure to the audience. For starters, every blog post creates a new landing page for your audience to find you. Additionally, you can use the blog post for announcing news related to your brand, or for the fashion industry and related topics, you can introduce new fashion styles, or provide guides, fashion for season changes, etc.
Making a contest or giveaway is always a good idea for getting new customers and engaging with the existing ones, so no matter the cause – promoting a new product, celebrating a holiday, or simply out of generosity, organise one and see the results.
The least you can get is brand awareness and growing your network. You can also request the email or sharing on their socials, and use that data for guiding the potential leads through your marketing strategy.
You need to monitor your target audience to find out the latest trends, as well as your competition and best sellers, to find out what they are talking about and if they are attending or hosting some events of your interest.
And here you don’t have to create the content by yourself. Let’s say there is a fashion week happening somewhere. You can partner with an influencer to create an IG Reel showing and wearing your products during the show and vlog the whole day.
It would give the audience a look behind the scene at a fashion event- and your fashion brand will be connected and credited for enabling that. Trending topics can be really useful, so don’t hesitate to take advantage of them! Also, events can open you up to communities that exist within your field.
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