Is See-Now-Buy-Now Just a Trend, or the Future of Fashion?

/in

By Véronique Hyland for The Cut on nymag.com

The fashion industry loves a bandwagon, and the see-now-buy-now one keeps rolling along. A murderer’s row of major brands, from Burberry and Ralph Lauren to Tommy Hilfiger and Moschino, has incorporated at least some element of instant gratification into their recent collections. Burberry and Lauren presented immediately shoppable runway shows, with the latter inviting attendees straight into the store after his spring 2017 show. Hilfiger made his Tommy x Gigi collaboration available to buy fresh off the runway, and Moschino’s Jeremy Scott has been offering capsules of his most poppy, instantly recognizable pieces — like this season’s slogan sweatshirts and trash-can bag. But it’s been tough, from an outside perspective, to see how they stack up — when a collection is trumpeted as “sold out,” it’s rarely revealed how many pieces were even available, or how long that process took.

In recent weeks, see-now-buy-now’s image as the silver-bullet savior of fashion has taken a hit. Designer Thakoon Panichgul, who had completely overhauled his business to focus on seasonless dressing and e-commerce, announced he was putting his brand on “pause” to rethink the concept. And Tom Ford, who tried out see-now-buy-now for one season, decided it wasn’t for him, telling Women’s Wear Daily, “The store shipping schedule doesn’t align with the fashion show schedule … you can’t have a show with clothes that have been on the selling floor for a month.”

Tommy_Hilfiger_fall_2016_see_now_buy_now_collection_New_York_Fashion_Week1

Tommy Hilfiger fall 2016 see now buy now collection New York Fashion Week

Fashion has been bullish on instant shopping for several years now, with the conventional wisdom claiming that our immediate-gratification culture has spurred a Veruca Salt customer. (“Don’t care how, I want it now.”) And for people who follow fashion religiously, that is definitely the case. When I interviewed Jeremy Scott several years ago, he told me that his young customer was impatient for fashion: “I live in a world of Instagram fans who ‘like’ things,” he said, “and don’t understand, when they’re ‘liking’ it, why it’s basically not coming out of that phone right there for them.” But as Cathy Horyn pointed out after Lauren’s show, the strategy may work better for mid-price labels than it does for luxury ones. Contemporary brands like Rebecca Minkoff have been demonstrably successful at leveraging the possibilities of instant shopping — CEO Uri Minkoff tells the Cut that the brand’s sales were up 64 percent year after year, after adopting see-now-buy-now. “When we create an experience, the format is not as relevant as ‘What is the experience, who is involved?’” he says.

For example, their show last month at the Grove in L.A. was open to consumers and was stocked with influencers whose combined following totals over 20 million on Instagram alone, including Chiara Ferragni and Aimee Song. Some pieces were available to buy right after the show, while others dropped 30-45 days later, and Minkoff said that both sold “way better than normal,” with even the dress the designer wore for her bow selling out briskly online. Still, says Minkoff, “That’s what works for us. I’m not saying that everyone should do it. In a luxury sense, having a longer-term relationship and a romanticizing of something over a period [of time], that’s great.” Minkoff’s brand operates at what he calls “a more spontaneous purchase level.”

To bridge that gap between romance and spontaneity, some high-end designers have waded into instant shopping by offering small see-now-buy-now capsules, and continuing to show the rest of their collection as before. But according to Ken Downing of Neiman Marcus, “I don’t feel like doing just a capsule is the only way to attack this, because I actually think it confuses the consumer even more.” Downing is a strong advocate of see-now-buy-now as an overall approach – he mentions customers who come with photos of a runway model or a celebrity in something they just wore. “If they can’t find what they’re looking for that’s all about that moment, I’m sure they’re finding it in fast-fashion stores,” he says. Elizabeth von der Goltz of Bergdorf Goodman echoes this line of thinking. “When people have these see-now-buy-now capsules that they put enough marketing and social media behind, they work extremely well,” she says. “But you need to come up with a full strategy that’s not about this one shot. How do you continue driving your business through the season, versus this one time?”

One surprising discovery that emerges is that this new world of immediate shopping has some old-school aspects to it. (Maybe not that surprising — if you think about it, the old-school couture fitting and trunk show was the original see-now-buy-now.) Stores are putting their muscle into experiences. Von der Goltz points to recent events Bergdorf has done with Kith, Nike, and Fenty, as well as what she calls its “right off the runway” events, where customers can meet designers, see and touch the clothes, and place preorders. Downing, who was on his way to a customer event in Houston when we spoke, says, “they’re actually very successful events because it’s an experience. You’re interacting with a fashion authority who can give them ideas on how to put clothes together. It’s making the clothes that they’ve seen for some time look new by the way that we’re styling it.”

While its roll may have slowed slightly, everyone I spoke to agreed that see-now-buy-now is not going anywhere, even if a few brands have soured on it. Fashion consultant Julie Gilhart said she thought it would just become more commonplace, predicting that “many of the up-and-coming brands will just build this see-now-buy-now concept into their initial business start-up.” Minkoff even imagines consumer fashion shows becoming a draw in themselves. “Wouldn’t it be fun for consumers to be able to come to New York,” he muses, “and see three or four fashion shows rather than saying, ‘I’m going to see a Broadway show?’ He thinks that a few seasons from now, that could be the reality. “I don’t think the world is slowing down,” he says. “We are betting the ranch on this model.”

Author  Véronique Hyland

Busby to shut Nine West and Mango

/in

All free-standing stores under both these brands will close their doors by the end of March

Article by COLLEEN GOKO AND REITUMETSE PITSO for BDLIVE
Nine West will walk out of SA and Mango will follow suit as the House of Busby alters its portfolio to match domestic needs, the group said.
NINE

Head of marketing Leane Adolph said on Wednesday all free-standing stores under both these brands would close by the end of March.

“The company regularly reviews the portfolio’s performance and relevance to market and decided to move the Mango business into the store-in-store concept within Edgars. Similarly, with Nine West, we will keep a wholesale presence [for handbags] in the SA market through Edgars,” she said.

The House of Busby owns the exclusive rights to both Mango and Nine West. The Nine West licence was acquired in 1999 and, until recently, had 13 stand-alone stores throughout the country. Nine West sells footwear, handbags, eyewear and accessories.

The Mango licence was acquired in 2006 and there were nine stand-alone stores in SA. Mango now has 35 store-in-stores in Edgars stores nationwide. Mango sells apparel and accessories. Adolph said that rumours of Busby coming under business rescue were untrue, adding it was not expected that there would be any job losses as a result of the decision to close shop for the brands as affected staff would be accommodated within the group’s structures.

MANGO

The House of Busby was delisted from the JSE in May 2008, when management, together with Ethos Private Equity, acquired control. The Busby enterprise is valued at about R1.3bn. Busby also owns exclusive rights to many other well-known international brands in SA including Aldo, Forever New, Guess, Steve Madden and Call it Spring.

In the past year, it has acquired the master licences for two new brands, Women’secret and 3INA, which further diversified its portfolio from footwear, apparel and luggage to include intimate apparel and cosmetics.

Adolph said the group was confident that the rejigging of the portfolio would allow it to focus on the growth of the newly acquired brands and to optimise its existing portfolio, “re-emphasising the importance of great customer service and a commitment to delivering consistent, quality, international product at prices that reflect customer value”.

Independent analyst Syd Vianello said it was possible that the group’s pricing model had made Mango and Nine West uncompetitive in a market that was under stress and searching for lower price points.

Retail insights from Design Indaba 2017

/in
BY: GABRIELLE MIXON for BIZCOMMUNITY
Fortunate enough to attend the 2017 Design Indaba and sit in to hear some of the most creative people in the world speak, I walked out with some insights that fashion retail brands can look into and implement as part of their current strategies.

As remarkable as their talks were it is important to take out key things that are applicable to many brands as these are the people that are at the forefront of trends and consumer insights in their innovations and creations. That led me to the following trends.

Digital shop

Digital is a big part of the consumer’s life but this element isn’t well-integrated into South Africa’s shopping environment. Consumers often follow brands online yet the in-store experience doesn’t bring digital to life in a way that is integrated. Pauline Saglio, who spoke at this year’s Design Indaba, showed the beauty and importance of bringing digital into a shop through interactive experiences that will wow the consumer. Consider your brand’s online personality and presence on social media, and how can you incorporate these aspects into the retail space.

Dressing is play

Shoko Tamura who showcased her Urban Play wearable tech jacket at this year’s Design Indaba explains that through fashion the young consumer can integrate the elements of music and lights to enhance their social experience and express themselves more artistically. Considering our youth market within South Africa we know they love fashion, they express themselves greatly through music and they are highly attracted to colour and lights (mostly for its attractiveness on social media).

This is what a party or event brings to life and while young consumers dress in their best for these nights out how can a brand really bring music, light and fashion into one experience that connects with the consumer? Dressing, music and lights can be brought together to help the consumer express themselves.

Authentic fabrication

Storytelling is endless. Telling stories through fabric is an opportunity for brands to take advantage of the places they source these fabrics from. At the conference this year we saw how fabric can be used as a medium for telling a story. As a brand’s fabrics come from different places it is a great opportunity to share about where these fabrics come from and take the consumer on a journey to an entirely different place.

We know that fashion trends repeat themselves but there is still innovation in textile-making. Be it unique prints, new fabric compositions or places foreign to the consumer where the fabric is made it is an endless source to tell interesting stories to the consumer. As consumers are increasingly aware and questioning of where their products come from and who made them, telling stories about fabric in real, unique and interesting ways will engage the consumer and show a level of transparency in how the products they wear are produced and where they are produced.

Design for equality

Grace Jun spoke about design for inclusion. In marketing, you learn about niche markets and a specific target market but with travel bans making people feel like the world is taking a step backwards it is important to stand for inclusivity. Especially in fashion.

384145-625x325

Designing for inclusion tackles the need to make clothing for people with disabilities or unique needs. These are people who are often forgotten about. As we strive to live in an equal society fashion is an important space to express this desire and to include and make consideration for all people in offerings.

These are trends that will be growing and can impact a fashion brand’s retail strategy. To increase sales it is vital to stay abreast of these new innovations in order to start thinking ahead about how your strategy will incorporate these elements.

Author : Gabrielle Mixon

Alarm bells ringing for millennial fashion brands

/in

This article was written by Guy Courtin for Just Style. 

A recent survey, commissioned by GT Nexus and conducted by research company YouGov, confirmed a lack of brand loyalty among millennials. For the fashion industry, the devil is truly in the detail of this research as it not only sounds a series of clear warning bells to fashion brands, but also reveals some surprising truths about influencing this most fickle of markets.

Alarm one: brand loyalty is dead

This article is not the place to debate the definition or attributes of millennials. There are already small libraries worth of books dedicated to that endeavour. Suffice it to say, the demographic of those born 1983 to just before the millennium is one of the most widely studied markets.

While the attributes of millennials are a cause of some debate, one aspect of consensus is the unrivalled plethora of alternative brands for them to identify with, and spend money on. This has led to the death of brand loyalty, as millennials switch quickly and with ease, thanks to the range of shopping channels they have at their disposal.

Globally, 61% of millennials have switched their favourite brand in the past 12 months. And perhaps even more telling is that more of them don’t know or cannot recall if they have switched, compared to those who are sure they have not. Simply put, brands may be important to millennials, but brand loyalty is not.

Alarm two: a lot of fashion retail may have misread the millennial market

Whilst food and drink top the list of product categories most accustomed to defection, fashion comes in a close second. 42% said fashion would be the most likely product category they would change. That is an outright admission by four in every ten customers aged 18-34 that they will change brands.

In the case of Levi’s, Forever 21, Under Armour, Vans, Victoria’s Secret, River Island, Nike or any other fashion brand whose number one market is millennials, this is a concern.

Perhaps more worrying, is the evidence that fashion brands may have misread how to address this. There is evidence that contrary to popular belief, consumer-facing marketing factors, such as a brand’s social media presence, mobile apps or a cool website, don’t have a big impact on millennials’ brand loyalty.

Product quality and availability remain the top two factors that will cause millennials to change brands

It turns out that the top two factors that will cause this demographic to change brands are exactly the same as those that would have caused the same change in the behaviour of their parents or grandparents: product quality and availability.

At the risk of stating the obvious, it is worth noting that both of these major disloyalty factors fall into the “behind-the-scenes” domains of operations, logistics and supply chain management.

Whilst it is no surprise to see a high percentage of this demographic shifting brand loyalty frequently, fashion brands have often previously thought of millennials as being drawn to cool, edgy and flashy front-end brand experiences. This is simply not the case.

Alarms three and four: quality and availability

This new realisation should sound the next alarm bells for fashion manufacturers and retailers. Expectations of product quality continue to rise, even throughout fast fashion and cheap chic brands. Better quality typically means more cost but now, if low-cost fashion still fails to meet millennial expectations of quality, there is a very real risk of losing customers.

One of the basic truisms of fashion is you cannot sell what you don’t have available. This goes for online, in store or across a multi-channel experience. And whilst there are now more options than ever to fulfil an order, the failure to do that on the millennial customer’s first visit may cost a fashion brand more than just one lost sale.

Retailers are becoming ever more dependent on the supply chain as a source of competitive advantage

As part of a strategy to reclaim lost market share, Adidas is going to start offering customised shoes to appeal to millennials. It is also working to reduce the time between when products are designed and when they hit shelves. These are both initiatives that live or die with the success of an agile supply chain. Retailers are becoming ever more dependent on the supply chain as a source of competitive advantage.

Alarm five: ethical and environmental profile

And it does not stop there. Millennials care about how their favourite brands are made. 25% of respondents would turn on a brand if it doesn’t treat or pay its workers fairly. 20% would switch brands if the product isn’t environmentally friendly.

As an industry, fashion is often in the spotlight for its ethical or environmental performance. It is clear from these results that not only are millennials concerned with what goes on behind the scenes of a brand and how it produces goods or operates, but that ethical, responsible business practice is now a source of competitive advantage.

Initiatives such as ‘Love Fashion, Hate Sweatshops,’ send a very clear message to millennial brands. If a fashion brand doesn’t respect the workers creating the goods on sale – either inside an organisation or throughout supply chains – customers will consider leaving that brand.

This is of course equal part risk and opportunity; and visibility throughout a supply chain is a critical tool in ensuring that a brand can defend – or trumpet – its ethical or environmental track record.

Thankfully, fashion has a growing track record in developing progressive, effective initiatives that harness better business practices and commercial growth. It will be the millennial market that continues to drive this synthesis, rewarding brands that can use their supply chain in this way.
About the author: Guy Courtin is vice president of industry and solution strategy for retail and fashion at GT Nexus, a cloud-based global trade and supply chain management network that connects all parties and orchestrates the movement of goods, data and money.

Fashion Now: How rife is discounting in fashion?

/in

By Gemma Goldfingle for Retailweek

Fashion Now, Retail Week’s new report with Barclaycard and Rakuten Marketing, looks into what retailers can learn from the turbulent past 12 months in the sector.

Seasonal sale periods have almost become a thing of the past in fashion retail and shoppers have been inundated with promotions over the past three or so years.

Despite many retailers fighting to protect full price sales through reducing the number of days they are on sale, data from WGSN INStock shows the percentage of markdown stock in the UK clothing, footwear and accessories market increased from 46% in 2015 to 48% in 2016.

Fashion Now 1

The traditional January sales period unsurprisingly still sees the highest level of markdowns, with the UK high street having offered 55% of its stock at a discounted price in January 2016.

“The womenswear market is rife for discounting, with retailers not able to rely on this sector for strong margins”

However, WGSN INStock data also indicates that markdowns were rife throughout the rest of the year, with the total market offering at least 44% of its stock at a discount in any given month throughout the year.

The womenswear market is rife for discounting, with retailers not able to rely on this sector for strong margins and instead having to drive full price revenue through additional categories, such as homewares, gifting and beauty.

Just under half of the womenswear clothing, accessories and footwear market went into markdown during 2016 at 49%, rising one percentage point year on year.

Menswear markdowns has also risen, from 43% of products in 2015 to 45% of products in 2016.

Hot or Not?

Throughout 2016 female shoppers embraced products with enhanced features, specifically in tailoring and ruffled blouses, pleated skirts and duster coats. These were among the most popular subcategories in the second half of 2016.

Multi-functional and trans-seasonal products were also popular as consumers sought greater value in their purchases.

Fitness leggings, padded jackets and casual sweaters all performed strongly during this period.

Conversely, subcategories that did not offer as much opportunity for wear, including gilets, capes and fitness shorts, drove the highest percentage of markdown throughout the six-month period.

Our research has found that women shop more frequently than men for fashion, and it is therefore important to ensure product newness to fulfil consumer interest in the womenswear market.

Over the past two years, the dress category was considered a key area of sales growth for retailers. In fact, the dresses contributed the highest level of newness across the year.

“The level of newness declined in [the tops] category throughout 2016 as retailers became more experimental in tailoring, offering fashion trends through increased styling in shirts and blouses”

This was particularly evident during the first half of 2016 as the percentage of dresses within new apparel increased by 1.3 percentage points year on year.

At the same time, the presence of jumpsuits and playsuits throughout the sector grew in 2016, which has allowed retailers to negotiate lower cost prices when ordering higher volumes.

Therefore, consumers benefited from lower retail prices within this category during 2016, with average retail prices across the market down by 10%.

Over the year, 40% of this category cost the consumer under £30 in 2016 compared with 38% of products in 2015.

Meanwhile, the tops category continues to play a key role in the product mix in womenswear, representing the second highest number of options after dresses.

Fashion Now 2

However, the level of newness declined in this category throughout 2016 as retailers became more experimental in tailoring, offering fashion trends through increased styling in shirts and blouses.

As a result, newness in the shirts and blouses category increased by 1.2 percentage points during the first half of 2016 year on year – representing 6% of the product mix.

Following an increased focus on this product category, design aesthetics were heightened in shirts and blouses, with manufacturing prices edging up as a result.

This resulted in increased retail prices in the category – up 12% on average in 2016 – to protect retailers’ margins.

Changing buying cycles

As consumers’ shopping habits have evolved, retailers have responded by adapting their buying patterns.

Furthermore, unseasonable weather has suppressed traditional buying cycles and modification has been required as a result.

The change is most noticeable within the mid-to-premium markets, where the product mix for heavy winter items, such as jackets and coats, has reduced throughout 2016.

With this, retailers have also moved product launch dates to accommodate for the reduction in heavy winter items, with the percentage of new knitwear options introduced throughout the latter half of 2016 increasing year on year, compared with a reduction in newness during the first half of the year.

Therefore, as more retailers embrace non-traditional buying cycles, product newness will become more reactive towards consumer behaviour in order to reduce markdown and drive full-price sales.

Download the full Fashion Now report.