5 digital trends transforming the fashion industry

Fashion’s a fast-paced industry — but some brands have been slow to embrace the power of digital technology. But now even heritage brands have realised that if they don’t get on board with all things digital they’ll miss out on megabucks. With that in mind, here are five digital trends transforming the fashion industry.

Mobile marketing

More people use their mobiles to search online than any other device.
And part of the allure of fashion is instant gratification — so mobile marketing is the ideal match.

You’d be hard pushed to find a style site that isn’t mobile-optimised, but some retailers are particularly on-point.

Take Perfect365’s webby-winning mobile digital makeup app —it allows customers to try thousands of virtual makeup looks before they buy, so there’s no need to traipse to a store for the time-consuming task of finding tester packs.

This is a great example of digital technology put to practical use.

In-store tech

Most fashion brands have no plans to completely abandon their physical stores to migrate online — they feel strongly that a tactile customer experience is essential.
But cutting-edge retailers are investing heavily in clever in-store tech that brings customer experience into the 21st century.

New York designer Rebekka Minkoff uses tech to make her stores stand out — with features like large digital walls allowing you to order a drink or request assistance and connected mirrors in fitting rooms that allow you to request different sizes are brought to you as and when required.

Her flagship store also includes convenient self-checkout technology, allowing customers to simply pay for their items on their mobile or iPad and then walk out.
So in-store tech is another way fashion is embracing digital innovation to take customer service to the next level.

Celebrity influencers

High-street fashion brands and celebrity influencers are a match made in heaven.
Celeb influencers are particularly effective for making women’s fashion brands like AX Paris completely accessible to customers across their target markets —shoppers identify with the accessible reality stars they see on TV screens every night.

The social media reach of these celebrities is huge — providing a vast ready-made audience for paid posts as well as the valuable user-generated content that’s generated as a bonus.

Paid celeb influencers will never entirely replace a holistic approach to digital marketing that includes search engine optimisation and segmentation — but at the moment it’s big business.

Wider Social Media

Social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube and Instagram are becoming more valuable to fashion because they’re excellent for building a tribe of online advocates that enhances a brand’s reputation for very little outlay.

Of course, the flipside applies — poor customer service and a failure to communicate with consumers in the appropriate tone of voice can lead to business being lost.

But social still remains a vital digital marketing strand for the clothing industry.
Personalisation and targeting

Digital shoppers have come to expect a personalised experience and digital technology delivers — market research has largely been replaced by market reality because of the sheer volume of specific data that’s collected on consumers online.
Personalisation allows customers to have the goods they’ve abandoned in shopping carts remarketed to them and facilitates apps that spring alive with special bespoke offers each time you enter a mall.

Segmenting customer groups in order to target them with curated collections makes shopping fast and convenient and increases conversions. It’s the future of fashion.

These five digital trends transforming the fashion industry prove that getting to grips with tech is essential for futureproofing any style brand.

What fashion brand does digital best? 

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