SALES Archives | FASHION CROSS FUNCTIONAL

January 31, 2017

SALES: How To Best Sell Your Fashion Pieces Online

Hi Guys,
As the State of Fashion report of 2017 noted, online sales in the fashion industry increased and are expected to keep growing in future years (+12% as of 2020).
This is all fine and good but you’ll ask me: how can your fashion business benefit from this trend?
This is exactly the subject of today’s article. We interviewed Juan A. Montilla, Creative director at Mortimerland Design about the success factors of selling fashion online.

Why would customers prefer shopping online instead of in a brick and mortar shop where they can touch and try on the products?

There is no doubt that the digital revolution in fashion business is about immediacy and straightness. Purchase decision processes are nowadays more instinctive and brief than they have ever been. People decide what they want in a few seconds. They get suddenly excited about a bag or a dress they are viewing for the very first time on Instagram; and in matter of seconds they are praying to find it on the online store. They just can’t wait.
And the most amazing part is that all this sequence takes place in less than thirty seconds! In the old times the same process would have taken an entire evening going from one store to another. The point is that if you are unable to satisfy this brief excitement with the fastest, easiest, most pleasant, and most sophisticated experience, you are definitely loosing the train.
What are the key ingredients to make a fashion brand successful online?
The key factor is undoubtedly the capacity to become part of your customer’s “social persona”. It is no wonder that we are all two different persons online and offline, although 90% of people won’t ever admit it. Your “social persona” is the projection of all your aspirations, goals, and expectations, come true in the magic land of The Internet.
Your “persona” is the way you want everybody to see you: successful, trendy, interesting, outgoing, intelligent, fun, etc. And that is exactly the field where fashion brands have to play the game, in the social aspirations of customers. For instance, by interacting with brands like Aston Martin, Louis Moinet or Hacket you are trying to define your social persona as a young, sophisticated, outgoing gentleman. If your brand becomes a useful factor for people to build their online personas, there is no doubt you will be also one of their first options while deciding where to buy their new dress. Furthermore, if their customer experience is good enough, they will become evangelists of your brand, providing you with free brand exposure on digital media for a long while.

The benefit of selling online seems obvious when it comes to ready-to-wear designers. What about Couture designers? Is selling online applicable to all kinds of designers?
Of course “Couture” shopping behavior is different to “prêt-à-porter” one. Couture customers are looking for high-end, personalized experiences. Nevertheless, the decision to buy clothes and accessories is usually taking place online, so if you are not there to show not only your clothes but your brand experience, they will find other clothing references to follow and your brand will be pushed into the background. In the case of Couture designers it is more about starting friendly relationships with your customers, interacting with them, talking to them, giving them advice, etc. in order to drive sales to your firm and build long lasting relationships with them.
What would you recommend fashion brands to do to ?
We should keep in mind that every brand is a single universe that should be targeted towards a specific area of customer’s brain. Becoming a relevant part of people fashion interests is not an easy task. You will need to develop such a singular, interesting, strong, coherent personality that stands out from the current, overcrowded, fashion business establishment. Your fashion DNA must be something unique, something precious. True brand experiences are successful because all the people involved understand its fashion DNA and work together in the same direction to keep the coherence in all the branding actions.
Fashion DNA, as human DNA, needs to be unique. It makes no sense to imitate other brands. The brain of your customers is a wide universe where most of the opportunities are undiscovered. Just try something different, something only yours.

Juan A. Montilla, Creative director at Mortimerland Design

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January 27, 2017

NEWS PICK: How Retailers Can Find Which Technology To Use

Technology evoloved so fast, so many applications can be used. However how to decide which ones are worth investing in?
Through the angle of the Customer of course. Key for retailers is to correctly identify their demographic and Customer and see which application enables to better “assisting them on their journey to discovering what they need, offering perfect product value and curation of interesting things, providing a personalized experience, and delivering a frictionless, easy path to purchase.”

More here via Fashion United: http://bit.ly/2jtFWak

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Did you find this article interesting?

Find more tools to help you with your fashion business in the number one FXF guide. “The Fashion Business Plan” by Bako Rambini is available on Amazon.

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January 26, 2017

DESIGNER TOOLBOX- 4 Key Advice To Sell Your Pieces In Paris

Hi Guys,
Paris Fashion Week ends this thursday. For those of you who followed the fashion week from far, you maybe wonder how to bring your brand to Paris and make it a success. Today we interviewed Valeria Diaz, Fashion Buyer of Paperlab, a concept store inside BHV Marais one of the most famous department stores in Paris.

All the fashion designers worldwide dream to make it in Paris one day. What does a fashion brand need to do for that?

Fashion brands need to bring something different and really create something. The creative process is really important. People are tired of seeing the same stuff all the time. Why Paris is this « carrefour » (Ed.note: crossroad) of fashion? The fashion industry is always changing with seasons, but Paris will always be a place where trends are imposed and promulgated. It all started with the king Louis XIV, who started to bring the best designer to make his garments. From this moment, all the world started to copy the styles and traits. People were waiting the new trends in Paris to start using them. So, Paris is certainly one of the capital cities of fashion because of its originality. I would add that new designer need to show their uniqueness and « savoir faire » (Ed.note: Know how, craft) they represent.

What are the expectations of the Parisian clientele in terms of fashion? What do customers like there?

The clientele in Paris is so large. You have a lot of types of clients. Paris…it’s the most visited city in the world, so you’ll always have the tourist type of clients, trying to find the different pieces, that are « introuvables » (Ed.note: that cannot be found) in their cities. This type of client, is very important he will show your product in another country, this makes your brand more visible to another possible new market.
The Parisian clientele is very eclectic, so your brand has the possibilities to be part of it.
But in general terms, Paris is well known because of its quality products, elegance and design. Fashion in Paris.

What are the requirements fashion designers need to prepare to sell in a retail store in Paris?

First of all, captivate the buyers. And show them why your brand it’s different and why Paris needs this type of products. And then, captivate your clients. How? Social media is very important to show your brand to the largest public. Also show your DNA, your philosophy, why your brand is different or has a value. People are more and more criticizing fast fashion. There’s a new client trend: « le client engagé » (Ed. Note: Ethically aware customer), who is worried about environment, fair trade and good production conditions. If your piece is expensive but you have a fair trade company using recycled fabrics for example, the client will say « I don’t care about the price, I pay for quality and good working conditions. » I’ve heard a lot of clients like this. They don’t care about paying more for a white casual t-shirt, if it’s well done.

What would you recommend to fashion designers who want to sell in Paris?

I would recommend to start in pop up stores to see how the clients receive the product. Being there will allow to see the different types of clients, and to see what you need to change or adjust to the Parisian market. There are also a lot of collectives that regroup new brands and designers to sell them in different places and events you can try your chance there also.

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Did you find this article interesting?

Find more tools to help you with your fashion business in the number one FXF guide. “The Fashion Business Plan” by Bako Rambini is available on Amazon.

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December 6, 2016

SALES : The Ultimate Guide To Sell Fashion On The African Market

Hi guys,
In an article of May 2015, Business of Fasshion deemed Sub-Saharan Africa’s combined apparel and footwear market was worth $31 billion, according to data modelled by Euromonitor. Opportunities arise. So in order to help fashion designers succeed into the African fashion market, FXF interviewed Dr. Karan Khurana, PhD, Assistant Professor at EiTEX, Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia.

How is fashion doing on the African market?

The African continent has shown an immense potential in socio-cultural and economic growth and hence has attracted a lot of interest from various other trading nations in the last two decades. According to European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS, 2015) the Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries have experienced sustained economic growth, with growth rates often exceeding 5% per year over the past 15 years. The latest World Bank report on SSA, ‘Africa’s Pulse’ shows economic slowdown in Sub-Saharan Africa, with growth decreasing in 2015 to 3.7% from 4.6% in 2014. Growth is expected to pick up gradually again in 2016 and 2017, pushed up by domestic demand generated by consumption, investment, and government spending. Internally also African Fashion designers made a mark in contemporization of traditions (prints from west Africa or traditional weaving from Ethiopia) and brought a new edge to the fashion market. Increasing consumer demand and awareness of clothing as a way to exhibit culture and the inclination towards the west makes a very strong consumer base in Africa. China is currently the dominant trader in clothing in Africa. In the HS 61 category, the value of Chinese exports to Africa expanded to a whopping US$560 million in 2011, accounting for 61.8 percent of the traded volume in this category (Kamau, 2013). According to UN figures (https://comtrade.un.org/) 2013, South Korea and Canada combined exported $59m worth of used clothes to Tanzania while the UK alone exported $42m worth of used clothes to Kenya.

This leaves way for a very intense challenge against Chinese and used garments for the new designers in Africa.

What are the opportunities for fashion brands in Africa?

Africa stands today as a land of opportunities for fashion brands as sooner or later the consumer will look out for options in all fashion segments. A.T. Kearneys`s 2015 African Retail Development Index (ARDI) reconfirms that there is potential in dynamic countries such as Gabon and not only Nigeria and Ghana. Zara the Spanish garment giant is already present in Africa with around 21 stores. H&M, which has stores in Egypt and Morocco has set up a base for production in Ethiopia. ‘Made in Africa’ label is the future of young and emerging designers as they know the consumer best.
African fashion brands such as Rethaka, a South African female-owned ‘green innovations’ repurpose schoolbags: 100% recycled, solar-powered backpacks that can be used as study lamps at night; Dumebi is Nigeria’s first homegrown and sustainable bespoke fashion brand; Soul rebels from Ethiopia 100% recycled shoes are a few notable examples of flourishing local trade.
What will it take to succeed in the African fashion market?

One of the biggest advantage to African designers is the knowhow of their land. Africa is a land of complex cultures and creates an interesting mix of consumers which is quite a task for international brands to understand. This opens infinite opportunities for the local trade to make a mark. Design innovation in Africa has always been a very desirable strategy as the local designers shall realize the need of the consumer precisely in terms of the marketing mix. Social entrepreneurship shall see a strong impact on African business as it’s the way to sustainable development in social context which is the need of the hour.

African Fashion rises. What would you recommend African fashion designers to help them thrive globally?

Fashion is a highly segmented business, where “a size does not fit all,” and is open to the implementation of different business models from luxury to mass retail, to niche targets (Khurana, Ricchetti ,2016). The world of African design awaits contemporization where the designers shall find novelty to supply to the west. As discussed earlier the west is moving towards sustainable production and supports objects in this line. The battle against Chinese and second hand garments is surely the way to success in terms of cost and selection of dressing ideologies. Finally, the domestic credibility in local markets across Africa shall be the pathway to successful businesses as the middle class consumer is the future of investments in the coming decades.
References

Africa’s Pulse, World Bank, October 2015. (http://www.worldbank.org/en/region/afr/publication/africas-pulse-an-analysis-issues-shaping-africas-economic-future-october-2015)

Karan Khurana Marco Ricchetti, (2016),”Two decades of sustainable supply chain management in the fashion business, an appraisal”, Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, Vol. 20, Iss 1 pp. 89 – 104

Lionel Zamfir, Africa’s economic growth, European Parliamentary Research Service, January 2016. (http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/IDAN/2016/573891/EPRS_IDA(2016)573891_EN.pdf)

Paul Kamau, 2013.
Chinese ascendancy in the global clothing industry

Dr. Karan Khurana, PhD, Assistant Professor at EiTEX, Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia. He currently holds a teaching experience of seven years in fashion management studies in India and Ethiopia. He also holds a dual master one in Fashion Marketing from I.E.D, Milano and another M.B.A(Retail Management) from India. His research interests are sustainability, Eco- Branding and marketing and social responsibility in fashion.

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You liked this article?

Find more tools to help you with your fashion business in the number one FXF guide. “The Fashion Business Plan” by Bako Rambini is available on Amazon.

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