The world of fashion is one that has been presently and persistently active for as long as we have been walking around in cities –even longer, counting non-western societies and even as far back as the caveman era. Like it or not, fashion is a big part of modern society, and of all our lives. We all have those favourite clothing items of ours. For some, it is the party dress that we wore to the club on the weekend. For others, it is the hoodie that makes us feel comfortable and most ourselves. No matter who you are, no matter where you live, no matter how old you are, there is an undeniable reality in motion that your fashion sense says a lot about you – even if the most it says is that you value comfort above all else. Even as such an important aspect of our lives, the fashion industry has come to a crossroads of sorts recently. Thankfully, it could pull itself out of the lull and focus on the future, but the process is ongoing. It is a long road to certain resolution, but with some modern tweaks, this traditional industry can come out on top and reign over the new marketplace for years to come.
That marketplace is called ecommerce. Welcome to the future of the consumer experience. The thing about ecommerce is that it has not necessarily replaced traditional shopping experiences. That was not the intention of the network design. Instead, the sole purpose of ecommerce was to create a marketplace that the modern consumer could spend more time browsing through without having to take time out of their busy schedule to fit in. the modern consumer is busier than ever, and as such we do not have the extra time that we once did. While traditional fashion stores (and all retail, for that matter) still get considerable traffic, the real money maker now is ecommerce. The fashion industry was somewhat slow to adapt to the concept, but it has begun to take off in recent years, shaking the industry to its core and strengthening it in the process. One fantastic example of ecommerce shaking up the fashion industry that is not so obvious is bringing dress hire concepts online. The concept of hiring clothes is not a new one, but it is relatively fresh to the online retail landscape.
Renting out clothing continues to become a commonplace act among consumers. While we are busier than ever, life is also more expensive than ever. With this in mind, the average individual today does not have the money to splash on sleek designer clothes constantly. we have bills to pay, other priorities that trump the need for expensive clothes. The solution is the development of fashion hire brands. Consumers can hire out an outfit for an event – even for up to a week at some online stores – and return it when they are finished using it, essentially paying half the price (sometimes even less) to look the part and then have the rest of the money to spend on other aspects of life. Similarly, more and more consumers are buying their clothes online. These days, modernising the marketplace by introducing ecommerce has been a life saver for millions of consumers every year.
Now, rather than having to go without completely or take time away from their busy schedules to shop, they can do it all online, with their purchases arriving in a matter of days. Some fashion brands even offer next day delivery. The fashion industry has changed drastically. With the introduction of the ecommerce marketplace, fashion brands have taken their businesses online, expanding their reaches to span over traditional brick and mortar store locations and the global stratosphere of the world wide web. Thanks to the rise of ecommerce, modern consumers are finding their sense of fashion all over again, being able to shop to their tastes without having to sacrifice time away from other aspects of their busy lives and schedules. Fashion is one of the world’s most prominent industries for one very good reason: the necessity of it all. No matter whom we are, what we do for a living, where in the world we live, or how old we are, we all have an approach when it comes to fashion, a personal flare.
Despite the unyielding necessity of the fashion industry, modern life is busier than ever and therefore we have less time to spend hours and hours browsing the racks in traditional brick and mortar stores. Thanks to the steady rise of ecommerce, however, we are seeing the beginning stages of a healthy rebalancing that aligns traditional fashion with modern marketing strategies. The result is an industry that has been revitalised and given a vibrant new lease on [fashionable] life. Ecommerce has come in at the eleventh hour and giving a resurgence of hope to the industry by having traditional and modern methods and models in fashion work together collaboratively to bring the entire sector back from the brink. Welcome to modern fashion. Welcome to the future of style.