Fast Fashion holding you back? Not anymore…

Fast fashion has been into existence since ages, and it has been a boon to the sales of a retailer but a bane when it comes to their inventory management. The biggest fear of fast fashion is that it always stays in the testing phase. The moment you realize that it would boom, some other trend comes up and turns your warehouse inventory into a heap of rotten tomatoes, transforming into wasted dollars, yet again.

How would you plan to sustain your fast fashion inventory management tactics?

Something,  despite all the efforts, remains missing, and that ‘something’ turns out to be the missing piece in your strategy puzzle. As mentioned in our previous article on ‘rush hour management,’ a judicious planning for your sales should be done way in advance. Not just the stock, but also the selling prices should be evaluated much before the stock gets showcased to the customers.

A consumer demands urgency when it comes to trending fashion, with zero concern about its availability. Speaking from personal experience,  when I wanted a specific product which was unavailable at that store, I simply turned my back to go to another store, not the least upset. This won’t be such a setback for the store as they have adopted the fast fashion model. Smart retailers know their customers do understand this, and will certainly return to buy something else and leave with a smile. Fast fashion is not meant to stay, so do not expect stuff in bulk. Being a retailer, stocking your warehouse smartly is how you can start improvising your fast fashion inventory management.

You might need a dual-analytical strategy.

A thorough social media analysis can work wonders here. Follow some well-known designers on Instagram or Facebook to keep an eye on what’s upcoming, and what they plan to make trending. While earlier you had to depend on fashion magazines to keep abreast of the latest trends, which was a time-consuming process, today, social media has opened the gates for fast fashion sellers.

Coming to the customers, they satiate their appetite from social media. Before stepping into your store, they have already browsed through social media. It’s more like a virtual connect of your fast fashion inventory with social media. Interesting, isn’t it?

Demand forecasting will also be walking side by side along with the above-mentioned strategy,  it will be one of the driving forces for inventory management after social media analysis.

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Adopt a fast fashion methodology.

It’s necessary that you, your system and your staff (if any) should be well-educated of how fast fashion moves. Having an inventory management system capable of tackling fast fashion inventory will come in handy and make the process much smoother. When it’s about fast fashion, make sure that the delivery and shipments are settled as early as possible, to impress customers with fast deliveries and keep them coming back for more.  You can also stock corporate apparel styles to cater to customers that come searching for them.

Corporate outfits are very much in a spotlight when it comes to fast fashion, so accordingly, you need to guarantee your inventory carries some relevant stuff.

Not every innovation receives an applause

Sometimes fashion retailers try to give their pieces an epic fashion statement, which majorly works but doesn’t last long. For example, Wrangler, a famous fashion retail giant, introduced waterproof jeans, which retailed expensive for normal buyers, again a creative but unsuccessful move.

People were thrilled by the marketing and advertising campaigns by Wrangler. This commenced an era of innovation in jeans. However, when the same concept was pitched by Levi’s it was successful.

The only difference here was, there were immense research and analysis put in by Levi’s on Wrangler’s idea. The pain-point was captured, and henceforth Levi’s reigned.

Now, how did inventory management work here?

Wrangler’s marketing campaign got its tremendous sales, which eventually made them over-stock their warehouses. Later, a drastic fall in demand for sales made Wrangler sell the same stock at floor-dropping prices.

Because old is gold…

There are times when things in your inventory start getting rusty. Haha, the ‘karma-methodology’ not just applies to humans, but also to inventory. ‘What goes around, comes around…’ and fashion that goes around certainly comes back. There are some attires which don’t lose grip on their price even after their trend has passed, for e.g. plain white shirts and blue denim jeans.

There are retailers which are masterminds when it comes to revamping their existing inventory. Tried and tested methods always work. Sometimes few minor moderations can result in an epic evolution! A small effort to your old inventory can make it a part of the trending stock.

If tweaking the old stock is not possible, then bring a twist to its marketing.

So, in the end…

The fashion industry is highly dynamic in nature, diminishing the predictability factor, which is why retailers and sellers have to be on their toes all the time. Mostly because of the whimsical mindedness of your customers, fast fashion has always been the toughest task to tackle.

The social media analysis, understanding the methodology – covering it all, talking about speed is always easy, but to match yourself with it is not! Let fast fashion not be so pell-mell that you are left behind!