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ΕλληνικάPractical e-commerce solutions for the fashion industry
E-commerce in the current reality of the new digitally spread world is very important to run one’ own business. Definitely – for several important reasons. First, it shortens the distance between the brand and the customer. Clothes available online can reach the buyer’s home in a short time. In the case of some brands – even the next day. What’s more, however, if the item is not to his liking, he/she can easily return it.
It is important to consider all aspects that will help build an effective e-commerce for the fashion industry. This is a business that is governed by specific laws and customers buying fashion clothes or accessories have specific requirements for the products they want to purchase. Fashion must keep up with the modern customer; otherwise brands will not succeed in attracting a devoted audience. This is the essence of how e-commerce for fashion should be created. The most important things that digital fashion marketing should put into practice are described below.
It is extremely important to know the customer’s needs. Most often, he/she expects information about the product he is interested in to be available at his fingertips, preferably by typing the name in Google or on Instagram. If we talk about the search engine, the so-called visibility of the site is important, i.e. it’s proper positioning – SEO. It is also helpful to have a brand blog, which combines two benefits. It allows you to get to know it better and build interest among visitors to the site.
Brands should now remember that they were created not for the founder or designer, whose job is to create trends for the next season. The most important thing is to identify the brand’s target customer – the so-called brand persona – and meet their needs by solving the problems they face. This problem could be, for example, the challenge of finding the right dress for an important event (such as a wedding of a family member) for a woman who does not have an ideal figure and needs to accentuate the advantages and hide the disadvantages. It is at this point that the brand should, in its communication, encourage the customer to take a look at its range of dresses, which includes cuts suitable for women of different figures. One thing is certain: a satisfied customer will be happy to recommend the brand to her friends or write a positive review online.
Another important piece of the e-commerce puzzle is the dialogue and maintenance of an ongoing relationship with a customer who has bought an item from our offer or used our services. The right tool for this is a newsletter or mailing to customers. With it, a brand can send information about a new collection, inform about seasonal sales or real events in which it participates, or even a special action for regular customers. Nowadays there are a number of ready-made solutions that will facilitate most of our activities. However, technology is not everything. The most important thing is the idea of a consistent style and a properly chosen narrative. Behind every brand there is an individually created ideology with which a person can identify.
Another thing is spreading the brand on social media. When we run social media, whether we want to or not, we participate in a competition for the prettiest pictures, which should catch the attention of the viewer for as long as possible (usually for a few seconds). Enough for him to decide to like them or leave a positive comment. This is not an easy contest, but each of us has infinite reserves of creativity, even more so if we believe in what we are doing.
The most important thing, however, is to stick to a few key rules. Published photos must always be properly lit, and we should also take care of the composition of the background and show the brand’s products in the foreground. It is also worth mentioning premium brands, which as luxury goods have given way to functionality and needs. People have learned that luxury is an added value, by which they do not buy things physically, but the value it gives to the recipient or what problem it solves. Many spheres of life have been re-evaluated, resulting in more thoughtful shopping in the slow trend. Quantity is giving way to quality, which the customer now learns about through the content that brands present on their social media. What are important here are regularity, consistency and establishing a relationship with the customer who is willing to share his or her opinion on a given topic.
Looking further into e-commerce, we will learn the dependence that its effectiveness 100% depends on properly conducted analytics. In this case, it is worth relying on the knowledge of a person who professionally deals with the issues at hand and will help us, on the basis of the statistics collected by our site, properly adjust the ads so that they hit the brand’s persona.
Knowledge of e-commerce tools and the opportunities they provide is a cornerstone these days. Many brands know about the opportunities created by a properly run online presence, but a small percentage understand how to take advantage of them. This is a money-making activity that, without knowledge, can end in failure at the first attempt, loss of invested funds and discouragement. A good solution is to take even a short but proven online course that will unveil the ins and outs of e-commerce knowledge.
It’s true that we live in an age of ubiquitous convenience. We are moving from being offline to functioning in the online world. The conveniences present at every turn are designed to shorten our path from the occurrence of the desire to purchase to its actual completion. E-commerce strives precisely to make it possible to enjoy the desired product with just a few clicks. However, simple things are not the easiest to implement. The main adaptation of brands to function in the new virtual reality is a properly designed online store, which is supposed to be a modern functional back office with an array of payment options, short delivery times, and a clear return policy for the customer[1].
Finally, a properly tailored online presence creates new growth opportunities for brands and is now an essential sales tool. That is why it is so important for every brand to have an online presence, regardless of the initial enormity of the work or even the setbacks that occur. Any change takes time, enthusiasm and the belief that nothing is impossible. Needless to say, fashion e-commerce is growing and changing at a staggering pace, and as technology advances, this pace will only accelerate. This is exciting news for the industry, as traditional fashion retailers are now able to expand their reach from stationary stores to e-commerce sites that reach shoppers around the world. Of course, this new opportunity also comes with significant challenges, given an already saturated market and ever-changing trends – which come and go so quickly that keeping up with them, can make one’s head spin. But by following the lead of popular fashion brands and creating a unique customer experience, actually any e-store will be poised for success.
[1] Anywhere.pl “E-Commerce, czyli nowy standard w branży mody” https://anywhere.pl/60550/e-commerce-czyli-nowy-standard-w-branzy-mody/