Fashion retail concepts of the future - Essay Example

Fashion retail Task: Fashion retail Fashion retail is an indispensable extension of fashion marketing. This is becauseit determines the success of the whole fashion marketing system. Unprecedented changes confront modern retail with significant amount of challenges. Currently, technological advances and economic turmoil have shaped the retail landscape in way that marketers do not aptly react. Furthermore, the modern consumer has adequate knowledge of one’s market due to the availability of much information in the internet.

The consumer base possesses diverse and sophisticated expectations over the service, product, and value provided by a retailer. In this new reality, there will be a blurry line between traditional physical stores and virtual stores. In future fashion retail, there will be considerable use of online systems. A website legitimizes the existence of a business (McKelvey, K. & Munslow, J. 2009, 143). E-commerce performs a physical role in enabling convenient access of products across distant areas (Okonkwo, U. 2007, 64).

More fashion stores may face the pressure of opening their online versions to facilitate convenience of shopping among customers (Bailey, S., & Baker, J. 2013, 98). In supply chain management, technology will be crucial in enabling efficiency. RFID technology helps track the movement of clothes in the distribution chain (Choi, T.-M. 2012, 55). This is possible though the use of tags that help track products from the manufacturing phase to the purchase stage. Fashion is ushering in an age of interactive shopping.

Interactive experience means that a client takes charge of one’s shopping time. This involves the use of sensory simulation in testing products before purchase. For instance, the Burberry store in central London avoids the idea of direct purchases. The store has simulated the website experience in its physical store on Regent Street. A customer, therefore, makes one’s purchases from the sofa while using a swipe machine (Cartner-Morley, J. 2012, 1). Clothing in the store has chips and identification technology that makes it possible for customer to witness images of clothes in catwalk.

Mobile applications will be a key feature in fashion retail. Major brands such as SalesGossip, Burberry, Forever21, Shopstyle, and Tommy Hilfiger are investing in various applications. Apps help customers in activities such as research, comparing prices, identifying store locations, accessing discounts, and downloading templates of products. For instance, future online retail might adopt augmented reality in fashion stores because having standard sizes of clothes remains an inherent problem.

Tommy Hilfiger is an example of a retail entity that has recently built augmented reality fitting rooms whereby customers are able to project images of clothes onto themselves using their phone’s camera (Camilleri, E. 2012, 1). Clotheshorse application employs an algorithm based on a user’s body characteristics thereby recommending the best size possible for the customer. A strong move towards bohemianism proves that the physical fashion store will not die. The emergence of vintage clothes highlights a consumer base, which possesses a strong preference towards antique services and products (Hines, T.

& Bruce, M. 2007, 59). Proper design concepts of stores will principally serve in influencing sales (Jana, R. 2013, 1). A properly designed store surpasses the mere ability for effective display of goods (Pahl, N., & Mohring, W. 2008, 149). A fashion store should provide a wholesome experience for customers (Deloitte 2013, 1). The Hackney-based LN-CC store is an example of such an artifact (Stavridis, H. 2013, 1). The store professes mild ostentation from the outside view. Interestingly, a customer only accesses the store by making an appointment through email or phone.

The store’s inside, however, has a picturesque view that comprises division into multiple spaces, eclectic mix of books, fashion brand, and music. In the end, future fashion retail will comprise a mix of e-commerce and traditional systems. Technology has significantly altered the fashion business landscape. A progression from social media opens up a revolution in terms of mobile applications, simulated realities, and technological supply chain management. A growing preference towards antiquity, however, necessitates that creative companies invest in designing appealing physical stores.

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(Accessed 12 April 2014). Cartner-Morley, J., 2012. Burberry designs flagship London shop to resemble its website. (Online) (updated 12 September 2012) Available at http://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2012/sep/12/burberry-london-shop-website. (Accessed 12 April 2014). Camilleri, E., 2012. Fashion Tech: how retailers are accelerating the app phenomenon. (Online) (updated 31 October 2012) Available at http://www.visionmobile.com/blog/2012/10/fashion-tech-how-retailers-are-accelerating-the-app-phenomenon/.

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