The holiday season is just around the corner, and this is the time when people love to dress up and show off their fashion sense. And since buyers are shopping online and by this period of time, they tend to spend their time at homes. As comfort dictates holiday purchases, some customers are buying luxury items for the first time. The challenge for retailers is to turn them into loyal shoppers. The online fashion designing software enables brands to let their customers depict their showcase their talent and creativity in terms of creating fashion statements. The clothing design software are the epitome of offering robust business solutions allowing brands to make the most of the current trend and expand their business horizon.
3D Clothing Design Software Offers Solutions to Capitalize on the Currents Trends
A new, younger luxury customer is emerging as cash-rich consumers, stuck at home, are splurging on
gifts and goods to make their surroundings more comfortable. Luxury department stores and heritage brands are benefitting. And those who are yet to learn about the new trends are vigorously investing their energy to understand them and walking the extra mile to make their business spur in the apparel market. The shift of advertising from physical to digital, a process already in progress pre-pandemic, has sped up. Advertising in printed newspapers and magazines saw the steepest declines this year, followed by outdoor billboards, radio, and TV, according to a report from the World Advertising Research Center (WARC). That said, global marketing budgets for digital advertising also fell for the first time since WARC started tracking spend in 2012. The International Advertising Bureau found that 60 percent of major companies pulled back on ad spend this year.
During the year 2020, we witnessed a rising tension in the lower funnel, which often consists of digital marketing tactics. Though many experts were advocating the use of digital trends in the fashion market, a little heed was paid to them. Eventually, when the COVID-19 hit the sector, it was caught off-guard. As a result, which was expected of the domain, immediate conversion and longer-term transformations couldn’t happen. And the rest is history. But let the bygone be bygone. In an ultra-tough market, a strong connection with customers has become essential for survival. Customer-led businesses that have built strong digital engagement with their audiences hold all the cards.
As online shopping is witnessing the boom, companies must adhere to these changes and bring about the shift. This is the right time to accommodate these trends, and in case you have any doubt, in this blog, we shall explain how brands can make the most of the current shift.
Let us have a look at how companies can prosper in the apparel industry:
- The rise in the Sales of Gift Sector
Christmas is here, and people want to gift something relevant; therefore, you will be surprised to see how Bloomingdale‘s luxury sales were held up as a bright spot by parent company Macy’s during third-quarter results. Its gifting selection this holiday season looks very different from previous years, featuring loungewear, games, and electronics prominently. Top-selling categories thus far include slippers, coats and jackets, candles, cookware, and skincare. Most popular products include Nespresso machines, wine stoppers, and cashmere.
People these days are seeking comfort when it comes to buying things for their loved ones. Saks president and chief executive Marc Metrick told Vogue Business during a recent Long View webinar on US retail recovery that the company was seeing an increase in first-time customers, as well as younger, aspirational shoppers seeking out luxury goods as “comfort.”
Channeling Easter egg energy for our Sunday best 🐰 Easter celebrations might look a little different this year, but we hope you're still finding time to get together (virtually!) with loved ones 💕
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.#Easter2020 #EasterOutfit #CandyColors #PastelStyle #Bloomingdales pic.twitter.com/0IwnXhK38T— Bloomingdale's (@Bloomingdales) April 12, 2020
- Growth in Millennials’ Shopping
We know the biggest age-group shopping and determining what stays in and out is Millennials. Brands have to raise the bar to meet young and digitally native customers’ expectations, accustomed to a high level of convenience when shopping online. Luxury brands that were the first to ramp-up their ecommerce during the pandemic now have the opportunity to deliver on more than just the right inventory mix and are making changes internally to do so. Fast delivery, slick returns processes, and a strong digital presence have become more important than ever.
Implementing the virtual trial rooms and appointment booking system are some of the strategies that will take your apparel business to new heights. Virtual styling also accounted for 30 percent of all styling appointments at Nordstrom during Q3 of 2020. Nearly half of millennials and 55 percent of Gen Z say features like kerbside pickup could woo them away from Amazon, versus 37 percent of Gen X and just 16 percent of customers over 54, according to PwC. Bloomingdale’s has expanded virtual appointments and online shopping services to offer same-day delivery in partnership with the food courier DoorDash.
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On a similar note, our online dress designer tool enables brands to provide top-notch services to their clients. The software will let your buyers select, design, personalize, and preview the customized product in 3d with just a few clicks.
- Increase in People’s Buying Capacity
In the past couple of years, we have seen how extravagantly people are ready to spend their income on fashion and luxury products. This is due to rising disposable income and the narrowing gap between middle-class families and upper-class. People are ready to shun their age-old tag of “this isn’t worth paying so much money.” And what could a better occasion than festive or holiday to show their paying capacity and establish a status-quo? You will be surprised to know that customers at Net-a- Porter investing in expensive bags as well as wardrobe essentials from trusted brands. That includes coats from Burberry, Saint Laurent, and Max Mara, whose teddy coat, in particular, is selling well at Moda Operandi. At the same time, Natalie Kingham, global fashion officer at MatchesFashion, reports a huge uplift in “gifting sales.”
Being a multicategory retailer makes it a little easier to diversify to meet these new consumer tastes, but that has not stopped luxury brands like Raf Simons from launching an at-home platform with categories including “home, literature, and clothing” this week. Multicategory retailers have also rebalanced their inventory to cater to the nesting consumer. Ssense launched “Everything Else” this month, a new department spanning homeware, technology, activity, and self-care.
- Capitalize on Virtual Technologies
Social media and its app have changed many individuals’ lives in the past decade. And recently, these digital platforms have emerged as a powerful tool to let customers reach out to their customers and allow them to experiment with the looks of their choice. A prominent name that has helped brands to outgrow themselves is TikTok. The video-sharing platform champions short-form videos of 15 to 30 seconds, appealing to younger consumers. Burberry, Dior, and Ralph Lauren all sponsored their own ‘challenges’ on TikTok. JW Anderson and Gucci benefited from the power of organic virality thanks to the #HarryStylesCardigan, which accumulated more than 45 million views, and #GucciModelChallenge.
Sending festive cheer to the fabulous Emma Corrin from all of the JW Anderson team ❤️
Emma is pictured in JWA Outerwear from a visit to our Soho store earlier in the year.
Posted by JW Anderson on Wednesday, 16 December 2020
Social media has also given a voice to underserved communities in fashion, such as plus-size advocates and sustainability activists. Speaking for brands and retailers, the short form of business has helped them engage with young minds unapproachable in traditional business models. Thanks to the new business thinking, brands are now moving away from the conventional advertisement’s repetitiveness. Many experts believe that they are now emphasizing fast-moving original branded content that promotes conversations, improves information gathering, and lifts the likelihood of purchase.
- Make room for Innovative Solutions
It would be an understatement to assume that the fashion business will resume working as they were before the COVD-19 hit it once the normalcy returns. The fact is the fashion industry is undergoing seismic change. Marketers believe their future is less about selling to an industry audience and more about exploiting an interactive marketing opportunity. The pace at which brands and fashion weeks are bringing these changes is phenomenal.
In September this year, Burberry was the first brand to partner with Twitch that enabled the viewers of its Spring/Summer 2021 show to interact in chat rooms. In the same month, Prada hosted a virtual show that encouraged audience participation, asking in advance for questions for co-creative directors Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons. Gucci staged a virtual fashion film festival in November, dubbed GucciFest, that premiered its new collection: the brand committed to seasonless events back in May.
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Riccardo Tisci’s take on the festive sweater
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Discover more https://t.co/qfjgvIoOr4 pic.twitter.com/pFlXskmgSp
— Burberry (@Burberry) November 17, 2020
Burberry’s event clocked 118 million views across all platforms. GucciFest generated nearly 25 percent more media impact value than the brand’s previous SS20 show.
- Show Interest in Sports Marketing
When we talk of millennials, the thought of sports immediately strikes our mind. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that apparel brands are focusing on merging the two industries. And with the Tokyo Olympics scheduled for July 2021, it would be interesting to see how brands amalgamate real-life sports stars and fashion together in the year to come.
Streetwear or comfort wear is indeed at its boom, and thanks to recent events, buyers have become extremely focused on health and would compromise nothing that goes against their fitness. The sportswear completely complies with these trends, and their brands are trying their best to deepen this thought and form partnerships with sports stars. Last year in January, Louis Vuitton announced a multi-year partnership with the NBA, including an annual capsule collection of apparel and accessories designed by Virgil Abloh, artistic director of menswear.
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The deal marked Louis Vuitton’s first partnership with a major North American sports league and followed LVMH sister brand Loewe’s new Autumn/Winter 2020 campaign featuring Megan Rapinoe, World Cup-winning co-captain of the US women’s national football team. Footballer Hector Bellerin also walked Louis Vuitton’s men’s fashion show in the summer.
The Future Belongs to Those Who are Willing to Bank on Today-
It is undeniable that the competition in the current scenario is higher in the fashion industry. Still, brands should also realize that people emphasize quality than amount, and here apparel companies win. The loyalty that people show towards these high-end companies is incomparable to what they do for the other sectors companies. According to a global survey published by Bank of America in November, Gen Z and millennial consumers globally place a marginally higher premium on quality than price. And unlike the last financial crisis, department stores have not engaged in a race to the bottom on prices. Discounts on handbags at Macy’s, for example, were around 25 percent off the full-price last year versus 40 to 50 percent off in 2019, according to Bank of America data.
Likewise, the fashion design software by iDesigniBuy enables companies to capitalize on these trends with its novel and ground-breaking customization solutions. It allows your customers to do everything from selecting apparel to designing and customizing it in 3d. The future holds various opportunities for those willing to understand and change themselves with time.
If you are willing to stream on the same opportunities,
