The evolution of fashion online February 8, 2010

Nowadays almost anything can be bought with the use of the Internet. Fashion articles are no exception to that rule. Throughout the years, new ways of presenting these products to customers have been developed.

First there were some simple fashion websites. They couldn’t immediately address all challenges to shopping for clothing online. For example: how do you know a piece of clothing will fit you? Now, zoom features, multiple views of the item or even catwalk video’s help reducing all kinds of unmet expectations.

Building a community and encouraging interaction to the brand is another way of getting customers involved. You can start a blog with customer reviews and testimonials or you can become present on a social network site. Fashion lovers all over the world can share their passion on this kind of sites. The most popular SNS with a focus on fashion are: Fashion.networks.com, Fashionising.com, Modepass and IQONS.  Posting videos on YouTube can also be helpful to promote your business.

What will the future of fashion online look like? Without any doubt the Internet and online e- tailing will continue to evolve. Interaction with customers will become even more important. Combining offline and online communication can help to close the gap between the experience of shopping at the store and shopping online. It looks like the best is yet to come for online retailers…

Sources:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1247148/the_changing_face_of_fashion_online_pg2.html?cat=46

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1057302/top_10_social_networking_sites_for.html?cat=46

Size does matter February 7, 2010

Analogous to the comprehensive sizing survey of the US population and the National Sizing Survey in the UK, we will be able to collect a multitude of up-to-date information about the size and the measurements of the buyers of clothes in Belgium. This by means of the body scans of those who want to create an account on our social network site. This data can provide accurate shape and sizing information for both manufacturers and retailers to improve the fit of their clothes. Both manufacturers and retailers can then update and amend their size charts and garment specifications, as they will know better what the average size of customers is. This is the reason why it can be interesting for us to get permission from our members, via a clause in the privacy statement they will have to agree to, to sell their information, but only for the purposes mentioned here. This can be one way for us to get some revenue.

Sources:

http://www.size.org

http://www.sizemic.eu

http://www.sizeusa.com

On line shopping encounters obstacles February 7, 2010

More than 60% of on line orders on foreign websites are not winded up successfully. That is the conclusion of a study conducted by order of the European Commission at the end of last year. Mystery shoppers from all over Europe bought a list of 100 popular products, including books, clothing and CDs from suppliers that have their seats in another country. The reason why more than 60% of these orders failed is because suppliers cannot or will not send the product to another country or because there were not enough possibilities of cross country payments. If you live in Belgium, for example, you are not able to buy clothes of H&M, because this retailer only has an on line shop in the Netherlands. If you are not the holder of a Dutch address, you are not able to buy clothes on line. The reason why suppliers are not willing to provide products to other countries is because the risk of damaging the products during its transportation is too big. Because of this customers can miss out on important advantages: they cannot make use of the broader offer provided by a foreign supplier nor can they benefit from price discounts. To overcome these problems, the European Commission is suggesting measures to simplify the complicated regulation that discourages companies to serve customers in other member states. In addition, problems regarding the gathering of commercial data and their use in profiling consumers will be analyzed so that the confidence in on line shopping will increase.

Source:

http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/09/1564&format=HTML&aged=0&language=NL&guiLanguage=en

The right size? December 7, 2009

Women sometimes tend to choose a size too small because they do not want to confront themselves with the idea of not having a size 36. A problem related to this is that their clothes do not fit them and they stay unhappy. If clothes fit, it looks better than if they are too small, even if it is a size 40 instead of 38. All females should wear the size that fits them best, not the size the fashion industry dictates.
A three-dimensional body scan gives us a realistic image of the body, and not an idealised one. An obstacle that can discourage women with self-esteem issues to use a 3D-body scanner is that they have to be nude in it, but a company called Intellifit uses low-power radio waves to make up the virtual image, that can “see” the body through clothes. This data can be matched against the size specifications of many brands of apparel products, and as a result people can buy those garments that fit best and those of which the design suits their body shape best. The clothes can be tried on a virtual 3D-image of yourself and this image can be rotated and viewed from different angles. The fit key indicates if the clothing fits, is too small or too big.

Source: http://www.bodyscan.human.cornell.edu/scene81bb.html

How to build a successful internet start-up December 6, 2009

Starting an internet business is one thing, but making money out of it is quite another. So what is the secret of creating a successful business online? I recently came upon an article wherein someone formulated these simple action steps:

1)      Have clarity of intent: Don’t make your product/service too complex. Be realistic about it!

2)      Go after monetizable markets: Make sure your market is active and growing. You should be able to fulfil an existing niche. Identify people’s needs and their possibility to spend.

3)      Find affordable customers: Your customers should be willing to pay a higher price for your product/service ->offer them a benefit that is worth the cost.

4)      Have focus: Go for a unique value proposition.

5)      Relieve your customer pain: Deliver them a solution.

6)      Be unique: Use innovation as a key corporate value. Be aware of what your competitors are doing. Watch out for new trends.

7)      Build a passionate team: Share the same ethics, values and goals.

8)      Be swift: Clarity of plans often is an obstacle.

9)      Be very cost- conscious: Manage your expenses. Don’t give away more money than necessary.

Now you know what to look out for… Are you cut out to be a successful entrepreneur? Go find out yourself!

Sources:

http://www.masternewmedia.org/news/2008/08/26/business_planning_key_action_steps/index.htm

http://images.google.be/imgres?imgurl=http://weeklytips.com/ndesign/cartoon/marketing_cartoon_1.gif

Mass Production Versus Customization December 6, 2009

When going through some websites concerning the technology of 3D body scanning, I stumbled upon the interesting site of Cornell University, that says that this technology cannot only be used to help overcome the problems concerning the online purchasing of clothes. There it is said that, as I mentioned in an earlier post, it also has the potential to change the way clothing is made and purchased. Nowadays, many industries follow the trend towards customizing their products, and so does the clothing industry. This industry is making customized clothing by using body scanners and other new emerging technologies.

The following pictures compare traditional mass production of clothes – as is known today – to the scenario of customized production of clothes – as will be known in the future.

In this scenario, the clothes you can find in stores originate from the designer’s mind and each new style begins as a sketch. The second step in this process, is the development of a pattern. After that, the pattern is fit to a model. Fourthly, clothes of all sizes are sewn at the same time, using methods of mass production. After this step, we as a consumer can find the clothes in a store, where we try them on before purchasing them. But we all know that no two people that have the same size, have the same body shape, so the result here is that we often buy clothes that do not fit us perfectly.

In the future, we will be able to buy the clothes we ourselves imagine, by actually being involved in the design process. The second step in this process will be that your body gets scanned in a 3D body scanner, which makes sure that accurate body measurements are taken. Those measurements will be used to create an individualized garment, that is made by the use of sophisticated machines and flexible processes that make a one-of-a-kind production possible. Result: your custom-made and unique piece of clothing will fit you perfectly!

Source: http://www.bodyscan.human.cornell.edu/scene0037.html

Piggybacking December 5, 2009

As a young company we do not have a big marketing budget at our disposal. We will need to be creative in order to spread our name and corporate image. On About.com I came across an article of Darrell Zahorsky that was titled “Low-Budget High-Impact Marketing Plan”. One of the ways to promote your business is “getting a piggyback”: to catch a ride on the marketing of another company. For us as a company it would be interesting to work together with our retail partners or to be present on events especially organized for our target group. The Flair Shopping Day for example could be an opportunity for us to introduce ourselves to our customers. Because the 3D-technique that we use is relatively unknown for most people it would be the perfect opportunity to let our customers discover it themselves. With this event we can also maximize the costumer’s referrals. I think word-of-mouth advertising is the most effective method of convincing customers of our product. Marketing success comes from creativity; not from having the biggest budget.

Girlpower! November 5, 2009

Research accomplished by Rapleaf has revealed the demographics of frequent social network site visitors. Everybody does it; children, adolescents, adults and even elderly people engage in the virtual world. The most striking finding of the study is that women are at the forefront of SNSs. This is odd, because traditionally men are the most innovative when it comes to new technologies. Visitors of SNSs were screened and in most cases women make up the majority; on most websites female user percentages lay between 50 and 60%. So from a marketer’s point of view, women are the best segment to target on social websites, not in the least because they make more purchasing decisions than men. As women tend to tell others about their purchases, an advertiser targeting women on social network sites gets a double benefit.

Sources:

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/may2008/tc20080516_580743.htm

http://www.rapleaf.com/company_press_2007_11_12.html

How to shop safely via the Internet November 4, 2009

When it comes to online shopping, there is still a lot of suspicion surrounding it: is it safe? Will I receive the goods after having paid for them? Will my personal information be kept secret? To make sure that you buy safely via the Internet, here are some interesting tips given by G Data, a specialised security company. It advises you only to buy something from known online retailers with a good reputation. If it is the first time you buy something from a particular online shop, make sure that you can trust it by doing some research on it. When you are asked to give personal information, it is very important to check the address of the online retailer: it should start with ‘https://’, if not, don’t give the information. Another important guideline is that you should only transfer money to foreign bank accounts if you personally know the receiver and that you should pay via payment systems that allow you to cancel the payment. Next to that you should regularly scan your bank statements for irregularities. It is also very important to have an up-to-date security program on your computer. And last but not least: use your common sense. If you are offered a deal that is too good to be true: don’t trust it!

Sources:

http://www.getsafeonlineblog.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/image1.png

http://www.dutchcowboys.nl/online/16633

Are you pro or con online shopping? November 3, 2009

Earlier this year, the visitors of businessweek.com were asked to express their thoughts about online purchasing in the BusinessWeek Debate Room. The thesis was: “Online shopping is overrated. Data security problems and pesky online forms make Internet shopping a pain. Pro or Con?”

Graham Jones, an Internet Psychologist, is an advocate of this contention. He considers online shopping as a bad experience, mostly because of the administration that is involved. First you have to register, then you have to read a terms and conditions agreement and afterwards you have to run over the payment options. Moreover; in a physical store you aren’t obliged to mention all your contact details and there still remains a fear over the security of credit cards details.

In his opinion; there are only 2 reasons why people use online shopping: for convenience and to find deals. He thinks that online shops should take advantage of these possibilities if they want to keep growing.

Charles Nicholls, the founder of SeeWhy, disagrees with this view. He thinks it’s easier, faster and cheaper to shop online. On the Internet you can compare prices and look out for promotions, so retailers offer their best price online. Besides all that, it’s just nice that there are no salespeople hassling you and you can stay in control of the process the whole time.

According to him; the inexorable growth of online sales proves that more and more people are convinced by the convenience of online shopping. The user comments demonstrate that many people share the same opinion.

 

Source: http://www.businessweek.com/debateroom/archives/2009/06/online_shopping.html