Everyone is fighting for market share. Slow fashion is becoming trendy. Shoppers are being thoughtful about where and how they spend their money. How do you stay profitable when growth within the apparel sector slows? There are ways to better serve your current customers so you retain them and find new customers without spending wildly trying to keep up with the latest social media trends.
Evaluate Your Size Range If you only run XS-XL regular sizes there is opportunity to gain additional customers by expanding the size range. What percent of your sales are in XL? Perhaps you need to add 2 and 3X. The best fitting extended size ranges take extra care and often fit on a separate base size because the body shape is different. Additional development is necessary but it’s easier than adding new styles to the assortment. Test running petite and or tall products. We can create petite and tall patterns simply by following rules to adjust the patterns without refitting each style. Customers who struggle to find clothing that fits are the most loyal when they find companies who serve their needs well. Get a Handle on Returns How many of you have returned an item to a store and not even been asked why? Too many companies have given up trying to get to the root cause of returns. Customers don’t buy a garment with the hope of returning it. You have disappointed a customer if they are making a return. These are people who are interested in your products. Not caring why they returned a garment is giving up on someone who already voted yes for you. I meet companies who have the data they need but never look at it. For some, the manner in which the data is gathered makes it impossible to aggregate. They want a magic solution to help consumers find the right size, but meanwhile it could be the shape of the garment that doesn’t fit. Raise Your Retails Our purchasing power as US consumers has eroded 22.3% since January 2020. Yet, apparel retails have only increased 10.6%. Apparel retails falling in proportion to other products has been normal over years and years as retailers chase cheaper labor. Costs have been driven down while the overall quality has eroded. Now is the time to focus on adding value through quality. Selling less at a higher price point for the same gross sales dollars is almost always more profitable. If your clothing cost less than a tank of gas and much less than a trip to the grocery store, the consumer perceives it as a perishable product. Yet, designers, patternmakers, cutters and sewers put in time and effort to make the product. Shouldn’t it be worth more than products that last you a week or two? Raise Perceived Quality What’s your customers experience when they receive their garment? Many companies are simply placing garments in plastic mailers these days. Are you selling $80 shirts and shipping them the same way companies selling $20 shirts do? Try wrapping the product in custom printed tissue with a sticker. Better yet, add a hand written note. Even better, add a card or paper they can fill out IF they return the product explaining why! It can be reason codes with check boxes or a place to jot a note. Raise your retail to cover the additional packaging. You might find that a few cents of extra packaging add a couple of dollars in perceived quality. Be creative and personal. Create a positive experience whether they are shopping in store or from home. Make sure the website and digital marketing live up to the experience you want the consumer to have.
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