How Tailored Solutions Helps Fashion Brands to Buckle Up for the Next Digital Battle Ground?
It is well documented that the rise of the internet has completely altered the ways people shop and browse various fashion products. And the recent outbreak of the COVID-19 has only accelerated the drive for the digital shift. It has undeniably and undoubtedly expedited and eased online shopping. As the worldwide lockdowns became increasingly new normal, retailers and shoppers were quick to shift the gear and adopt a new lifestyle of the digital world that would increase eCommerce’s share of retail trade from 14 per cent in 2019 to about 17 per cent in 2020. Likewise, the tailored software solutions are another stepping stone for fashion brands seeking various ways to venture into the digital world and make their online presence more distinguished. The customization software allows brands to let their buyers design numerous clothing lines, such as skirts, shirts, blazers, jackets, suits, jerseys, hoodies, t-shirts, and many other products. The tool offers online platforms to brands and enables them to digitally connect with their audiences in real-time and expand their customer base.
Tailored Solutions Enables Brands to Gear Up for Virtual Competition
The biggest advantage of using digital technology is that it promotes a top-notch shopping experience that is aligned across all channels. Whether we talk about eCommerce, social commerce, or online marketplaces, but before brands form any notion about digital transformation, they must be accurate about the product they are selling; it should be an eye-catchy and fully optimized digital shelf. This may sound more challenging than it actually is, but if brands form detailed marketing strategies and analyze what buyers are into these days. With the emergence of countless digital selling points, it has become extremely challenging for brands.
However, that is more challenging than one would think, especially considering the countless digital selling points. But digital shelf analytics could help brands tackle this crucial aspect.
What is Digital Shelf?
If we were to put it in the simplest and straightforward words, it is just the virtual representation of a physical store. It is a place where a brand’s products are sold online; it can be an eCommerce platform, social commerce, and many other digital touchpoints. It helps shoppers to browse, learn more, and purchase products. And as selling digital is the only way to display your products in real-time and helps quickly reaching out to more customers. The most effective tools brands are using to sell their products online is through establishing transparency with buyers. Fashion labels must rely on offering the most accurate product content, such as images, descriptions, videos, labelling, pricing, ratings, and as many other reviews as possible. When combined, these various components help create an authentic overview of the product and assist shoppers in making an informed decision about the product they are yet to purchase. It also helps brands to strengthen the brand’s image and the entire shopping experience online.
Digital transformation is the need of the hour. Brands must take every action possible to adhere to the trend and offer an exceptional shopping experience that ultimately reflects revenue and sales.
Let us look at the other aspects of digital technology that brands are implementing to gain momentum in the evolving virtual trends of the fashion industry:
Brands Promoting their Upcoming Collection Through Digital Technology
Since the pandemic outbreak, brands have been seeking various methods to reach out to more audiences and display their collection more efficiently and effectively. Besides, last year we have seen how digitization came to the rescue as it was impossible for them to run the shows. Through virtual and augmented reality, they successfully organized the fashion shows and allowed buyers to enjoy the numerous collections from the comfort of their homes. This year, as the routine life is resuming and lockdown decreasing, some brands have moved back to the original format of the fashion weeks. However, some brands have taken the onus to carry forward the legacy and adopt novel digital solutions. The leading name in the luxury lifestyle brand, Burberry, is going digital this Fashion Month. The label has been one of the marquee designers at London Fashion Week, is going off-calendar with plans for a digital show on September 27. The show will take place after the close of Milan Fashion Week and just as the Paris Fashion Week shows begin. Its menswear show debuted in a digital format in June. The show was filmed outdoors and was titled “Universal Passport.”
Burberry has been becoming more creative with its digital formats ever since the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. For the fall 2021 women’s collection, the brand has filmed the runway presentation at their Regent Street flagship store. The fashion industry must adopt today’s digital revolution to elevate every aspect of its fashion business. These novel solutions allow them to interactively involve customers from developing new apparel collections and marketing and go beyond the purchase journey, promotion and offers for repeat sales. The new-age technology provides agility that helps brands understand their end customers better. Fashion brands and retailers need to deliver a much-improved digital experience to better connect with their audiences. These modern technologies offer lucrative opportunities for brands and retailers that can’t successfully leverage integrated “product experience”.
Partnering with Digitally-Native Companies to Scale-Up Business
As eSports continue to become a larger part of modern-day culture, brands are quickly establishing a presence in the space to connect with younger consumers and capitalize on sports enthusiasts. The apparel industry is embracing the gaming trends bang on, and therefore, we are witnessing many collaborations among the leading names in the sector. In the past year, there have been a variety of non-endemic apparel firms partnering with eSports organizations to create a name in this new market and expand their existing offerings. There are also many smaller and high-end fashion companies that are esports and gaming-first that are growing along with the industry. Recently, Gucci has announced Gucci Vault, an online concept store that immerses people to brands’ past, future, and present. The platform enables the brand to offer consumers novel experiences without necessarily requiring new Gucci products.
Moreover, it is part of a spate of centenary celebrations. In May, the brand had partnered with gaming platform Roblox to bring its Gucci Garden exhibition to the metaverse. In July, the house unveiled the new home of Gucci’s archive in Via Delle Caldaie in Florence. Earlier this month, the Italian Ministry of Economic Development acknowledged Gucci’s contributions to the nation’s economy by issuing an anniversary stamp decorated with Gucci’s Flora print.
Likewise, Asos has signed a three-year multi-million-pound partnership with London-based esports performance brand Fnatic to develop online and offline activations. The collaboration aims to “bridge the worlds of gaming and fashion”, explains Asos in a statement. It will include a variety of different activations, including multiple content series with Fnatic pro talent and creators, such as Tekkz, Mushway, Loeya and Moonryde, alongside VR experiences and AR filters. The partnership will also see the brands work together on a bespoke third alternative kit, and Fnatic pro players and creators will feature in upcoming Asos campaigns. The two brands will also work together on digital kits in the future to produce branded in-game experiences and digital products.
Unlike the fashion industry, the global games market is gradually growing, and it is emerging as the means of escaping and time filling for many end-users. Consequently, one of this year’s growth drivers is an increased interest in gaming due to COVID-19-related lockdown measures. As per Newzoo Global Games Market Forecast, the entire video gaming market is expected to be worth over 200 billion U.S. dollars by 2023. The statistics indicate there is a huge room for possibilities for brands to experiment with, tap on the new buyers, and offer top-notch experiences to them. Similarly, the tailor-made software allows apparel brands to let their buyers determine what their preferred designs should look like and what designs they should have to reflect their personality and fashion sense. The customization solution provides the best features to customize your apparel using different options, such as fabric, style, and pattern. This tool provides an additional feature for users to add accent to their apparel, which attracts customized clothes. They can also add their body type and get a virtual view of how the product will best suit them. The tool helps brands get the best of both worlds as it lets their buyers be trendy and fashionable while also paving a digital path for brands that ensure repeated sales and increased revenue.
Customization is one such tool that allows buyers to be a part of the designing process and feel heard and respected. The customization tools enable buyers to select the fabric, designs, accents, and sizes. It gives them the liberty to customize the apparel as per their current needs without agreeing to buy products that have been designed for them. They come with an additional feature to choose a body type per buyers’ personality, add an image according to their face color, and select a background image. This system gives a great platform for customers to customize their clothes as per their requirements. The tool lets the clients immensely grow in the market by providing a unique idea to propose an apparel customization tool that gives liberty to customers to get what they want.
Bringing in New Talents that Help in Attaining the Dream of Digital Solutions
Since time immemorial, leading brands have always provided a platform for budding designers to display their unique designs to the world and help brands improve their goodwill subtly and add novel designs under their name. Likewise, some years back, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana invited a handful of young designers to sell in their store on Milan’s Via della Spiga for a short period. In fact, more recently, brands, such as Marc Jacobs’s Heaven and Stella McCartney, have turned to curation, making space for other brands in their retail offerings. Many brands in the past, such as H&M, have also placed their strategies in place and have successfully gained a lot of traction and applause from society.
Gucci has already placed orders for a second drop and is planning for the project to be a long-term endeavor with an emphasis on quality over quantity. Many experts believe that partnering with young designers is way better than making them KOL or brand ambassadors. By joining hands with emerging and talented designers, brands have a better chance to nourish and prepare them and display their collection that takes everyone by surprise. Besides, the young designers also get an opportunity to learn from experienced designers in the brand. However, they might experience some challenges on their way as they have to handle their manufacturing and as they are freshly out of university and have minimalistic support for the supply chain, let alone experience.
Nevertheless, they all ultimately don’t fall into these traps and emerge as winners whom many people look up to. Besides, many brands, such as Kering, have already set a sustainability, ethics, and quality code of conduct. Other brands can take inspiration from these efforts and bring the new designers who are waiting to tap on opportunities that can take them to the next level.
Closing Comments-
In a nutshell, we can say that digital transformation is the need of the hour and help brands to focus on frictionless eCommerce and provide consumers with an engaging and targeted shopping experience. With the emergence of various digital touchpoints, brands now have more options to collaborate with their buyers and create unique designs and experiences that shall always be remembered. The tailored software solutions by iDesigniBuy offer similar digital opportunities to apparel brands that are tempted for loyal, happy, and repeat customers. The customization solution allows brands to scale up their business and gain an edge over the others with novel digital features that help brands respond more quickly to the ever-changing fashion landscape and make more informed and timely decisions.
