Fashion Retail Workshop
We spent the morning investigating the biggest trends driving the fashion industry, from runway to retail.
We explored the evolution of the business cycle in premium fashion, from the collapse of the bi-annual fashion season to the proliferation of collaborations and capsule collections to drive newness.
We then took a look at the impact on fast-fashion players, who are turning to new sources of inspiration as designer labels switch to see now, buy now routes to market to prevent copy-cat designs beating them to the stores. One of the biggest trends driving this change is the momentum around sustainable fashion, which has shifted from a “nice to have” to a fundamental business principle.
We heard from our Retail and Shopper experts Kelly Petropoulou and Lauren Gosling that, in order to be successful, sustainability must be embedded into every function of a fashion retailer, across Innovation, Brand, Employee Engagement and Where to Play strategies, rather than being treated as a separate silo.
Senior Ecommerce Analyst Harriet Leach helped us to understand how social commerce is becoming a critical sales channel in its own right. Meanwhile, guest speaker Alex Dale, Partnerships Manager at Ometria, emphasised the importance of getting the basics right to optimise retention marketing.
New Retail Calendar Workshop
In the afternoon, attendees were treated to the live launch of Kantar’s New Retail Calendar, the essential interactive tool for understanding new activation opportunities across 6 global regions and 15 different retail sectors.
With data expertise from Consumer Insights Director Andy Saxton and a whistle-stop tour of e-Vents by Consulting Director Nick East, we also took a deep dive into how to monetise the moment and looked at key themes coming up next year (who knew 2020 would be such a big year for cartoons?!).
Last but not least, we heard from Hop King founders Ben and Ludi Hopkinson, who shared their inspirational story about building a disruptive craft beer brand around new moments in Skateboarding culture. We even got to sample their brand new CBD beer!
Key Takeaways:
All in all it was a terrific day of insights, with an incredible new planning tool to boot.
We learned that new moments require new strategies and that you can’t simply expect to export existing cultural norms when trying to break into emerging markets. It’s essential to build your marketing and merchandising calendar for new audiences with relevance and authenticity.
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