Hang a collection in the store and wait to see if it catches on? If it were up to FashionSwipe, that would be a thing of the past. The company helps fashion brands test designs before they go into production. This should prevent waste of raw materials, maximize margins and strengthen customer loyalty.
Term swipe most people know from dating apps. A swipeor swipe, to the right means you like someone, a swipe to the left is a ‘no thanks’. FashionSwipe’s mechanism is just as simple, but it looks at whether consumers like a garment or accessory. The company has already collaborated with several fashion companies, including Shoeby.
FashionSwipe helps fashion companies make data-driven purchasing decisions
How exactly does it work when a fashion company wants to test a collection? “FashionSwipe is the platform on which the customer, in this case Shoeby, conducts the research.” The fashion company supplies the designs it wants to test and the database to customers it wants to involve in the research. You can also choose to include company employees in the research. “In terms of the customers who are selected, we recommend choosing regular customers or consumers who have ordered at least three times in the past twelve months,” said Patrick Moreu, co-founder of FashionSwipe during a telephone conversation. This also filters out the possibility that competitors can enter the study and view designs.
A unique swipe link is linked to each customer or employee from the database. These links ultimately go back to the fashion company, in this case Shoeby, which sends an email to the person they want to survey. “Because the unique code is in the email, we can extract the data, but because we do not have the customer data from Shoeby, we cannot link it back to a name and jersey number.” This means that the data is well protected and the applicable privacy legislation is taken into account.
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Shoeby has managed to reduce purchasing waste by 10 percent thanks to FashionSwipe
It swipe focuses on the customer’s first visual reaction. Only the yes or no response is important. “We can of course, if a company wishes, test multiple versions of a dress with different colors and patterns,” Moreu explains. But it is not about a questionnaire that asks questions about one item. “We have proven with our research that a primary response from a consumer determines whether someone has a positive purchase intention.”
There is only 72 hours between submitting the designs and customer data to receiving the research results. It therefore does not cause major delays in the design and production process for fashion companies. “The costs and effort to ask whether the consumer still likes a standard blue dress are now so small, while the damage caused with textile waste by not asking is actually very great.” Moreu emphasizes that the company’s intention is not to increase sales of fashion companies, but to reduce waste. With all the tools available for testing market needs, it is actually outdated not to do this, Moreu reasons.
The process with Shoeby has shown that the results are a good prediction of which items will actually sell. The results of the FashionSwipe will be linked to the actual sales figures at a later time. Purchasing waste was reduced by 10 percent for various collections that it tested with FashionSwipe. This also resulted in cost savings of up to 10 percent. “Thanks to FashionSwipe, we can create collections that even better match the preferences of our customers, while reducing waste and costs,” says Brenda Leijtens, purchasing manager, at Shoeby. “This collaboration has not only improved our purchasing, but has also helped us take an extra step towards more sustainable business operations. We tested approximately 15 percent of our total women’s range. We certainly see opportunities to expand this further.”
Reduce textile waste by testing clothing items earlier in the production process
However, there appears to be another nice benefit from the FashionSwipe research. Through the unique codes linked to swipers (who are sometimes employees), a company can see which employees predicted what consumers liked better than average. With insight into this talent, a fashion company can choose to involve these employees more in the design process.
Moreu hopes that fashion companies will make more use of customer feedback. Whether with FashionSwipe or not, he wants to see the textile waste mountain decrease. Interested companies can always register with FashionSwipe, also for a test swipe. “After that test swipe, we compare the actual sales figures of the collection a few months later. This way we show a potential customer with the data that we are in the right place.” It enables the company to make data-driven choices that meet market needs.
Source: fashionunited.nl
