Today’s landscape of fashion is changing dramatically, and the average consumer is becoming more and more empowered. Users are increasingly being influenced by what they see on apps such as Instagram, as well as by celebrities. Brands are jumping on these trends. Just as social media is inspiring designers, it is also influencing young consumers in making style choices
This is mostly due the inclusivity that social media brings but also the diversity. Girls want to see girls who look like them, that they can relate to wearing fashion, as opposed to those images that have been showed through print fashion magazines for many years.
Bloggers embody this new perception of fashion being that girl next door figure, a fashion addict, looked up to by sometimes thousands of people around the world and who has the power to make or break a brand in a single post. The best example of this recent phenomenon is the Italian blogger Chiara Ferragni whose success story has now become a case study for Harvard Business School students.
If brands manage to combine the online experience with the physical experience, get to better know their customers and give them personalised choices with the right product at the right time, then they will win the battle for sure.
As a matter of fact, fashion weeks used to be runway shows where influent editors and celebrities sat in the front row, and where the selected pieces from designer collections could not be seen in stores until six months.
This system worked well for some time, but thanks to the rise of social media, fashion went through a drastic metamorphosis. The magazine editors and buyers still hold powerful influence, but now they do include the voice of the average consumer.
Indeed, if a new designer collection is on the runway, you can watch the fashion show from your couch with livestreaming platforms like Instagram, Facebook and YouTube since designers acknowledge the purchasing power that consumers hold.If you see a blogger wearing an outfit you love on Instagram, you can find and purchase the items right from your phone and have them delivered to your door thanks to shop applications that collaborate with social media, like rewardStyle, ShopStyle or 21Buttons.
With the rise of fast fashion competing for consumers’ attention and easily shoppable social media posts on Facebook and Instagram, consumers are finding themselves with overflowing closets offers.
Luckily, another empowering benefit of social media is that it has made it easy for consumers to sell their clothes just like retailers. With social media, consumers can easily reach out to potential clients and sell their. Many consumers have turned to Facebook Marketplace or Instagram to post listings of their second-hand clothing successfully. Additionally, second-hand clothing retail sites are becoming more popular than ever. I can personally relate to this with a bit of personal experience. Indeed some of the influencers I follow on Instagram and even some of my friends often share links in their profile to reselling apps such as Depop or Vinted.
Good look at the subject.