How do Fashion forerunners embrace technology to satisfy the new consumer?
A digital divide of new kind separates the fashion companies that are running circles around the competition and those just struggling to make it to the finish line. Technology has created exciting new ways to shop and to build consumer-company relationships.
But it isn’t enough to understand the consumer
Fashion leaders have adapted their supply chain processes to reflect the new paradigm. They incorporate principles of agile retail to capitalize on consumer understanding in order to identify and predict trends. What’s popular on Instagram and Twitter? Is there rain in store this season? What’s the heroine of that popular Netflix series wearing? Direct-to-consumer models filter this information back into the supply chain to inform new designs rapidly, ideally before consumers even realize a trend is in the making!
Designing and marketing products that feel like individual responses to very personal desires is an incredible competitive advantage: it creates the kind of emotional response that incites customers to pay full price and stay loyal to a specific brand. It comes down to using the right tools (such as an apparel plm) to really understand and respond to new consumers, on their terms. The companies that are winning the race to fashion use technology to create holistic fashion experiences that meet new demands for connectedness while achieving complete connectivity across the supply chain. The result: spot-on collections that keep consumer communities alive, engaged, and coming back for more.