It's A New World!

As pandemic brought the world to a pause, fashion was one of the most affected industries. As fashion purchases became low on consumer priority, there were other challenges due to lock downs like store closures and Supply restrictions impacting demands. This led to a dilemma as it was unprecedented, unexpected and the worst of it with no reference from the past what-so-ever. 

We were going to face a new world order. It is said, it takes 21 days for a change in behavior, we were locked down for 60 days.

As it is said every cloud comes with a silver lining, the time gave us an opportunity think radically. We observed that consumers have found innovative ways to keep themselves engaged and hence social media, OTT, Health apps etc. saw a surge in consumption. 

Here are a few findings and inferences based observations from various studies. Highlighting a few below:

Content and communication

While we all know content is the king, it was difficult to break the clutter. Consumer was already consuming enough content from different sources, Hence, we used search trends to keep ourselves relevant. We observed, searches for quarantine style and work from home fashion had gone up, we formulated our content around the same. We found that, when a content is positive and purposeful, it gets picked up well.  

Social Media Channels - Facebook and Instagram

Social media is the biggest channel in world of connections right now. Through a consumer survey conducted by Liva it was found that 49% of the consumer's go-to solution during the for boredom thus quarantine has been social media and 23% of consumers look up for stories around quarantine styling and fashion.

Social media platforms are also proving to be effective for fashion brands for building awareness and attracting the attention of the consumers. An effort has been made to by brands to retain their loyal audience while also striking a chord with the consumers, partners, etc. and express their support in these difficult times, thus spread the love and goodwill via interactive posts and social media campaigns.

Virtual World

When it comes down to connecting with the audiences, there are new rules of engagement, Webinars, Webcast, VR etc. will prove to be more engaging for the audience. 

We leveraged this trend and launched a web series, In Conversation with Designers to engage with brands, partners and even student fraternity.

Future & the New Normal

Marketing will see a lot more use of newer technologies and will have to embrace the virtual world. We’re going to see a revolution of the digital age, where Social commerce, Video Commerce, AR & VR will be the new reality. Offline shopping will take some time and online experiences will define customer purchases. Wish list option on websites, online preview sales for loyal customers, technology for online trails is going to be the future of the fashion and retail business.