Are you making knitted sweaters? Handmade hair bands, gloves, accessories, or anything related to fashion?
Branding seems to be a daunting task considering all of your competition in this industry, but you can do something about it!
The online fashion handmade industry seems to be doing well. But looking to fashion industry over the past few years, lot of money has been invested into fashion retail businesses like Moda Operandi ($46 million), Nasty Gal ($49 million), ShoeDazzle ($66 million), BeachMint ($75 million) and Gilt Group (whopping $236 million).
Valuations of these fashion businesses might seem inflated, but these businesses are rapidly progressing with the help of clear revenue stream and a value proposition that’s beyond price advantage.
But while these businesses are successfully raising more money and growing, there is another segment that’s struggling to survive. These businesses in the handmade industry are stalling because of their inability to adapt to the shift in the media consumption behavior of the consumer.
The branding a fashion business runs on the equation of need or demand; demand for ‘nice’ & ‘affordable’ clothes which can be bought conveniently from the comfort of home using the internet. On the other hand, the business of handmade fashion runs on the ‘personalized & support local’. Both these businesses have different audiences and require different styles of marketing.
It is important to keep in mind that successful online businesses lies in creating a life time customer value so that customers not only come back for more but also share their experience with their friends and family on Social Media.
Most online handmade sellers set the foundation to build lifetime customer value on the things such as:
- Visuals
- Perceived value
- Personalized Shopping Experience
- Honest, Openness & Realness
- Involving their customers – Crowd-sourcing
As a fashion business, you know how important visuals are. Often it’s the first impression your customers get of you – and you make a visual impact for your brand every day:
- Instagram posts
- Etsy listings
- One sheet
- Lookbook
- Emails to your customer list
- Packaging
- Kickstarter video
- Hang tags
- Youtube tutorials
- Garment tags
- Craft shows
- The photo of you or your team on your website
- All the photos on your website
- The invitations to your launch party
Perceived value and pricing biases is essentially playing a role in making your business successful.
“eBay taught me a lot about perceived value, and how to make things look their best, because that’s really the difference between literally putting a plus-size ladies anorak on a hanger and taking a picture of it, and putting it on a cool girl and making it look like something beyond your wildest dreams that you can snag for way less than Comme Des Garçons.” – SOPHIA AMORUSO – Founder, Nasty Gal
Check this video by Kelly Nishimoto owner of Cute Booty Lounge to learn more about branding a fashion related business:
After that it’s all about investing to make it happen. If you are creative you can invest your own time and join our discussion at the comment box below.
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