Apparel Brand CEOs: 3 Action Items To Stay Ahead In The Dynamic Fashion Industry

Advancements in areas of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence have seriously disrupted the fashion industry, forcing brands to adapt in order to maintain their competitive advantages. As a senior at Northwestern pursuing a certificate in Integrated Marketing Communications through the Medill School of Journalism, I have found two articles that outline the increasing importance for brands to embrace the changes occurring in increasingly innovative fashion industry landscape in order to drive and sustain brand relevancy.

In “How Fashion Retailer H&M Is Betting On Artificial Intelligence And Big Data To Regain Profitability”, Bernard Marr at Forbes outlines how fast fashion giant, H&M, is hoping to leverage trends in Big Data and Artificial Intelligence to regain financial success. Marr discusses how Big Data can help apparel brands optimize their product cycles to minimize unwanted inventory, automate supply chain processes, and maximize customer satisfaction. The demand for increasingly personalized shopping experiences is also noted by Marr, supplemented by discussion of H&M’s investment in integrating the online and offline customer journeys. Marr notes that leaning into these Big Data and Artificial Intelligence trends are a step in the right direction for H&M and have great potential to drive the brand’s future success.

Source: Wide Eyes Blog

In the second article, “7 Ways How Tech Innovation Will Change The Fashion E-Retail In 2018” Rakesh Jain at CEO World outlines the impact tech innovation will have on the fashion industry this year. Jain’s discussion of ability of artificial intelligence to help brands personalize the shopping experience and its ability to nurture one-to-one relationships mirrors the ideas discussed in the aforementioned Forbes article. Digital realities, such as those already implemented by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, are made possible by breakthroughs in Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence technologies and will continue to be valuable business and consumer tools. The article concludes that fashion brands can no longer afford to ignore the digital trends occurring in the dynamic industry, and brands will have to “innovate or be eliminated”.

Based on these two articles and my experiences both at Northwestern University and in my fashion-centric projects, I have developed 3 action items you should consider when developing future business strategy plans.

·      Big Data Rules: Taking advantage of the vast amount of customer data is crucial allows for brands to better predict trends, effectively allocate merchandise, and eliminating hassle  – all essential in building the foundation for a positive shopping experience.

·      Push For Automation: Integration of the breakthroughs in supply chain, such as warehouse automation, will not only improve customer experiences, but will also increase productivity and optimize a brand’s bottom line.

·      Customization is Key: Customers are increasingly looking for a tailored shopping experience and providing them these unique experiences, often facilitated with AI and VR, will be essential in staying competitive in the industry.

Apparel brands must either continue or initiate serious investments in the trends in Big Data and Artificial Intelligence in order to stay competitive in the dynamic fashion industry that will continue to phase out brands that do not embrace these innovations.

Gabriella Cronk is an undergraduate student at Northwestern University studying Sociology, Business Institutions, and Integrated Marketing Communications. You can connect with her on Twitter and LinkedIn.