Sizing and fit are top concerns for consumers shopping apparel. According to Shapeometry, in 2019 the apparel returns related to fit hit $60 billion, half of which were returns of online purchases. About 85 percent of apparel returns were due to fit issues. So, the premise of a digital personal avatar sounds great for shoppers, but the reality is that the supply chain cannot deliver to specific avatar sizes. Instead, brands match a personal avatar size to the closest size in the existing product range. Jason Wang, COO of Alvanon explains, …
Pandemic Planning Is No Panacea
Business continuity planning alone is not enough to survive a global pandemic. There is no amount of planning that could have prepared retailers for what has transpired over the past several months. This is especially true for retailers and brands which distribute exclusively in the U.S. where a significant percentage of revenue was abruptly cut off when stores closed. The coronavirus enveloped the country in one quick, fell swoop, especially disrupting retailers which began the year on a strong footing, building on solid performances from …
Hyper-Personalized & Preemptive Commerce
Five key trends for 2020 include Preemptive Distribution, Mobile Proliferation, Price and Product Personalization, Retailer Collaborations with Technology Companies and Associate Empowerment & Virtual Assistance. 1. Preemptive Distribution A key trend in the retail landscape, which is finally coming to fruition in a major way for 2020, is preemptive distribution. Retailers that outpace and outperform their peers exercise the 3P Distribution Model, delivering consistent value to their target market. This distribution model starts with …
Buy Now, Wear Now, Pay Later!
Layaway as we know it has changed considerably over time, and it seems antiquated when today's millennials are looking for higher levels of instant gratification than consumers of the past. As such, there has been a rise in the buy-now, wear-now, pay-later tech-enabled business model where shoppers can take home their purchases immediately, while paying in instalments. In the past, retailers would have the burden of storing layaway inventory until the customer had the funds to pay it off. Once the item was completely paid for, the customer …
Why LVMH Grows Year After Year
Ever since Michael Kors’ Capri Holdings announced the acquisition of Italian-luxury brand Versace, comparisons with 164-year old international fashion powerhouse LVMH have run rampant. My colleague Pam Danziger and I have been baffled because in our minds, we see both companies competing in different stages of the business cycle as LVMH has been in stability mode for many years while Capri Holdings is in the growth stage. By our own standards, these two companies are simply incomparable. Capri Holdings is a relatively new concept with three …
Why Zara Wins, H&M Loses in Fast Fashion
Fast fashion is the darling of the fashion retail today. Whereas women’s clothing store sales have declined 2.7 percent from 2016-2017 in the U.S., a recent report from Hitwise shows the fast fashion market has grown has grown 21 percent worldwide over the past three years. Two brands are the leaders in the fast fashion market: H&M and Zara, an Inditex brand. Given that both are international brands, it’s hard to draw line-by-line comparisons for the U.S. market. But here is what you need to know. Zara is growing twice as fast a H&M, …
All Roads Lead to Personal Commerce
I predict 2018 will be an exciting and innovative year for retailers. The brick-and-mortar side of the business will continue to reshape, redefine and recreate the retail experience. Two trends from 2017 will continue in 2018, driving change in the industry. Excellence as a purveyor of product will need to be top of mind for retailers but they also need to create differentiated product to escape the need for discounting or constant competing on price. Portfolio strengthening will continue as retailers try to balance the right mix of …
The Death of Retail Is Greatly Exaggerated
The retail industry is alive and well, despite the stories of doom and gloom that have dominated headlines. Yes, some sectors, namely the big box, department stores and some apparel-focused retailers, are in doom-and-gloom territory. And “alive and well” does not mean that any sector can avoid the fundamental strategic and structural transformation necessary to survive. Major consumer cultural and behavioral shifts, empowered by technology and the internet, continue to press on and accelerate retailers’ need to change in response to these …