Customer obsession should be fashionable

The sector that will be most changed from the pandemic will be Fashion Retail. It is facing into an almost impossible set of circumstances to recover from.

As a category, it has for many years had over-supply and too many retailers are, or have been, ‘stuck in the middle’ with no real differentiation.

Add to this that consumers have been trading up or trading down for a while now. Buying less expensive fast fashion or buying premium and luxury. This has already contributed to the glut of CVAs taking place in the middle ground.

The pandemic and lockdown will have a lasting effect on a number of fashion retail categories. Take formal wear. Whereby loungewear, sportswear, jogging bottoms, t-shirts and other casual wear have benefitted from work from home and the opportunity to wear what we want when on a zoom call! It has been catastrophic for formal wear brands, and it was no surprise to see the demise of TM Lewin’s 66 stores.

It is entirely plausible that 50% of the workforce will on a permanent basis, either work from home or, only have to be in the office for one or two days a week. If you’re not going to work and not going to industry events you don’t need a more formal work shirt, suit, tie, smart shoes or other associated products.

Weddings and concerts have been cancelled and theatres remain shut. Holidays shift from International to staycations. As such, we don’t need to procure the new outfits, swimwear et al..

Prior to the pandemic, we were already hurtling down the road towards conscious consumption and the lockdown will fuel that for many consumers. We all now have a heightened awareness of the environment and sustainability and that will in turn lead to us buying less stuff. After all, we’ve got even more used to buying less during lockdown. Unfortunately, fashion will bear the brunt of this shift in behaviour.

To add salt to the wounds, research tells us that due to COVID, consumers in the main, don’t feel comfortable being in a fashion store but in particular using changing rooms. This in turn is likely to cause a lasting uptick in fashion bought online and therefore further closure of retail stores. But I believe this will affect national chains more than independents. And I can see an increase in independent fashion retailers who can offer the consumer a differentiated proposition from the national chains whom consumers perceive to have too much homogeneity.

For the national chains, they need to behave like independents and empower their store managers to define and execute range, marketing, visual merchandising and service on a more localised basis. They need to see customer service as a profit centre as opposed to a cost centre. Hyper localisation and relentless focus on customer service can help the national fashion chains to deliver more relevant, personalised local customer experiences.

https://www.retailthinktank.co.uk/whitepaper/what-retail-sectors-will-emerge-stronger-and-which-will-be-most-changed-in-the-wake-of-the-pandemic/