Fashion, as a craft and creativity-based industry, must go digital in order to survive and prosper in the coming decade. CEOs are well aware of this. Investors are beginning to inquire about it. However, very few, if any, global fashion companies have completely digitized their value chain from concept to shelf. Instead, they are experimenting with and piloting new techniques. Limited in scope, these approaches are also limited in their potential to generate value.
Depending on who you ask, the digital transformation of the fashion industry is seen as both an opportunity and a challenge. Work protection, innovation, and the lack of the "human touch" in fashion design and garment are among the perceived challenges.
Why Digital In Fashion?
The most effective way to resolve the core goals of fashion companies over the next few years is to implement an end-to-end digital transformation: producing compelling ideas that catch the next trend while working faster and more effectively.
Consumer Centricity - Designers may obtain data-driven insights into customer behavior and patterns. Fashion brands will use this tightening loop to predict the next major trend and raise the amount of full-price products they sell.
Time to Market - Also in the age of fast fashion, the ability to get anything to market quickly is a competitive advantage. An end-to-end digital transition will shave up to 40% off the calendar. Virtual fittings reduce the need for time-sucking trips to the factory because the factory has the exact designs it needs to develop, engineer, and manufacture products.
Long-Term Efficiency - Companies can turn digitally to create long-term value, not just short-term savings. The transition from 2D to 3D designs requires time and money. Since digital workflows are structured and automated, the short-term investment can pay for itself many times over.
Ubiquity Is The New Exclusivity
Many businesses still depend on a strong offline brand, but that brand does not always translate well online. It's an understatement to say that having a solid stand-alone presence on the web is difficult for most brands. However, brands that have evolved beyond a mono-brand approach are gaining market share from these same retailers.
Retailers must understand that routes to market are evolving in order to compete in an increasingly digital future. They must change their online marketing strategy to take advantage of multi-brand e-tailers' opportunities. Retailers need to move beyond solo online approaches to truly capture digital advantage—and they need to do so quickly.
The benefits of creating partnerships with powerhouse e-tailers abound: a growing and focused customer base, increased brand reach through high-traffic channels, and a strong international presence that translates to greater sales.
Bid Goodbye to Mono-branding
Take care of your shopping presence by monitoring your online storefronts and aggressively handling stock movement from the wholesale channel to win with multi-brand e-tailers.
Dressed For Success
Brands that want to break free from the mono-brand mentality and take advantage of multi-brand e-growth tailing's potential must develop strategic alliances with leading platforms. The following are logical first steps:
Gain More Control Of Branding And Pricing
Brands can provide content, merchandising, and promotions, as well as connect to Zalando to drive inventory transparency, by participating in partner programs like the one provided by Zalando, one of Europe's leading online multi-brand fashion and apparel e-tailers. So, if a customer orders a pair of sneakers that Zalando doesn't have in stock, the order can be forwarded to the manufacturer. So, if a consumer orders a pair of sneakers that Zalando doesn’t have in its inventory, the order can be passed through to the manufacturer and fulfilled seamlessly by the brand.
Develop New Online Distribution Skills And Capabilities
Brands must develop their expertise in analytics, campaign management, and search optimization, among other areas, to support partnerships with third-party e-tailers. This entails reshaping and clarifying positions within the business. The sales team that manages key accounts offline, should be closely connected with, yet distinct from, the team responsible for online.
Put In Place New Stock Management Strategies
Brands used to have full control overstock. With wholesalers and third-party e-tailers in the mix, stock can now be sold at a discount, potentially harming brand awareness. To counteract the impact, brands must be more proactive in managing their partners and provide terms that protect their pricing and inventory integrity.
Technology as an enabler of change
Technology is often seen as a panacea for all industrial problems, and while it does help, our research shows that producers, distributors, and brands recognize that technology alone cannot address key issues such as sustainability and accountability.
A wider program of pre-competitive cooperation is needed to forge genuine, structural reform, where diverse stakeholders agree on transformation and technology is simply the enabler to make it happen.
Digital Trends Transforming Fashion Industry
In the retail sector, digitization is now gaining traction, making shopping more easy, cost-effective, and enjoyable than ever before. As a result of the industry's transition, more trends are being adopted. Since the general public uses the internet on a global scale, retailers have been forced to adopt several strategies and integrate the omnichannel experience into their business models.
However, retailers and multi-brands are now offering a seamless shopping experience by linking up from mobile to online to in-store outlets.
Technology has advanced to the point that there is a breakthrough every day that is shared across all digital channels with a single click.
How Digital Trends Can Help In Growing The Fashion Industry?
The fashion industry's perspective has shifted as a result of tech-savvy customers, and brands are scrambling to incorporate these ongoing developments into their operations. With this in mind, here are some digital trends that can help you succeed in the fashion and retail industries.
Mobile marketing
Rather than any other device, the majority of the population uses their mobile device to search online for what they want. It's difficult to locate a fashion website that isn't mobile-friendly.
Mobile marketing is an excellent way for retailers to link their in-store and online experiences. It is the ideal method for brands to engage with their future consumers directly.
Brands can even retarget their previous customers with the help of SMS marketing by keeping them updated about the ongoing activities, offers, etc in the business.
In-Store Tech
The majority of retailers and brands have no plans to convert their physical stores fully to online platforms. They are strong believers in the importance of first-hand customer experience.
Raymonds, a well-known Indian fabric and ready-to-wear retailer, has improved their in-store experience by incorporating the Magic Mirror idea in almost all of their shops. Customers can try on their bespoke clothes until they are stitched, which eliminates the hassle and uncertainty about the end product.
So in-store tech is another trend where fashion is embracing digital innovation to take customer engagement to the next level.
Influencer Marketing
Nowadays, fast-fashion brands and celebrity influencers work well together. Fashion influencers are especially successful at bringing fashion brands to the attention of consumers in a broad market.
So brands can target the audience by collaborating with these influencers. This trend nowadays is used by most of the startups who are making their place in the market
Future Disruption In the Fashion Industry
Fortunately, more and more fashion designers are paying attention to what's going on in the world of digitization and creativity. The scene is becoming more saturated, and tailor-made solutions are becoming more numerous and disruptive, all with the aim of dramatically altering how brands and customers function in their respective landscapes.
Disruption 1: Immersive Selling
Digital 3D retail environments are now being used by a number of brands in their B2B wholesale phase, reducing the need for actual mock-up stores and physical samples. Instead of the usual physical fixtures, filled with physical garments, you will find large television screens that show interactive virtual flagship stores, virtual try-on and measurement merchandised to the exact needs of the specific accounts.
With the rise of online shopping, traditional physical stores are becoming less important. Online, digitally, and electronically, more sales are taking place. So, let's ditch the brick-and-mortar stores and the old-fashioned way of selling clothing. Alternatively, you might use the conventional method of selling virtually and let the imagination go wild.
Disruption 2: Virtual Reality
With each passing year, 3D and virtual reality developments make huge strides. Virtual reality headsets are becoming more detailed, strong, and capable as time goes on. The Oculus Quest is a model from Oculus, the world's largest manufacturer of virtual reality goggles.
When researching the brains of humans and rodents, virtual reality is increasingly being used. Currently, research is being carried out in neuroscience laboratories all over the world with the aim of unlocking the complexity of our brain.
Disruption 3: AI Merchandising
Whether you are trying to find a ride on Uber, figuring out how to get to a certain location using Google maps, or sitting on an airplane artificial intelligence (AI) is all around us today.
You can start thinking about store environments once your 3D library is up and running. Store interiors and exteriors are often created using game engines such as Unreal or Unity. To save money, your 3D garment library and store setting, including fixtures, may all be generic.
Internet of things (IoT)
The fashion industry has had to keep up with the demands of modern life, from a strong focus on comfort to the use of fresh and exciting fabrics. The most exciting advances in fashion technology and wearable accessories demonstrate this. These have gone as far as affecting how we experience our surroundings, interact with others and our bodies, giving the word comfort a whole new meaning.
This includes apparel with digital capabilities, like smart clothing, wearable spaces, multi-functional designs, responsive sportswear, and more. Starting with the humble smartwatch, dominated by brands like FitBit and Apple, wearable technology dominates the fashion accessories market.
Blockchain
Via technologies such as track-and-trace and inventory management, which can be used to effectively trace and maintain records of clothing apparel and supply chains. On a blockchain, the blockchain solution establishes a physical-digital connection between products and their digital identities.
Blockchain, like digital currency, has a cryptographic seal or serial number that serves as a physical identifier that is connected to the actual product's "digital twin," as Forbes magazine explains.
Conclusion
The fashion industry, with its decades-old process of creation, manufacturing, and commercialization, is ripe for fundamental disruption. Fashion retailers must become quicker, more profitable, and more competitive when selling more full-price merchandise. The best way to achieve those objectives is to develop a new operating model. The best way to accomplish those goals is through a new operating model built around end-to-end digital workflows.
Brainvire helps retailers understand shoppers' actions and discover business opportunities to drive footfalls and web traffic. Our eCommerce development services create platforms that allow brick-and-mortar retail stores and hybrid retailers to engage customers and influence purchasing decisions.
