Once again the fashionistas are descending for London fashion week. With Somerset House and central London transforming for their arrival, it’s fascinating to see the way in which we the consumer can now access the sometime previously rarified air of the fashion world. Fashion’s evolving – not just into more and more extreme sights on the catwalk – but behind the scenes too, as brands adapt to new consumer expectations around how, when and why they want to interact.
From the in-store experience and utilising individual shopper data for mobile and flexible delivery options, brands have an overwhelming number of ways to innovate and disrupt the retail space. However, without a strategic approach or a long-term vision, retailers run the risk of creating experiences that don’t support their overall brand vision. Its critical retailers understand the relationship between the physical and digital worlds so they can deliver a consistent customer journey.
It’s a big ask, but several brands are forging names for themselves as leaders in the world of fashion, retail and tech. Here are four that are succeeding.
Victoria’s Secret
In the US, Victoria’s Secret are leading the fore and innovating across omni-channel. Omni-channel being the new buzzword and holy grail for retailers. The retailer is not just optimising their e-commerce, mobile and store channels to sell effectively, but they are ensuring a seamless and meaningful customer experience whenever customers interact with the brand.
These innovations take many forms, including partnering with Shapeways and Swarovski to produce their first 3D-printed runway look and using 4K video cameras to produce a truly immersive experience for viewers of their annual televised show.
They further engage their consumers by adopting a forward-thinking content strategy. Victoria’s Secret brings the audience into the live experience by building engagement through their online hub, which is dedicated to all things fashion. The hub provides behind-the-scenes content of the televised show and ways for viewers to connect with the brand and the models themselves via a comprehensive offering of social media and apps.
The brand also adopts a customer-centric approach by curating experiences specific to their audiences. For example, their teen brand Pink has created mobile apps that include the ability for parents to add credit, meaning their children (who may not have access to credit cards or physical money) can use the mobile devices to pay for Pink products online and in-store.
Ralph Lauren
Perhaps not the most innovative omni-channel retailer to date, (form over function has long been a challenge for high-fashion brands) but back in 2010 Ralph Lauren embraced the opportunity to reinvent the fashion show with their 4D experience at their 888 Madison Avenue flagship and No1 New Bond Street stores.
The retailer used architectural light-mapping technology, cutting-edge digital sound tech and Ralph Lauren scents to fully immerse the audience. The brand claimed a ground-breaking first for the fashion industry.
Nordstrom
The wave of change in retail has facilitated the rise of a number of experience and innovation labs to drive product development and change in the retail space. While John Lewis has recently launched their JLAB incubator, Nordstrom Innovation Lab was set up back in 2011, making them relative market leaders.
These labs are doing a great job at disproving the idea that larger organisations are often bureaucratic and perhaps doomed to fail at innovation. They employ and advocate the same techniques we use at JOYLAB. Effectively having a lean startup (the Lab) which can move quickly, operating autonomously of the main business, but also directly inputting into in-store experience, product developments and therefore the overarching business and brand strategies.
Nordstrom’s Innovation Lab works on one-week experiments – someone has an idea and over the space of one week the team test a concept to see if it works for the customer or not. They test ideas in-store with direct customer feedback as they iterate. It means that every step of the development process is validated by real-time customer decisions.
Burberry
In 2012, Burberry opened a flagship store on Regent street putting digital at the heart of the in-store experience. The store was conceived to mirror the digital experience of Burberry World. It has 500 speakers and 100 screens showing original content that’s been created in-house by Burberry. The screens also sporadically feature “disruptive digital takeovers”, where sounds and images synchronise across the store to show digital rain showers.
The store also weaves (Radio-frequency identification) RFID tags into selected products. When these items move into certain store locations such as changing rooms they activate catwalk and other footage related to the product. This further creates aspiration and desire in the consumer. It’s a great example of a leading retail brand beautifully marrying simple technology, behavioural science and a creative idea.
Innovation tends to suffer in times of economic difficulty, but as we see recovery, it’s the brands who have adapted to new ways of working who will best meet the changing consumer expectation. It will be interesting to see what innovations appear at this year’s London fashion week. Roll on the glamour!
Kieran McBride is co-founder of retail experience agency JOYLAB
Read more stories like this
• Seven tips to make it big in America when you’re a Brit(-ish) retailer
• Sponsored: How Burberry’s digital strategy is boosting brand value
• Sponsored: Wren’s First Kiss teaches a few brand lessons
To get weekly news analysis, job alerts and event notifications direct to your inbox, sign up free for Media Network membership.
All Guardian Media Network content is editorially independent except for pieces labelled ‘Advertisement feature’. Find out more here.
