Today, the FASHION BUTTERFLY flies to industries that have something in common… They are FAST like her!
Fast industries are characterized by their frequent design and launch of new products. In this article we will focus on the unique marketing advantages that we can learn from Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), Fast Fashion and Fashion Luxury Industries.
The Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) industry and the ability to put consumers at the core of innovation
The Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) industry produces products we consume every day at low cost, with a clear functional benefits like shampoo, deodorant, laundry, homecare, and diapers. You may have noticed new FMCG products appearing on supermarket shelves every four to six months, with new ingredients, scents, colors, benefits, or packaging. They are usually publicized massively in hypermarkets and supermarket stores through advertising or retailer promotional leaflets, sometimes using price discounts as an incentive.
pampers.com
The strength: FMCG's strength is the exceptional understanding of consumer needs that drive product innovation. They first identify the consumer's unmet need and then design products with the consumer at the core!
Example of best practice: PAMPERS DIAPERS for a baby's uninterrupted sleep and SmartSleep Coach by P&G. Behind the key insight that “good sleep is vital for a baby's healthy development” P&G designs diapers that can stand the torture test of babies who do not stay dry, so that nothing interrupts their important sleep. The brand also creates an application called “Smart Sleep Coach” with parenting tips and tricks for a night of uninterrupted sleep. Click here to learn more.
The opportunity for Fast Industries: Textile and fabric trends drive innovation in fashion. These trends are defined from fashion temples like Paris after a lot of intensive research on different art forms and street fashion. Fashion sells emotional benefits and then functional benefits; fashion is art and is inspired from art. Yet consumers raise their voice about fashion and...
The perfect Design is not anymore the only defining factor to drive purchase intention in fashion!
Think about the increasing consumer concerns behind environmental sustainability in fashion. Imagine designing an exceptional fashion collection using synthetic fabric with microplastics. Would a change to recycled synthetic fabric impact sales in countries where consumers have high environmental concerns? Simply asking the consumers by testing different ideas beforehand opens potentially large business opportunities.
The Fast Fashion Industry and the ability to engage consumers in new discoveries and experiential shopping
Fast Fashion is a fast journey of transporting garments from a designer's mind to the stores. It concerns the mass production and consumption trend in the fashion sector, renewing itself and selling more products at a lower price. You have seen fashion brands every season launching new collections with new trends, colors, and textures. The collections reach consumers' eyes quickly through, for example, mass retail fashion stores, fashion magazines, fashion shows, digital mediums, and television. (source: thefashiostarter.com).
The strength: The unique strength of Fast Fashion is engaging consumers in new discoveries and experiential shopping.
www.hmgroup.com
Examples of best practices: H&M Virtual Fitting Rooms in Germany and Virtual store in Metaverse. Behind the key insight that H&M shoppers are mainly young groups that love to discover new garments and experiment with different clothes, H&M implemented virtual fitting rooms in selective stores in Germany allowing consumers to virtually try on clothes after scanning their bodies. Following the young consumer H&M gets also active in Metaverse with a Virtual showroom where a new market opportunity opens without stock creation and even being able to test new garments before bringing them to real life. Click here to learn more.
The opportunity for Fast Industries: Virtual Product Design can eliminate the costs of the design process behind expensive sample creation and time-consuming processes. Virtual Fitting in Retail stores and Online eliminates the consumer fear of buying a garment that does not fit well, reduces returns, and drives a better conversion rate online. Virtual Stores & Virtual Garments in Metaverse create a new market opportunity for innovation and zero waste.
Technology can offer a lot of benefits to fast industries engaging even more the young consumers!
The potential Metaverse market opportunity ranges from 3.7 trillion US dollars to 12.4 trillion US dollars, depending on the share of the digital economy that shifts to the Metaverse and market expansion (Statistica.com, Thomas Alsop, Sept 2021 ). For luxury brands, the immense popularity of gaming platforms is an opportunity to reach out to younger consumers and test the waters before a more robust investment into creating virtual and digital goods. But there are also brands that are ahead in the digital game with wildly successful and lucrative virtual goods sales and NFTs. Take Dolce & Gabbana's virtual collection Collezione Genesi, with sales of around six million US dollars. Another pioneering sale was Gucci's first NFT, a video inspired by its Aria collection which auctioned for 25,000 US dollars. (statistica.com, Fashion in the metaverse - Statistics & Facts).
The Luxury Industry and the ability to build resilience through irresistible Brand Building
The Luxury Fashion Industry is another FAST industry impacted by the speed of fashion, however with a different business model; product innovation does not always happen so frequently. They are generally considered to be goods at the highest end of the market in terms of quality and price, and communication can happen selectively. Consumers chase the Fashion Luxury brands instead of the brands chasing consumers. Luxury goods manufacturers meet consumer demand by focusing on brand, aesthetics, quality materials, superior craftsmanship and pricing to transform everyday objects into status symbols. Finally, Luxury brands do not always choose mass communication mediums like TV advertising, but also invest in laser communication mediums targeting collectors, or building Online or Offline Loyalty Clubs, using Public Relations influencers and celebrities.
The strength: Fashion Luxury's competitive advantage is the long-term irresistible Brand Building.
DIOR Cruise Collection
Example of best practice: DIOR 2022 cruise collection by Maria Grazia Chiuri. Behind the same communication idea, inspired by other countries' fashion traditions, DIOR creates unique collections through cross-cultural exchange resulting in new but also long-term brand building. Click here to find more.
Louis Vuitton Campaign - Victory is a state of mind
Example of best practice: LOUIS VUITTON CAMPAIGN with Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi ahead of the opening day of the FIFA World Cup 2022. Behind the heritage campaign “Victory Is a State of Mind” since the two football stars posted the photo playing a chess game, the luxury house's campaign went viral massively smartly earning awareness in a top period due to the FIFA World Cup launch.
Vacheron Constantin
Example of best practice: VACHERON CONSTANTIN AND THE LOUVRE PARTNERSHIP. Behind a collaboration with the Louvre museum, and as a tribute to great civilizations, the luxury brand creates unique collection pieces connecting artisans with artisans demonstrating a consistent commitment to art, culture, heritage, and beauty with a timeless watch collection. Click here to see more.
The opportunity for Fast Industries: Can fast industries prolong innovation lifetime? Innovation can be based on new products, but not always. It can also be new communication ideas with existing products prolonging innovation lifetime. Refreshing communication of existing products, elevating different benefits of the same collections in different periods, driving limited capsule collections, activating celebrities behind communication innovation, driving garment re-purpose through up-cycling and driving customization and exclusivity is some ideas that could prolong innovation and build a longer-term brand building with the right message where relevant.
Brands become more irresistible through Exclusivity and Customization
Mylène Mansourian Samsam having worked in different fast industries for 20 years (Luxury, Fashion, Beauty & FMCG) shares her thoughts & observations: “A unique thing that makes Fashion Luxury brands even more irresistible is the feeling of Exclusivity through Customization. A Hermès Kelly bag may be exclusive to dedicated clients of the brand, but collectors know there is another level of exclusivity that is Special Order. These bags are sometimes called 'Custom,' sometimes 'Special Order,' for the tiny horse-shoe stamp that sits beside the brand stamp, signifying that a bag has been custom-made. Look at Louis Vuitton offering personalization with initials, patches, and stripes offering an even more exclusive experience to the brand advocates.”
FASHION BUTTERFLY sees that every case is different, and there is no size fits all solution, but giving a second thought to the established way of thinking, testing new ideas and changing where it is meaningful is the way to grow, evolve and transform!
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By the same author:
The Fashion Butterfly: Part 1
