People Integrated archives:

Fashion & Lifestyle

This series of People Integrated archives consists of reading material about Fashion and Lifestyle. The articles take on different perspectives on the marked, trends and the future of fashion, i.e. sustainability and luxury. This is a dynamic page that will be updated regularly. 

Enjoy! 

Luxury fashion

Sustainable production is slowly making its way into the fashion and design world. Many of the designers are already ahead of the game and produce luxurious items in an environmentally friendly way already now. Read more about 6 design items that are made of food waste at Designwanted, Online 2022.

Current uncertain economic environment leaves little room for error. Therefore, the need to get merchandising right should be on top of the sales department priority list. Experts notice certain shifts in the merchandising model across digital apparel, fashion and luxury markets. Optimising your merchandising activities, as a reaction to these shifts, could smoothen the journey across a tough economic environment and boost the business growth. Read more at McKinsey & Company, Online 2023.

Technological innovation develops non-stop and fashion industry keeps having an opportunity of becoming even more efficient, responsive, and responsible. Companies have to recognise and address increased consumer digital engagement and new shopping habits. Experts suggest that for business to stay competitive fashion brands need to grow consumer engagement with the metaverse,  incorporate personalisation tools, enhance the in-store experience, develop an integrated end-to-end value chain and invest in traceability software. Read more at McKinsey & Company, Online 2022.

Despite the significant macro-economic challenges the world is facing, the personal luxury goods market proved resilient once again. It has experienced a V-shaped rebound. The first quarter of 2022 presents a remarkable performance, growing by 17-19%. Article presents the opportunities for future growth: metaverse, uber-channel approach, sustainability, extension to younger generations. Read more at Bain & Company, Online 2022.

The environment, we are living in today, is much more volatile than what we have seen in the last 20 years. The invasion into Ukraine, Omicron, lasting inflation, supply chain crisis, energy crisis, the return of COVID-19 in China. Fashion suppliers and brands are facing significant economic and geopolitical challenges. Business has to rethink tech from front end to back end. Investments into digitizing the whole supply chain end to end is a big topic in fashion industry. Brands have to be ready to address their consumers according to their demand. Many consumers are in "traveling mode" after the pandemic. Sustainability demand is as high as ever. To stay competitive experts, recommend not to put all eggs in one basket. Business has to be active in different geographic regions and across different product categories. Read more at McKinsey & Company, Online 2022.

Middle-market consumers are trading up to higher levels of quality and taste. This has especially facilitated three major types of new-luxury goods: Accessible Superpremium, Old-luxury Brand Extensions and Masstige. Read more at Harvard Business Review, Online 2003.

The luxury customer is present and increasingly active, dramatically rewriting the rule book of the industry, which results in a need for change. Read more at Bain & Company, Online 2020.

Fashion and digitalisation

Shoppers, especially market newcomers (Gen Z) are spending a great deal of time online exploring the possibilities of the metaverse. Metaverse can be loosely described as a digital space that uses virtual and augmented reality, that allows people to have hyper-interactive, lifelike experiences online, whether they work, play, socialize or shop. Fashion is one of the top three categories on which Gen Z treats themselves. Read more about the most important findings about the metaverse mindset at McKinsey & Company, Online 2023.

OpenAI’s ChatGPT, launched in November last year, became an overnight sensation. While the fashion industry has already experimented with basic AI, it has so far had little experience with generative AI. Performing a sentiment analysis generative AI can create a range of designs, providing designers with inspirational outputs. It can recognize viral trends and create corresponding content for marketing campaigns. Not to mention improving personalised customer communications. Read more at McKinsey & Company, Online 2023.

Airport retail has long been one of the focus points for many top-branded luxury brands. Airport shopping is not immune to digitalisation of retail, which goes hand in hand with the shift of generations. To stay afloat airports retailers have to embrace omnichannel sales, the seamless connection between digital platforms and in-store shopping. They need to rethink not only how to sell, but what to sell. The article provides five key steps to doing so. Read more at Bain, Online 2022.

From fashion shows without audiences to global travellers becoming local shoppers, this year has changed the luxury-goods industry and consumers. Digitalisation should be at the center of your operating model, as e-commerce is a crucial channel for keeping sales up, communicating and forging a sense of community with a brand. Luxury consumers are accustomed to a high standard of service in stores: is it possible to reinvent yourself to create a personalised digital experience of the same quality? Read more at McKinsey & Company, Online 2020.

Some apparel, fashion and luxury companies won’t survive the current crisis - others will emerge better positioned for the future, depending on their actions and digital performance. McKinsey’s consumer-sentiment surveys show that some percentage of offline sales could permanently migrate to e-commerce, but digital is not only an increasingly important sales channel - it can also help companies make each step of the value chain better, faster, and cheaper. Read more at McKinsey & Company, Online 2020.

The “right” digital strategy differs for every luxury brand, but the essential elements are the same: a strong mobile presence, a selective approach to social media, and a tight focus on carefully chosen metrics. Read more at McKinsey & Company, Online 2014.

From fashion shows without audiences to global travellers becoming local shoppers, this year has changed the luxury-goods industry and consumers. Digitalisation should be at the center of your operating model, as e-commerce is a crucial channel for keeping sales up, communicating and forging a sense of community with a brand. Luxury consumers are accustomed to a high standard of service in stores: is it possible to reinvent yourself to create a personalised digital experience of the same quality? Read more at McKinsey & Company, Online 2020.

As we reevaluate space, texture, light, sound and smell should take center stage. Many of our strongest memories of places are not visual, but embodied in a feeling or mood, which can be translated into digital shopping formats. Even in small doses, a taste of adventure can be the secret sauce that makes one brand stand out — especially in luxury, where the power of the experience is directly correlated with brand perception. Read more at Harvard Business Review, Online 2020.

Fashion and sustainability

We have previously mentioned that there is a future for food waste components in the skin care industry. Now we would like to move from theory to practise and present a number of brands that have joined the circular economy movement and upcycle food waste into sustainable skincare. Read more at Glam, Online 2023.

An increased food consumption over the last decades has led to a large amount of non-edible by-products generation like fruit and vegetable peels, seeds and leaves. By-products can account for 3% - 60% of the total plant. Research shows that discarded natural by-products have a similar (sometimes even higher) health value than their edible processed counterparts. Coffee, tomato, olive and citrus waste are rich in acids, antioxidants, proteins, pectins, minerals, vitamins, oils and have protecting, healing, and anti-inflammatory effects. Do these by-products have a future in the skin care industry? Read more at Cosmetics&Toiletries, Online 2017.

Many consumers are expecting brands to have “green” products in their lines and are willing to pay extra for that. Furthermore, businesses go out of their way introducing sustainable initiatives such as manufacturing products made of waste or recycled materials. The research though shows that consumers are not as quick at walking the talk when it comes to circular economy products (recycled-content products or made from waste from other industries). Researchers found out that in some cases when it comes to an actual purchase, perceived risks and emotions begin to win over the environmental benefits. Experts suggest though that longer warranties, certificates, subscription or rental service may improve consumer acceptance. Read more at Popular Science, Online 2022.

A Fashion Week will never be more sustainable than the participating brands. Copenhagen Fashion Week has made it part of their 2023-strategy to define a series of minimum requirements the participating brands must meet. The brand must answer an online survey consisting of more than 80 questions concerning different parts of the brand and strategy - for example, it is not enough to have a sustainable show if your production or production environment is not. Read more at Fashion Forum, Online 2020.

Fashion and strategy

Experts believe that reinventing the approach to customers should be one of 4 focus points for supply chain executives already today to outperform competitors over the next couple of years. Focusing on customer satisfaction might soon not be enough. Enabled customers (e.g. ones that are provided with gift wrapping upon delivery, which saves time and effort) are twice as willing to repurchase as customers who were merely satisfied. Read more at Gartner, Online 2023.

In time many leaders tend to fall into a trap of “power poisoning”. Therefore, experts recommend a perspective swap exercise for business to continually challenge the status quo and remain relevant in customers’ eyes. Depending on the application it can give a better understanding of what is going on in the company, boost team cooperation or empowerment. Read more at Harvard Business Review, Online 2023.

Most marketeers and salesteams are aware of the very first purchase model AIDA (awareness, interest, desire and action). The advent of the Internet did not cancel the dynamics of sales, but has greatly modified it. It caused the rise of the digital marketing funnel, which embraces the non-linear way of online customer journey. The modern digital marketing funnel is inspired by the AIDA steps, but has 10 steps instead of 4 and expands further to after the point of sale initiatives. Even though digital marketing funnel is relatively a new concept, some marketing experts are already talking about “Flipping the Funnel”. You can check the details of the flipped customer experience funnel in the article. Read more at Kunocreative, Online 2018.

Do shoppers really want an effortless customer journey? Marketing experts agree, that you cannot set an equals sign between “effortless” and “satisfying” customer experience. A well-known routinized customer journeys, as effortless and predictable as possible - can sometimes backfire on a company. Experts are suggesting a framework of 4 journey archetypes, central point of which are customers journey expectations. 5 steps guideline will then help you tailor-make the right kind of journey for your product or service. Read more at Harvard Business Review, Online 2022.

The environment, we are living in today, is much more volatile than what we have seen in the last 20 years. The invasion into Ukraine, Omicron, lasting inflation, supply chain crisis, energy crisis, the return of COVID-19 in China. Fashion suppliers and brands are facing significant economic and geopolitical challenges. Business has to rethink tech from front end to back end. Investments into digitizing the whole supply chain end to end is a big topic in fashion industry. Brands have to be ready to address their consumers according to their demand. Many consumers are in "traveling mode" after the pandemic. Sustainability demand is as high as ever. To stay competitive experts, recommend not to put all eggs in one basket. Business has to be active in different geographic regions and across different product categories. Read more at McKinsey & Company, Online 2022.

We have experienced it, you have experienced it. Many retailers are using fear, uncertainty, and doubt (abbreviated as FUD) - one of the oldest tactics in the salesperson’s toolbox, first appearing in sales literature in the 1920s. This technique taps into the customer’s fear of missing out. The research shows that new times not only call for news techniques, but the new thinking is crucial for closing a deal. JOLT method presented in the article, could be an inspiration to many retailers, specially ones dealing with luxury goods. Read more at Harvard Business Review, Online 2022.

Big cities have long been the world’s economic dynamos, but the speed and scale of their expansion are unprecedented. For the first time in history, more than half of the world’s population is now living in towns and cities. One way to strategically use this information is to implement a cluster strategy, which is what the Danish lifestyle brand, Rains, has done. We set out to learn more about their reflections and strategy in a dialogue with Jan Stig Andersen, CEO of Rains since 2017. Read more at People Integrated, Online 2021.