5 Trends Shaping The Ecommerce Fashion Industry

Fashion trends change, seasons come and go, but style isn't the only thing changing in the fashion ecommerce industry. How fashion ecommerce brands work behind-the-scenes is constantly evolving too.

Thanks to shifting customer expectations and fresh technology, there's a lot to keep up with. Not to mention COVID-19 squeezing a decade of ecommerce growth into a single year.

So with all this in mind, let's look at some trends rocking the ecommerce fashion industry as we look to 2022.

1. Ecommerce fashion industry is booming - and it's only getting bigger

Fashion is the largest ecommerce market segment in the world. In fact, the market is expected to reach a total market size of US$1.164,7 billion(GBP£861,958,364 million) by the end of 2025.

As a result, ecommerce will become the heart of the customer experience asfootfall at physical stores is expected to decline by 2030.

This unstoppable increase in ecommerce comes from two things - more customers willing to spend online and ecommerce's share of retail fashion. The emergence of more and more online pure-play retailers is also bolstering the industry.

So as more players enter the market for a slice of the pie and more active customers swap out brick-and-mortar shopping for online, the growth is unlikely to slow down anytime soon.

2. The impact of covid

By now we've all seen a fair share of ways covid-19 has wreaked havoc.

But for the ecommerce fashion industry a different narrative has emerged when it comes to the impact of covid. Customers quickly sought other ways to connect with their favourite brands and data from our latest Peak Trading Reportshows shoppers actually preferto buy online.

So most online fashion retailers have seen profits soar. For example, Boohoo, the UK fashion retailer that also owns Nasty Gal and PrettyLittleThing, has benefited from the huge increase in demand for inexpensive fashion. So much so that they hit arecord first half of 2021 sales of £976 million.

So it's no surprise that just under half (47%) of fashion retailers have not adjusted their ecommerce approachsince the start of COVID-19.

Online shopping has become a convenient and safe space for customers to spend their money.

3. Personalised shopping journeys

Personalisation has become an essential part of any online shopping journey. By personalising the customer experience, it keeps your products relevant in a world where everyone is bombarded with mass messages daily.

The fashion industry, with its multitude of styles, collections and options is more overwhelming to customers than most other market segments. So if you fall short on personalisation, your sales will no doubt take a hit:

- 91% of consumersare more likely to shop with brands who provide relevant offers and recommendations

- 80% of customersare more likely to purchase a product or service from a brand who provides personalised experiences

- 80% of those who classify themselves as frequent shopperssay they only shop with brands who personalise their experience

And the key to personalisation is data.

Without accurate insight, it won't be long until you're a ticking-time bomb.

While 90% of brandsalready have a personalisation strategy in place, a huge proportion still don't have the technology to track online shopper behaviours.

By tracking user behaviour (such as products clicked, time on site and previous purchases) and combining the use of AI, you can get an in-depth understanding of your shoppers to provide Netflix-like personalisation. From your visual merchandising (displaying stock in a way that will attract shoppers) right through to product recommendations and cart abandonment emails.

4. Artificial intelligence

Engaging with your shoppers, understanding their behaviours and personalising their shopping journeys can be made so much easier with AI.

So if you aren't already on the AI bandwagon, chances are, you're lagging behind. For example, AI-powered search (which works by collecting and exploiting all available product data to produce a semantic representation of each product) improves the shopping experience in a number of ways:

1. Shoppers save time by quickly and easily finding the products they want.

2. Shoppers are shown highly relevant products, as AI is able to interpret intent based on context.

3. Shoppers are never left without results. AI is able to suggest alternatives to non-stocked or out-of-stock products.

PrettyLittleThinguses self-learning algorithms to make sense of complex or long-tail search requests and eliminate zero-result searches. By tailoring each query to the customer's intent and ensuring continuous optimisation of the product discovery experience, PLT can offer customers a seamless shopping experience.

So if you aren't already, it's smart to prioritise AI in your ecommerce strategy for 2022.

5. Omnichannel shopping journeys

Today's shoppers have access to more screens than ever.

In fact, 90% of multiple device ownersswitch between screens to complete tasks, using an average of three different combinations every day.Whether it's a smartphone, tablet, PC or watch, they can browse your products on whichever device offers the most convenience and speed at that particular moment.

On average, multi-channel marketing and selling increases revenueby 38%, 120%, and 190% with each additional channel.

By providing a consistent experience across your ecommerce site, physical store, email, apps and customer support, you can keep shoppers engaged at every touchpoint of the sale.

Future-proof your ecommerce site by placing your customers at the heart of your strategy

As the fashion ecommerce industry keeps evolving at breakneck speed, the buzzwords - AI, omnichannel, personalisation - will continue to flood your inboxes, feeds and conversations.

But they're hot topics for good reason.

To truly offer your shoppers a superior customer experience, you need to be equipped to leverage AI for intelligent insights into shopper behaviour, be where your customers are and offer high-quality personalisation as much as possible.

By preparing yourself with these trends, your fashion ecommerce site will flourish in 2022 and beyond.

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