The third forum of fashion-industry experts, organized by the largest luxury-retailer Luisa Via Roma, took place in Florence in the midst of one of the major exhibitions in men's fashion world - 91st Pitti Uomo. This time, the main topic of the conference was modern technologies in fashion and the trends we will follow in 2017. Luisa Via Roma made the way from a small boutique in the center of Florence to the international multi-brand online retailer with one of the most successful sale platforms for luxury goods. In 1999, they were pioneers of online sales and have become innovators nearly for the past 20 years.
Here are 7 points which the company takes into account while developing of its own online strategy.
1. Mobile devices rule the roost
We cannot live without our smartphones – it is the most commonly used device today. To be closer to its customers each brand should develop a website and special application adapted for smartphone, which will allow demonstration of the product even on a small screen: this will increase the sales immediately! Crazy statistics: we check our phones from 3 to 27 times in an hour!
2. Easy shopping
The head of Luisa Via Roma Andrea Pankonezi draws attention to the paradox: buyers choose the most simple ways to make purchases online, but this can be provided only by very complex technical platforms.
3. Video - format of the future
The head of Lifestyle department in Italian market research agency Nielsen, Cristina Papini, explained the growth of fashion brands' investments in creation of media content: "Yes, money continues to be invested in print advertising, but development of video content is in the second place now. And while big brands have just started doing it, social media snaps at their heels. Video is a way to create a strong emotional story that evokes trust to the brand."
4. Performance analysis
You should not make decisions, relying only on your intuition. Only a thorough analysis of online performance can provide information about the correctness of your strategy. Analyzing the figures helps brands to know their customers and to send them the right message in response.
5. Relevance of place and time
It is meaningless to show a coat on your page in April, or linen - on a website with a dominant male audience. Content of the homepages should be the hallmark of the company, informing on the DNA of the brand. The idea underlies business microsegmentation is spending less money with maximum efficiency. Killing statistics: a buyer needs only 6-8 seconds to make a choice regarding the website. Therefore, your influence must be 100%!
6. Tell a story
Who said that the Internet is a cold and impersonal mass media? Some digital brands actively use empathy to attract loyal audience and keep "friendly" relations with it (such as US Glossier or French Sézane). So, it’s time to start sharing emotions, impressions, and personal experiences; do live video with ease, make personalization service - be closer to your audience!
7. Influencers
It is impossible to assess the level of a blogger only by the number of subscribers or readers. First of all, brands need to take into account energy and emotions that blogger can trigger and which he/she shares with the readers. The main thing is the quality of the audience and the level of content. And numbers are always relative.