How are brands ‘keeping up’ with the ever evolving online fashion industry?
In this day and age, pretty much anything and everything can be done through the click of a button just under our noses. Sufficed to say that this has drastically changed the way that numerous industries operate as companies are faced with the challenge of constantly staying up to date with the latest trends, movements and spurts in online advertisement. The fashion sector has had to completely shift their main marketing strategies online to interline with the way this ‘new age’ consumes information.
Before the fixation and reliance on the digital era, popular fashion brands had to rely on what is now referred to as ‘traditional measures’ of advertisement. Brands would boost their image and gauge interest in their products through direct mail, TV, newspapers and radio ads . This allowed for its own unique set of challenges, with little ability to track whether these efforts were successful or not.
These days, YouTube and website banner ads are treated like billboards, television commercials have been overpowered by facebook and instagram ads and word of mouth can be accessed through online reviews. The beauty of it all? These advertisements are now tailored to fit who YOU are; your age, gender, interests and even your style can all be taken into account to carefully select which products will show up on your feed. Before social media, this type of individualised marketing was aspired for but out of reach. In fashion, Instagram is seen at the forefront of advertisement, with 200 million users and over 7000 active retail stores, anything is possible. Brands have utilised accessible and consistent feeds, online shopping and celebrity endorsements to ‘hype’ up their products and urge consumers to make impulse purchases.
One of the biggest challenges retail brands faced was making the transition from traditional marketing and in store purchasing to digital marketing and online shopping. Companies had to decide what their brand image was and portray that through social media. In 2007 American apparel was a multi-million dollar company, being the largest T-shirt manufacturer in America. By 2017, after years of online backlash for the sexual objectification of women in their advertising, they filed for bankruptcy. American Apparel, like so many brands from its era, relied on ‘what used to work’.
Many brands successfully transitioned from traditional to digital forms of advertising, while other, entirely new brands, built themselves entirely online, with no physical stores. An online presence allows fashion retailers to promote their brand image everyday with ease. H&M has successfully encapsulated it’s brand image as being forward thinking and all inclusive to size, colour and gender. They have amassed over 35 million followers on instagram. On the entirely digital side of the table, ASOS, a completely online store, has over 10 million followers and prides themselves as being trendy and stylish.
One of the many issues surrounding online advertisement is the sheer exposure your company has to online scrutiny. Companies that dominate the fashion industry are constantly caught up in controversy, and social media gives multiple news sources and celebrities a platform to discuss these issues that quickly reach millions. In 2019, Gucci was called out for cultural appropriation of both black and Sikh cultures. Accusations were made online by multiple news sources, as well as by local celebrity ‘Dapper Dan’, who has a following of over 22,000 on twitter.
While many brands were quick to jump on board when social media marketing took off, an abundance of luxury brands initially remained hesitant, worrying that online forms of marketing would ‘cheapen’ their image. As consumers, we have come to appreciate and expect convenience and speed when we shop. We no longer have time to go to multiple high end stores to find the perfect bag or pair of shoes. This mindset allowed for a whole new online market to be tapped into, and thus emerged online retailers like that of ‘Farfetched’. Farfetched sells products from more than 700 luxury brands online, meaning purchase of these expensive and sought after items can be done without having to open different websites, or leave the comfort of their own couch.
Online marketing is not only relentless, but it is expensive and at times incredibly risky. Gone are the days of ‘mad men’, where advertising agencies would work alongside multiple brands pitching marketing campaigns. Companies now have individual marketing teams, that often have budgets of up to 100 million dollars. More often than not, large sums of this money is often used for endorsement deals with influencers whose fans sit around their target age demographic. This poses a risk in itself, as these influencers are now seen as a ‘face’ of that company. In 2008, Sharon Stone made insensitive and xenophobic remarks towards China, reflecting poorly on one of her endorsers, Christian Dior.
Her contract was cancelled not long after, as Dior released a statement:
‘We don’t support any type of commentary that will hurt the feelings of our customers.’
With so many resources available online, companies face the additional risk of information overload. Word of mouth is said to be one of the most convincing forms of advertising as we have more trust in other people than in that of a company. With anyone being able to leave a review online of their personal experience, negative responses to a brand inevitably accumulate, thus dissuading future purchases. Unfortunately, no brand has a 100% satisfaction rate, meaning that one person’s bad experience can convince another to not purchase.
Social media has allowed for a new wave of marketing, with its own set of challenges and opportunities. Very few retail brands today would last without an online presence, physical stores are becoming less and less of a priority, and online shopping is consistently growing. With the growth of the online market, who is to say what will be trending next week?
