According to The State of Fashion (2017), the fashion industry today is undergoing through ground-breaking challenges that require brands to create innovative business models, by using in deep customer analysis as a source of differentiation in order to push the limits of their end-to-end product development process. Ten major trends that fall into three main categories such as the global economy, consumer shifts and changes in the fashion system will drive and shape the trends in years to come (The State of Fashion, 2017). The technology is seen as a main disrupter and driver in all three categories shaping not only the future of fashion but also the way consumers shop for fashion today. For example, Asian online apparel market alone is estimated to reach the US $1.4 trillion by 2020. On average, consumers in Asia spend about eight hours a day online, starting with social media and finishing with online shopping. According to KPMG (2017) the growth in transaction volumes via WeChat (Chinese Whatsapp app) total with $11.6 billion in 2012, while in 2016 the finger raised up to $1.2 trillion. It is obvious that the fashion industry is moving into a phase of digital adoption by the mainstream of consumer that therefore impacts on retail buying. Because consumer-buying behaviour is changing the buying function is also changing. According to Burch (The State of Fashion, 2017) due to technology customers’ expectations have changed. Today customers have a high expectation not only for customer service but, also, for products and even for cost, which they can compare globally via different apps. Furthermore, Clodfelter (2018) emphasize that today buyers cannot any longer rely on their gut feelings about which products may sell the best, but instead they must become more scientific and analyse numbers. For this reason, adoption of technologies like robotics, mobile Internet, advanced analytics, virtual and augmented reality and artificial intelligence will play a crucial role in brands future existence and leadership in the global market.
References:
Clodfelter, R., 2018. Retail buying: from basic to fashion [eBook]. 6thed. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. Available via: NTU Library OneSearch [Accessed on 09 January 2019].
KPMG, 2017. Next generation retail: The rise of the omni-platform [online]. KPMG. Available at: https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Startups-in-Asia/Billion-dollar-tech-startups-hold-promise-for-China-s-economy [Accessed on 09 January 2019].
The Business of Fashion and McKinsey & Company, 2018. The State of Fashion 2018 [online]. Available at: https://cdn.businessoffashion.com/reports/The_State_of_Fashion_2018_v2.pdf [Accessed on 09 January 2019].
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