You’ve got the best designs in fashion retail, with new looks that you’re positive are going to be a trend. But if no one knows about your small boutique or online store, what’s the point? Marketing your designs is critical to your success, and the use of influencer marketing is a great avenue to pursue. But how can influencers help you succeed in the fashion retail industry? Influencer Marketing for Fashion Retail increases their sale.
Influencers Create Trends
Many people (especially women) look to Instagram for inspiration when they are choosing outfits or shopping online. The hashtag #OOTD has millions of followers for a reason. That’s “Outfit Of The Day”, in case you didn’t know. Influencers on Instagram and other social media platforms use that hashtag (and similar) to show off their fashion sense, and their followers start buying those outfits more.
We can say that they create trends, and people follow them. If you want to be successful in the fashion retail industry, the clothes you sell should be trendy.
Therefore, use influencers as a medium to put forth your design as trends, and people will start wearing your designs. In other words, you would be creating demand for your product, and increasing sales—which is the marker of success in fashion retail.
Exposure
Not only are influencers useful in creating trends, they are great for allowing fashion brands to gain exposure. You see, influencers don’t need to promote your outfits at all. They simply need to be wearing them in the content they upload on social media.
This works best if there is a brand logo on any of the outfits. Trust that when their followers think they like an outfit, they will find it online. They will seek you out, and you’ll have more traffic towards your store, where there will be more outfits for them to choose from.
This is a form of indirect marketing, whereby the influencer is not directly promoting your product but rather encouraging their followers to use it.
Using Influencers For Inspiration
Not only are influencers a great tool for marketing, you can use them to study what’s new in the fashion industry. Before you go ahead creating your designs (or, buying from designers, if that’s the type of store you run), you should visit popular influencer profiles and check out which outfits are getting more engagement.
This can be considered a form of research, to help you get an idea of what’s currently trending. Of course, you don’t want to re-create the same ideas, but draw upon them and find your own twist to add. You can also use their outfits to know what “hasn’t been done before”, so you can do it.
They are the models of the virtual runway—where all major brands are showing off their designs, so you’ll know what you’re competing with.
Market Research
As someone who works in fashion retail, you need to understand the people who will ultimately buy the clothes you design and the products you provide. Understanding your consumers will help you design products that are more suited to their needs, which they are more likely to purchase.
Because your target consumer will be followers of influencers that you are working with, you can use influencer accounts as a convenient source of market research for you to better understand them.
For example, you may look at how different users respond to the various outfits that influencers are wearing. Their comments can help you shape a generalized idea of their preferences and their dislikes. Of course, you shouldn’t be designing everything according to those preferences and dislikes, but you can use it as a guideline and source of inspiration.
A Note On Authenticity
Part of the reason that consumers trust the opinion of fashion influencers on social media is that influencers are usually free to market fashion design in their own way. There is no designer controlling how they put together an outfit.
In fact, more often than not, influencers will wear an outfit that is assembled from different brands. The main source of inspiration for the influence is their personal sense of style, which is seen by their followers as authentic. This can be difficult for brands at first, because they have no control on how their product is showcased.
However, it should be stressed that this authenticity is advantageous to brands. Consumers will view designs under a different light. They will have access to two “versions” of your fashion designs—that which you present, and the influencers’ version. If they are not moved to make a purchase when they see your version, they might be interested when they see the influencer’s version.
The best way to make sure that your brand is portrayed in tandem with your style is to choose an influencer that has more or less the same sense of style as you do. Collaborating with an influencer that doesn’t understand your design concept is likely to lead to conflict, so it’s best to research influencers before making any deals with them.
Summary: Influencers Work Hand-in-Hand With Fashion Designers
In today’s competitive fashion industry, succeeding in retail requires brands (no matter how big or small) to work with influencers in various ways to showcase their designs to the public. Designs and retail stores need to make use of this essential tool in order to effectively reach their target consumers and increase their sales.
They are the best way to make an impression on the market, and a great way to turn potential buyers into loyal customers of your store. More so, these loyal customers will inspire their friends to buy from you as well, further increasing your success.
Influencers are changing the fashion retail industry in more ways than one, which is why it is crucial for brands to collaborate with them if they are seeking success. Nowadays, almost everyone uses social media and fashion influencers are able to change purchasing decisions dramatically through their impact on social media. Their contribution to changes in the fashion retail industry cannot be ignored.
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