Hi Guys,
Trends are unanimous: online shopping registers a massive growth (+22% as of February 2016) and outscores brick-and-mortar fashion businesses with a shift from 49% to 51% of total purchases in 2016. Launching an online fashion business is not only less costly but also more likely to grow. That is provided that you do it properly. Here are some advice that we summarized after meeting a few successful online fashion businesses.
Have a clear concept, be consistent
As explained in The Fashion Business Plan and in most of our articles, a clear brand concept and coherence is rule number one to build a successful fashion business.
Why? Firstly because all the fashion professionals (fashion journalists, buyers, PR, photographers, movie producers, investors,…) will ask you the same question: “What is your concept?”. And secondly if your vision is unclear, you will not be able to translate it in a sufficiently striking image and a proper existing lifestyle, meaning you will not be able to reach an adequate target customer. Hence you won’t be able to optimize your sales.
Maybe you’ll sell randomly, but not as much as you could if you had a clear concept. The lack of a clear vision made the best of Michael Kors’s mean quotes on Project Runway:
You don’t want to be the next Teletubby party dresser so take a pen and a piece of paper and write down what your brand DNA is about.
Have a good website that mirrors your fashion concept
All the successful online fashion brands told us the same: a beautiful website that speaks for your brand DNA is a must have. It’s always baffling when fashion brand wannabes arrive on this already overcrowded industry with cheap-looking websites they just quickly made by themselves, on the ground that their products are good enough. However good your pieces are, trying to sell them through an odd-looking website is a loss of time these days.
Furthermore, to maximize your impact, ensure that it reflects the DNA of your fashion brand.
Invest in good pictures
Again all the online fashion brand owners we spoke to agreed that good pictures are a compulsory investment. You need to have neat HD photos of your prototypes, worn by a model who incarnates your brand DNA. Unless you sell your clothes just to earn a few bucks to make both ends meet, if you want to go big with your fashion business, you need to invest in high quality photos. Some fashion designers we know use the strength of their concept to negotiate the prices and collaborate with professional photographers.
You will need to have at least a photograph of each piece with a plain (mostly white) background. If you can, also have lookbook pictures made, showcasing your design in the lifestyle and the spirit of your brand DNA.
Test and validate your concept
You will firstly need to identify what makes your fashion unique, which brings us back to the fashion brand DNA. On the basis of your written notes, tell a compelling story that embodies your concept.
A good method we heard of to test and validate your fashion concept is to think of three different stories that best represent your brand unique value proposition and put them on three different landing pages.
Validate the concept according to which landing page better worked in terms of number of subscriptions.
Build a community
Each landing page and your website should be able to capture e-mail contacts to send further newsletters.
Use social media to convey your fashion brand DNA
Whether with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or Snapchat, you can use social media to promote your fashion business. The pictures you post should reflect your target customer’s lifestyle. Also use a tone that is coherent with your brand DNA and speaks to your client.
*******************************************************
Build your fashion brand DNA
Find more tools to help you in the number one FXF guide. “The Fashion Business Plan” by Bako Rambini is available on Amazon.
*******************************************************
To receive more articles and fashion designer tools, follow us
