Today’s fashion consumers are finding, sharing, buying, researching and connecting with brands in completely new ways. Here are some of the latest consumer trends to help you get to know what makes them tick and how you can stay relevant and entice them to buy.
Consumers in general are becoming wiser by educating themselves using the world wide web to search for product reviews, online tutorials, forums, social media and other forms of content.
As a result, the dynamics between a retailer and consumer is changing. It’s now about giving the consumer a level of self-sufficiency to make their own buying decisions.
Fashion shoppers are looking for an experience, not just a transaction. This is why it’s important for retailers to think about how they can create an experience that is tied to emotion, rather than logic.
Amazon’s shopping experience is one that is convenient, particularly when the customer already knows what they want but there are limitations to this kind of shopping experience when you’re a small start-up brand. You need to create desire for your product.
Improving the user experience on their eCommerce website is a key priority for small fashion business owners. Analyzing site metrics can help identify issues and fine tune navigation, and reviewing what competitors are doing on their sites can also offer additional insights on what customers are reacting positively to.
Speed has also become a crucial factor for success with an eMarketer report revealing a 59% increase in shoppers expecting retailers to offer same or next-day delivery.
This is an important consideration when you set up your supply-chain infrastructure and making sure you have good inventory management in place.
With eco-friendly, ethical and sustainable fashion finally making it onto the industry’s agenda, consumers will increasingly use their wallets to protest against the excessive use of plastic, unethical products and unjust treatment of animals and manufacturing workers.
As a brand, it’s important that you are transparent with the lifecycle of your products. From a practical point of view, you could consider your packaging options, offering a charity or carbon offset donation with every purchase or implementing a recycling program.
A new movement on decluttering and simplifying our lives has made its way into our wardrobes. Thanks to the success of Japanese consultant Marie Kondo’s Netflix series and book “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo,” consumers are being drawn to brands who position themselves as a “minimalist” or “back-to-basics” brand.
Baby boomers don’t want to be treated like they are old because to them — age is just a number. In Japan, 50% of the population will be over 50 years old by 2025. That’s a huge opportunity for brands to keep age agnostics in mind.
