With the arrival of digital, our way of consuming has been completely shaken up. Today, it has never been easier to book a plane ticket, watch a movie on your tablet or download the music you love.
Founder of the first webzine on "fashion tech" - called ModeLab - Fabrice combines his two passions: fashion and innovation. Loyal reader of BonneGueule, he too is a fervent defender of elegance, with an added touch of digital 😉
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When you walk around Paris, you turn on Google Maps by plugging in your headphones. There, a charming voice explains to you that you must turn right or left. In short, you don't get lost anymore unless the 4G connection lets you down...
We all take our cell phone for Simba when we have no more network...
Faced with this development, the fashion sector has been just as disrupted. Now, you spend your time on online sales sites , you are knowledgeable about the latest trends thanks to BonneGueule, you automatically receive promotions via newsletters about your favorite sites...
In short, the transformation of the Web has completely changed our relationship with fashion, And that's just the beginning ! A detailed look at our new way of consuming fashion through the digital eye.
Internet: the tool that simplifies the fashion purchasing process
Of course, it seems like a long time ago that the Internet did not exist, but the dinosaurs had indeed disappeared! It was in the late 90s that this wonderful tool became popular.
Even dinosaurs know the Internet now.
A plethora of fashion products
When the first e-commerce sites appeared, they wanted to provide greater added value than in-store purchases. Three principles then emerged: that the consumer has choice, an advantageous price and receives optimal service.
For this, geographic boundaries have been erased to provide access to an abundance of products. You could then import products from the United States without ever having set foot there!
Among the services offered, the Internet has revolutionized your buying behavior by allowing you to save time and be better informed. Indeed, brands also wanted to be transparent by displaying more information about their products, their ways of working, their values, etc.
And thanks to search engines, there is no longer any question of wasting time wandering from store to store to find the ideal leather perfecto, you can find it in a few clicks and order it without leaving your home.
You can even order food without leaving home. Don't forget to eat 5 fruits and vegetables a day.
Indeed, Shopstyle is a search engine dedicated to fashion . It brings together all the brands and allows you to refine your searches according to several criteria (types of clothing, brands, prices, colors, promotions, etc.). Everything is grouped on one site and you can even create your personal store by saving your favorite brands.
Have it all, right away
Once your order is registered, you are already impatient to receive the package to unwrap it and strut around with its contents. Because clothing is not like music that you would listen to on Deezer or Spotify and which would be available immediately... This is completely different, because you have to wait to be delivered or to collect it in a relay point. Obviously, this generates frustration.
Man: “You don’t understand me anyway!” Computer: “Don’t talk to me in that tone or I’ll go to sleep!”
To put an end to this dissatisfaction, the challenge for distributors is to make product acquisition as easy as possible . Already a first victory with free logistics services: now, for the largest e-commerce sites, delivery costs are free and returns are free.
However, reducing delivery times still needs to be addressed. Some distributors, like Sarenza , promise to deliver to you within 24 hours, but, for the moment, this rule is not yet widespread. This is why an e-commerce giant like Amazon always tries multiple experiments in order to optimize this service.
Some time ago, it was with the idea of the civilian drone which would deliver orders directly to homes (ok, you live in France, but that's an example).
However, a major problem has arisen: regulations: today, this service is not authorized either by the American government or in France. Thus, more recently, the group has experimented with delivery directly to the trunk of the buyer's car : by validating their order, the customer indicates the positioning of their car and thus gives the delivery person access to their trunk for a limited period of time. . Once the package has been deposited and the trunk closed, access is blocked except for the owner.
Mobile or m-commerce, a new acquisition channel
Now to make your life even easier, retailers have understood that they need to place their products at your fingertips. Indeed, it is because you always have your smartphone in hand or nearby in a pocket that the new challenge for e-commerce players is to be present on m-commerce.
Soon, we will be able to touch clothing on our mobile, print it in 3D, clean water and soil, just with our smartphone!
With advances such as the introduction of 4G which allows an increasingly faster Internet connection and increasingly larger screens: purchasing via mobile is becoming easy and intuitive.
The sales process is simplified as much as possible so that you feel immediate pleasure and no longer need to navigate through countless incomprehensible pages. According to a study carried out by the Center for Retail Research for RetailMeNot , the French m-commerce market should represent 7 billion euros at the end of 2015, compared to 3.7 billion currently.
Also, multiple applications are developing like Spring , the online sales site that allows you to follow the brands you like, but above all to buy in one click directly from your phone. In addition, you are informed in real time of new products and restocking. It is obviously to continue to simplify purchasing that mobile is on the way to becoming a future means of payment.
The user at the center of the process
In addition to changing your behavior, the Internet has allowed you to make yourself heard. A new relationship with brands is being created: they are more attentive and collect the opinions of their customers to always better satisfy them.
Collection of personal data
In order to give you an optimal experience , the creator must know you as much as possible. To achieve this, e-commerce sites have established a mandatory step: before consuming, you must provide multiple personal information. There, I imagine your big eyes reminding me that your data only concerns you and that under no circumstances do you want to share it.
Yes, that's a bit of the image I have of readers when they discover the information
However, we now know that brands exchange data with each other and use it for their marketing campaigns. And therein lies new concerns: how to protect our personal information? How to manage this data flow?
The Melty Group, which owns Melty Fashion , literally listens to so-called “weak” signals on the Web, particularly on Twitter. A weak signal means that few people are discussing the subject, but that there is growth.
So, they have community managers who constantly scan groups of words that appear via tweets. And there, they decide to write an article and publish it on their site to be ahead of the curve and consequently: create a trend .
Towards the ultra-personalization of fashion
In addition to creating a trend, the data is used to individualize the offer. Personalization starts with giving you what you need.
Remember the movie Minority Report with Tom Cruise entering a GAP store where a virtual salesman calls him by his first name and remembers his previous orders, thus offering him a new outfit. This is what we find thanks to the Internet.
“I know everything about you, and I know what you want.”
Have you ever noticed that when you browse an online sales site and you look at a product, like this magnificent anthracite t-shirt and you don't buy it, that it is re-offered to you on other sites? This is what we call “retargeting” or, in other words, advertising retargeting.
This web marketing technique which allows you to be asked again and again so that you complete your purchasing process can have an intrusive side . However, this shows that now thanks to digital, you can choose products that suit you.
Ultimately, aren't you in the best position to know what suits you? Hence the growth of “one-to-one” marketing , which aims to make you a unique consumer.
It is the transition from the functional era to the emotional era: brands are turning away from their technical messages to display emotional statements . In the world of fashion, this translates into the personalization of your clothes, through their design... For example, the Mespadrilles.com site allows you to personalize your pair of Made In France espadrilles .
Digital offers new experiences
Now that digital is installed in your daily life, it opens the door to new uses and new products.
Connected clothing and accessories
When digital goes so far as to materialize and transform into clothing: it allows our clothes to speak. Not literally, but rather by being able to interact with your environment.
For example, Citizen Science has created sensors directly in fabric. Currently limited to the sports industry, this experiment could be duplicated in that of fashion. However, the problem with connected fabric is that it contains electronics so if you wash it, it will burn.
Okay, it works if you don't wash your things... but I'm not sure that this is the optimal solution 😉 In the same vein, Digitsole , launched a connected heated insole that allows you to have your feet warm all day (in winter, it's quite useful).
Digitsole, the first connected heated insole. And it’s French! Cock-a-doodle Doo !
And to be connected from head to toe, there are several wearables (portable connected accessories, like tech watches) to accessorize your outfit. Some examples to convince you: the Music Beany hat from Archos with Bluetooth and integrated headphones, the famous Apple Watch , the Up 24 bracelet by Jawbone which transforms into an individual fitness coach or even USB cufflinks.
The era of Phygital
From now on, digital is expanding its field of application and entering physical stores . A contraction between the words “Physical” and “Digital”, Phygital represents this new type of store combining technologies and the traditional store. Both complement each other, digital practices are duplicated in the physical and vice versa.
From the store to the Web, with these new kinds of “virtual” fitting rooms. For example, start-ups like Watsize have developed web solutions integrated directly into online sales sites, which make it possible to offer the right size to each person. Or even virtual advisors to offer you an outfit adapted to your body shape and your tastes.
3D fitting will become an increasingly widespread practice.
Web-to-store with tablets that slowly invade the shelves so that the customer can consult the catalog online and buy what they cannot find in store . Burberry has thus developed a fully connected store in London.
Inside, giant screens allow you to broadcast a fashion show live or simulate rain. In addition, no cash registers, but sales advisors with iPads. The cross-channel trend is spreading like l'Exception or even BonneGueule which started on the internet and which have just opened a physical boutique/ showroom .
“Burberry is not fashion at a low price.”
Fashion and digital: yesterday, today, tomorrow.
To conclude, digital in fashion has been established in stages. First of all, by only representing an additional showcase, the Internet has modified the act of purchasing by providing a mass of information, choice and a new approach to brands.
From design to distribution, technology is involved in every step and shapes fashion. The combination of the two is compatible and will continue to exist. But today, digital technology is both a source of value and a source of constraints for traders. You have to adapt quickly and have a coherent cross-channel strategy.
And if consumers are always looking for better value for money, they expect even more to be surprised thanks to new experiences in which they are at the heart and which prove that special attention is paid to them.
The key to success ? It’s about bringing together the strengths of commerce, and integrating the right technologies and uses to offer customers a unique experience. Of course, this transition is only just beginning and you are the one who takes full advantage of it. In the end, it has never been easier to find the clothing of your desires...
