Market Research for Fashion Industry

Objective of the service program

Market research is the activity through which entrepreneurs and businesses assess the potential of a target market for doing business. Good market research brings out meaningful information and insights for more effective planning and strategy formulation. It should be able to establish the presence of the need for an intended product/service in the target market. It should provide insights into the fundamental buying conditions and preferences, the maturity of the market, competition, and what it takes to succeed in that market.
It is natural for novice entrepreneurs and businessmen to ask – how to do market research for fashion industry in an effective and efficient manner. But market research also demands a degree of expertise and competence so that the output is meaningful. Market research for fashion industry is no exception. Data collection and processing often turns out to be a humongous task for businesses. Add to it the necessity to keep an eye on the fashion trends.
In this service program, DFX will carry out market research for its clients in the fashion business.

Why market research for fashion industry

1. Establishing the presence of the need for an intended product/service in the target market
   We buy something when we believe that it is capable of fulfilling a need or solving a problem. Fashion goes beyond that. It is slightly more than meeting our basic needs of clothing and footwear and enters the realm of also looking chic and trendy. But to look fashionably trendy, or at least fashionably decent, has become a norm in almost every society whether the situation is formal or informal. Without holding any assumption, ascertaining whether there is a need for the fashion products/services that are intended to be offered in a target market is the first prerogative in market research for fashion businesses. Various factors that come into play here are education, age-population grouping, awareness, the impact of social media, income levels, spending patterns, employment, cultural and social expectations, etc.
2. What are the buying conditions and buying preferences for the potential customers?
   For a given fashion wear/accessory, the buying conditions of making a purchase must be present in the target market region. These conditions are quality, affordability, distribution or delivery, product care and maintenance, weather conditions, etc. For example, in areas with poor road connectivity leading to hurdles in last-mile delivery, both customers and businesses will be reluctant to buy and sell respectively. The same is true when a physical store is located in an inconvenient location. Customers will prefer to buy it online or from another store that they can easily access.
   The buying preferences include store attractiveness, the high-end user experience of the app/website, product customization, multiple payment modes, ease of product return and exchange, etc. By nature, these preferences are pleasing or assuring and complementing customers’ shopping journey and experience. But nowadays, these features are a part of customers’ expectations from a fashion brand. A good market research should be able to shed light on these preferences.
3. When the buying conditions and buying preferences are present or met with, are people actually buying from the existing players in the market?
   Even after the critical conditions and preferences are present, and the market is still not responding as expected, it is highly probable that there are gaps which businesses cannot fulfil for now, or they have misread the market and failed to identify the right ‘value’ for its potential customers. Sometimes a target market is not ready to embrace what a fashion business is trying to sell to them specifically. Sometimes customers prefer to buy certain fashion products from online stores and some others from physical stores. Some customers are wary of buying clothes and footwear online while there are others who get everything online.
4. Who are the competitors? What makes them successful?
   Analyzing the competition is one of the core objectives of market research.
   The market size is always limited at a given point in time. For instance, when a customer has to make any purchase, he/she would buy it from only one store. So, of all the players in the market, it is only one store that seals the deal. From the perspective of the stores, it is that one customer at that point in time that mattered. The same principle holds at the market level. So, it is important for a business to find out the number of players operating in the market and the market share held by each.
   Successful businesses not only meet the fundamental buying conditions and preferences but also do a lot of other things right. These can include offering better quality of products, better and efficient services, discounted pricing, wider merchandising, strong brand positioning, convenient UX of eCommerce web/app, easy product return/exchange, etc. The value offered and delivered by a business enterprise in a market is responsible for the market share it holds.

Challenges involved in getting it right

1. Lack of experience and expertise in market research
   Market research is a separate field of specialization. And every industry has its own terrain. It requires a certain level of expertise and competence in market research planning and execution that is sometimes found lacking with entrepreneurs or even experienced businessmen.
2. Gathering data and information
   Market research entails tons of data collection and processing. But going conventionally, it often turns out to be a heavily time-consuming and burdensome activity when businesses do it in-house. Fashion enterprises often turn to the services of market research consulting companies or market analysis consultants so that they could utilize the saved resources on the broader business goals and planning.
3. Keeping a tab on the dynamic nature of the fashion trends
   A trouser would still be a trouser but its couture, fabric, and design are subject to a steady degree of change over time. This rate of change also varies from place to place. The same principle applies to other forms of fashion including footwear, watches, jewellery, wearable, etc. Keeping a tab on these changes is an art that fashion businesses need to stay abreast of with the aid of periodical and sustainable fashion market analysis.
4. Deriving meaningful insights
   Market research is futile if it cannot deliver meaningful and actionable information and insights for informed decision making in business. Market research must start with need/problem identification, objectives of data and information collection, and the standards for defining the solutions. While carrying out market analysis for fashion industry also, professionals do need to follow these tenets.

Why DFX for market research?

With more than eight years of experience in conducting fashion industry market research and a team of expert market research consultants, DFX (Digital Finance Experts) shall cover the market research needs of your online/offline fashion business enterprise. Running on our expertise and experience in fashion business consulting, our market research analysts shall identify the unique requirements of your business and develop the right market research plan. We follow a planned and systematic approach from planning to carrying out market research and presenting the conclusions. We deliver CTAs (Call to Action) and recommendations to help you formulate robust marketing strategies.
If you have any questions about our market research consulting services, drop us a message, and we shall be happy to reach out to you.

Product/ Service Research

• Product Demand Study
• Buying pattern and preference of our TG
• Product/ Services Categories Demand Analysis
• Keyword Analysis i.e. Online Search Analysis of our products: No. of searches per day/ week/ month in our target location

Range Plan/ Merchandising Strategy Research

• Fast moving categories in the market within the fashion industry
• Range Plan recommendation for your collection, as per budgets allocated for production/ inventory

Competitor Research

• Identify and benchmark the key players in a competitive set
• Analyse the online best-sellers of your competitors
• Competitors Policies adopted for online/ e-commerce sales

Price Feasibility Research

• Market Price Analysis (includes key competitors and market players)
• Suitable Price Bracket (Min-Max range): as per your brand positioning

Marketing Strategy Research

• Evaluate the channels which is driving traffic to your competitors
• Determine industry trends and strategies adopted by top market players
• Evaluate the effectiveness of how competitors are acquiring customers
• Traffic Channels: Direct/ Referring sites/ Social Media/ email/ Paid Ads/ Organic traffic
• identify marketing channels that drive the highest conversion rates
• Top Referring Sites & Top visiting pages
• Social Media Leaderboard
• Influencers Profiling
• Trending Online Searches related to your Industry, products & services.

Market Overview

• TG Demographics (Total Market size in terms of: Age/ Gender/ Cities/ etc)
• TG Profiling – 5W Analysis: Who, Where, What, When, Why
• Market SWOT Analysis
• Risk & Mitigation Factors

Operations Strategy Research

• Infrastructure Strategy
• Human Resource Strategy
• Information Technology Strategy

Action Plan Recommendations