Stage 2 Report - Dissertation preparation

STAGE ONE REPORT

Intelligent Fashion World How Can Fashion Embrace the Digital Era?

Mujun Zhang N0678951 Word Count: 1

I confirm that this work has gained ethical approval and that I have faithfully observed the terms of the apporal in the conduct of this project.

Signed:

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Content

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Introduction - Aims and Objectives

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Methodology - Primary Research - Secondary Research - Limitation

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Literature Review

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Chapter One: Data Sharing 1.1 Business Utilization: Speed Up the Shopping Jouney 1.2 Consumer Utilization: Cuztomized and Consistent Experience

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Chapter Two: High Tech + Human Touch 2.1 Redefine the need of “Try On�

2.2 Personal Stylist Anytime and Anywhere

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Chapter Three: Image Express Everything 3.1 Uploading, Searching and Exploring 3.2 Fashion Event is More Enterable 3.3 Case Study 3.4 Emotional Intelligence is the Future

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- Insight and Oppoutunity - Conclusion

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Introduction Digital connectivity is such a critical driver of fashion growth. It is not only reflected in e-commerce today but also benefits physical stores and events. The business of Fashion states that fashion industry spends over 15 to 20 percent on digital nowadays. (BoF, A, 2017) This report will discuss the utilization of digital connectivity in the offline fashion market including retailing, fashion show such as catwalk and other fashion events.

The previous future thinking report had concerned how the fashion industry response the digital world. It highlighted the importance of omnichannel retailing and how fashion event connects customers through online channels.

This report will discuss in this field deeper based on primary and secondary research. It will start from the current situation of the utilization of digital connectivity in the 6

fashion industry, figure out how business and fashion event use it currently. Consumer behavior on new technology will follow by it through comprehensive research, including the current usage and acceptability of digital fashion world.

These analyze also aims to figure out their future demand and expectation on the fashion industry, as well as the better method for them to get in touch with fashion except online retailing.

Moreover, the business reaction is still a core to consider which would conduct from in-store observation and case studies. Their behavior would reflect the current social needs, and some insights and opportunities would found after indepth research.

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Mintel states that e-commerce in the fashion industry will rise as 79% in 2022 (Mintel a, 2017). While luxury e-commerce is growing fast, the portion of online shopping is now about 7 percent and expected to achieve 20 percent in 2015. This means that the physical stores still play a lead role in fashion selling and need to keep pace with digital revolution. The function of physical store is beyond shopping even there was a fast growing in e-commerce; they immerse consumers in a unique premium experience. (Florine, 2018) They become a core center to reflect the brand’s culture and tell the story to customers. (Business of Fashion, a, 2018) “The store in the future will enable the brand to touch its customers in a multitude of ways.” The book Season of Change stated that.

(Ziv, 2014) So the importance of offline fashion market should be attended to.

the offline fashion industry, the utilization of digital connectivity has been an indispensable tool to enhance the overall experience by improving consumer engagement. (Scholz and Smith, 2016) However, the overall implementation effect would influence by many external factors including consumer acceptance, IT maturity, retailer’s budget and how they use it.

(Jan H, Anh-Quoc and Jorg Becker, 2008) Embracing digital is necessary business survive. However, it is still laggard for the fashion industry, especially the offline aspects including the physical stores, catwalk and other fashion events that proceed based on experience. Still, most fashion companies relegate technology to a subset of their marketing and branding, but has not integrated into core business thinking. This report will analyze the current usage of digital connectivity and people’s opinion on it, aims to explore the changing The offline fashion presents in diverse ways to consumer expectation and highlight the innoan audience which are known as fashion week, vative opportunities to take hold in the next fashion exhibition, pop-up stores and so on. In step.

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Aim and Objectives The project question generates as “How can fashion embrace the digital era? “This report will have an in-depth consideration of various digital solutions and focus on the offline fashion industry. Also, the changing consumer behavior made by the digital world is also essential to research to find insights to improve in the next stage.

The report aims to investigate the utilization of digital connectivity in the offline fashion industry and explore innovative usages to upgrade consumer experience.

The following objectives will structure the whole research in a consistent process and ensure relevant findings will achieve the aim through each specific targets.

1: To evaluate consumer attitudes towards online and offline fashion experience.

2: To review how fashion business is using digital connectivity today in physical stores and fashion events.

3: To investigate offline versus online retail experience and define future development.

4: To assess how to upgrade personalized service by using digital facilities.

5: To identify the innovative ways of using new technology in the fashion business to enrich their offline experience in the future.

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Methodology This report contains a deliberate design of both primary and secondary research; the reason is to gain the real and practical knowledge of social response to this topic from consumer site and industry field.

In this report, the consideration of further development of the digital fashion world will affect by various external factors which is difficult to study by a single analysis. The mixed method combined with qualitative and quantitative research will provide more opinions and insights. The mixed method will utilize the strength of both qualitative and quantitative data to generate more insights and perspective from different types of data and different levels of people. (Creswell, J W, 2017)

Primary Research The fundamental research carried out through three ways to collect data on people’s attitude, experiences, and opinions on digital connectivity in the current fashion industry, as well as the brand response on it.

- Online Questionnaire Any types of fashion events are relying on digital connectivity nowadays. It helps the fashion industry to approach audience efficiency. Consumer’s perspective on the connection between online and offline in the fashion industry will be analyzed from the online survey as well as their future expectation on it.

Communication channels: - Chinese social media including Weibo, Wechat and QQ zone.

- Instagram, Facebook Sample: The sample choose considered to the primary audience of digital fashion experience which is people age between 18 to 40, for both male and female.

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- Focus Group The focus group will provide more supportive information to the quantitative data.

After the quantitative survey, some insights will be highlighted and need further research to discover the reason behind the phenomenon. The focus group survey aims to summarize these personal consumer behaviors generated by digital connectivity and to find more potential factors that influence them between now and then. For example, let them introduce one fashion brand’s online activity that attracts them to physical stores and tell how that online message works on them. These questions will provide a deep understanding of the acceptability and feedback of the digital connection between the fashion industry and their audience. Also, to discover the original and effective way to use digital infrastructure for the fashion world to make a better communication.

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Sample: People aged between 18 to 40, for both male and female.

- Store Observation and Interview The survey will focus on current usage and acceptability of digital connectivity in store through the view of both store staff and consumers. It aims to find how digital connection work in the real shopping atmosphere and check the effectiveness through customers.

It will reflect the social response and consumer needs to the digital infrastructure. The combination of observation and interview will provide a better understanding of different brand’s methods and feedback on using digital connectivity., as well as people’s using habit.

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Secondary Research This report began with secondary analysis which provided a brief understanding of what has already known and what remained to learn on the topic. As a result, the reading of existing information defined the direction of primary research by some questions that have not been obtained.

Social account observation: To view social accounts and topic for fashion brands and past fashion events. Aim to explore how fashion business uses the internet to transmit their information and manage the connection to their offline store.

Books: Books about digital marketing strategy, advertising, and consumer behavior. Aim to gather academic knowledge about how to use digital connectivity effectively in the fashion business and develop it in the future.

Reports Reading the report about the situation of the current fashion market, to understand the macro and micro trend in society and fashion industry. Aim to a targeted development direction of digital utilization in the future.

Journals The past journal focus on the fashion industry, government news, and technology research have contained. Aim to understand the current political and technological situation in order to find their relation to the future fashion world.

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Limitation

The participant from online the very and focus group was mainly from China and the United Kingdom. The lack of geographic diversity would make a similar result from their opinions and experience of the fashion industry. Also, for questions that discuss online experience and brand’s digital marketing, there was an internet restriction for Chinese people to access foreign application and website such as Instagram and Facebook, so there is a difficult to the track the specific channels they consider.

Regarding the focus group research, the ideal ratio for female and male was 1:1, however, the respondents were skewed by one man and nine women. The gender problem would have a little impact on the digital experience related questions and the further store observation research would provide more insight from both genders.

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Moreover, the gathered feedback from the online and offline survey were all used a question-and-answer format which may not be able to reflect respondents’ real behavior. Also, due to the digital connectivity is still at a starting point in the offline fashion world, the small number of impressive example of utilization would limited respondent’s answers. The result restricted to some common equipment or something they saw on the news but not their favorite one based on real experience.

In terms of secondary research, it is difficult to utilize the existing data efficiency because the existing knowledge collected for a different purpose, which means that they may not be useful for this report’s research problems. [Hox, Joop J., and Hennie R. Boeije, 2005] There was many reports talked about digital utilization in the fashion retailing field, and lack of knowledge about other fashion events. Moreover, the time of published knowledge is another questions. The ever-changing environment leads an unstable state on consumer and business. Human’s activities are constantly changing by external factors.

So it is not accurate to investigate how digital connectivity generically impacts them.

Lastly, it is unclear to resolve discrepancies that come in different results from two separate methods. (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2007) The time-consuming is reflected by more time on integrating the result from each research; there is a need to transform the data and do a summarize, at last, especially the qualitative data.

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Literature Review In the fashion world, consumers have long preferred to “try before you buy.� While e-commerce continues to grow, the channel still only represents merely 20 to 25 percent of the market, the physical store remains majority value. They act as a guide to drive higher conversion rates and increase average purchase values. In the last decades, fashion industry witnessed the development of digital connectivity; they keep making new measures to perfect the consumer experience by a various use of technology and provide more opportunities for customers to define their exploring journey.

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Multichannel retail and the impact on store system Retailing is the most tangible way for people to understand and join in the fashion industry. In the digital era, fashion retailing is facing a more fierce competition than ever. More and more brands moved to multi-channel retailing for greater profitability (Euromonitor, 2009) and the omnichannel retailing has become a trend in today and the future. However, the physical store remains a lead role for retailers to get in touch with their customers. (Chu and Paglucia, 2002) Math wick pointed out that, they play as a starter to create an integrated experience between each channel, (Marta Blazquez, 2014) and they are the key in adding more value for the fashion brands in the retailing process. (Kerin, 1992) In recent times, the integrating digital infrastructure is improving the omnichannel retailing (Jan 2018) Online is also coming into the offline world. Services and in-store facilities provide support to connect online and offline sales, such as click-and-collect services and interactive fitting rooms that combine with online networks.

(Drapers report A, 2012)

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Furthermore, the enhanced store experience is another remarkable reason to adopt digital infrastructure offline. (Kerin, 1992) The shopping environment had an irreplaceable role when people were doing purchase. (Kotler, 1972) The use of technology provides customers with new services and work with human labor by automation which would generate value for consumers and upgrade their engagement rate. (Scholz and Smith,2006) The increasing use of technologies including iPads, display screen, stock check code, AR and so on are all contributed to a more accessible and convenient buying process. (Euromonitor, 2009) The digital experience in-store with excellent shopping atmosphere would lead to a higher willingness for purchasing at last. (Baker,2009) In the offline fashion retailing system, the in-store technologies have redefined the shopping experience to a higher level. They guide customers to touch, feel and discover by themselves and use the technologies to make the process efficiency. Jan pointed that, individualization and cost-optimization are two ultimate goals for in-store technologies. (Jan, 2018 )As a result, it is crucial for retailers to note the IT maturity and choice of facilities are relevant for consumers and meet their expectations. (Drapers report B, 2012)

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Emerging of AR and VR The early 2000s witnessed the increasing acceptation of advanced technology and termed as “consumer-facing” technology that people experience directly through interactive infrastructures. (Pantano, )Rahman defines that, there is a high desire for people to touch, feel and experience in offline shopping. (Rahman,2013) High technology’s ability to interact with customer automatically, and then predict in many cases has been an efficient tool in the fashion industry. The emerging Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, and Artificial Intelligent offer the powerful digital channel and boost sales for the fashion industry. The report showed that 34 percent of retailers plan to use Artificial Intelligent skip within the next three years(BoF C, 2018) ) and the further prove by Edwin pointed company’s high technology application can boost sales by 22 percent (Edwin, 2017) AR and VR, the technique that seamlessly blends the virtual with the real world Fig.16 (Huang and Liao, 2015) has used as a tool to optimize people’s need of “try on” and “interaction.” It worked through a virtual layer that can add image and textual information, as well as other virtual elements to the user’s viewing in real time. (Carmigniani et al.2011) It provides consumers with a creative and innovative way of experience the offline fashion industry and can significantly benefit the business. Bulearca and Tarjan’s study also highlighted that the use of high technology would also increase customer loyalty for the brand. (2010) However, the high technology still needs some time to join in the fashion industry. In the past decades, the fashion world saw a rapid growth by emerging markets, opening hundreds of stores and various fashion week in different countries. Nonetheless, the growth rate fell from eight to four now, and it seems to stay. (Edwin, 2017) Therefore, the attitude for digital will be very cautious, both for the business and customers. The costly pricing with a steep learning curve of VR would impact mainstream consumer’s adoption. (Edwin, 2017) The acceptance of new technologies has a direct impact on the final experience and decision making. Although AR has lower barriers than VR because there is no need for dedicated immersive hardware such as goggles or headgear, fashion business’s utilization could effect by other factors including the technology acceptance and investment budget. (Jan 2018)

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Conclusion The digital revolution will continue to increase people’s expectations of the fashion industry. The word “Experience” was a key theme for most of the literature; they researched how digital connectivity influence the current business activity to increase consumer’s shopping experience and how the retailing chain connects the online and offline channels. However, the digital infrastructure still needs to be explored to a more creative way to upgrade the “personalized” experience and be used not only in the retailing but also other fashion events. Unfortunately, the research into these problems is so general and sparse.

Therefore, further research is needed to more clearly explore more innovative utilization of technology and how they work on a better “connectivity” to benefit the fashion industry and its audience.

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- Business of Fashion, 2018

“ Data-driven Personalisation Will Transform the Fashion Industry

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1.1: Business utilization: Speed Up the Shopping Journey 1.2: Consumers Utilization: Customized and Consistent Experience

Chapter One:

Data Sharing Redefine the Marketing Activity

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1.1

Business utilization: Speed Up the Shopping Journey

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From a consumer’s perspective, the instore experience has maintained at a steady experience level for more than 30 years and what they want now is a great shopping process. (IBM Report, ) 41% of online respondents prefer instore shopping due to “real experience” which focus on the overall impression from every aspect such as the in-store environment, the trained staff, the convenient of finding what the want and even the after-sale service.

in ZARA, Nottingham, they showed a wealth experience on this skill. When customers find a product online and take a note of its information and give to the store staff, they used their mobile phone with staff privileges or a portable scanner to check the bar code, and all the knowledge of what products would appear to them including the stock of particular size and the general location in-store. It saved people’s time of finding a specific product.

During the shopping trip, data sharing used through a typical QR code and Bar-code to improve the customer’s exploration in-store such as the location of the product and enable staff to do stock-level tracking process.

Oxford Institute of Retail Management States that, the difficulty of find merchandise is a primary reason for customers leaving the store. (2011) With the primary research of store observation 22

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Also, the brand would share all their stock experience by the efficient data sharing information to domestic and worldwide between the brand’s internal communicawhich is more efficient for them to do de- tion. livered between each other in some states of emergency. The store observation in Sandro, Paris, one respondent from primary research Yushan asked the staff to check whether their newest trainer was in stock in any store in Paris. After the searching on the company’s internal website, the team found there was one suitable size for Yushan the another shop nearby.

The whole delivered process was merely 10 minutes which shorten customer’s shopping time and to upgrade the entire

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41% of online respondents

prefer in-store shopping due to “real experience”

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1.2

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Data sharing benefits Shop Direct pointed customers to choose out that, the data initithe most convenient ative will add over £20 way of shopping by million in sales and Consumers Utilization: themselves. 35% of would optimize offline online shoppers aban- Customized and Consistent operations. (WGSN A, doned the purchase 2015) Business as the Experience decision due to sites originator to collect asking them to creatcustomer’s data, then ed accounts. (FounderU, 2019) As physical analyze and categorize them to service cusstores embrace various technology, custom- tomers in a more personalized way. Loyers often struggle to find a simple and effi- alty card and membership system are the cient payment option. Recently, self-check- key ways for retailers to get in touch with out gathered shift the checkout task back to customers that have had a relation to them the customers, the service that depends on previously and gather the necessary data. the data sharing of personal account infor- Whenever people go into the physical store mation. In China, mobile payment has been and join in the membership, retailers would part of people’s daily life. 34.3% of people receive customer’s personal information from primary research through mobile pay- and all their shopping history. Also, the Wiment is the most useful digital facility in- Fi-based analytic systems enable retailers store. People merely need to add their data to capture customer’s movements and inof card detail to WeChat payment page, dividual dwell time in-store after they sign and they can scan the QR codes in-store to in to their network. Retailers then know make a payment which is much faster than the customer’s preference and purchase the traditional payment process. probabilities. These data help them to automatically make recommendations and proAfter-sale and follow-up service is also a vide matching ideas for customers through considerable factor to influence people’s e-mail and telephone. overall experience. Data sharing in this field has been used to predict people’s changing expectations and provide a personalized experience. UK online retailer

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In the recent time, retailers and another agent in the fashion industry have completed some fundamental ways of providing personalized services after a data-sharing process such as sending birthday gift voucher, new product introduction, and other brand news to their email. From the primary online research, 80% of respondents said the special discount was the most attractive information for them to visit the physical store, followed by a description of new products.

Furthermore, 45% respondents

choose “Personalized activity such as Member’s Day” as the most attractive fashion event to access offline which shows a current demand of personalized service among customers. The brand Jo’ Malone provides customers a hand care service in their birthday month with the need of their information collection and joins in their membership system.

Moreover, it works not only for fashion brands but also some fashion event and agents such as Business of Fashion and WGSN. With the real experience of BoF’s professional membership, members would receive articles about insights and analysis of the fashion industry every week through e-mail, and join in their community to take part in the discussion. As a result, the membership service would finally upgrade the user experience and people’s loyalty through a persistent and targeted communication from brand and others.

However, brands need to make conscious thinking of the information they want to provide to customers and the frequency of that. Participant Shiyao said she had skipped many emails that lack interesting from brands and felt uncomfortable about advertising email. Another participant William mentions that “if a company is emailing me offers every two days it can become annoying.”

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2.1 Redefine the need of “Try On” 2.2: Perosnal Stylist Anytime and Anywhere

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“ Human Professionals Will Work Alonside Hugh-Tech; Consumers Still Want to Interact with Human Being - (WGSN, 2018)

Chapter TWO:

High Tech + Human Touch

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Brick-and-mortar stores offers advantages including try on clothes and shop with knowledgeable sales staff. 50.4% of respondents from primary research admit their need to try on clothes in the store.

Consumers can immediately see if the item fits them and achieve their expectations. (Diamond) However, it is not enough in today’s world and could not meet consumer’s needs. The upgrading technology allows the fashion world to create an on-demand experience to people, but it would not maximize its effect without the helping of trained in-store assistants.

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2.1

Redefine the need of “Try On”

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Augmented Reality and Artificial Intelligent have emerged as a rapidly developing technology used in the offline fashion industry. Many brands had realized that the early use of highly innovative technology would lead them to the leading role in the competitive market. (Teo and Pian, 2003) 80% of people from online survey chose “Yes” to admit the use of the high-technology facility would increase their offline visiting rate. From the focus group research, there were 50% girls mentioned “virtual fitting mirror” when asked them to describe one impressive digital facilities in-store and 50.4% respondents from online survey choose “Try on clothes” as the key reason for them to visit the offline store. Currently, the feedback of In-store use of AR technology, especially the vir-

tual mirrors are all positive that people can virtually see how the clothes or makeup works on their body. Randy, a girl aged 20 years old said that the virtual fitting mirrors saved time for her. She thought it is not an easy task for a girl to change clothing especially with makeup on, but there were no more worries with the virtual fitting mirror. Also, she mentioned the importance of assistant in-store. “If the merchandise is not in stock yet, I can still try it and look at whether that fit me with the mirror, and ask the staff to deliver it to my home later” (Rendy, Focus group participant) So, the trained staff in-store would rapidly lead a more consistent and efficient experience to people.

brands such as Sephora and L’Oreal as the early adaptor “ Cosmetic of this technology launched the virtual mirror in some stores to alusers to visualize how lipsticks, eyeshadows, and other makeup Virtual low product look on their faces. Sephora reported that users try on apmirror was proximately 50 lipsticks color per session with a total of 75 million shades tried on so far. (FACTS) Participants from focus group statreally helpful ed that “using in-store screens which put different types of makeup gave her deep impression of for gitls to do on” offline fashion experience. (Lily participant) Because lipstick try Armer-Kirk, there is no need to read other on bloggers’ color test videos before

shopping, the cosmetics buying Iris, from focus group process becomes more efficient.

(Kunfang, participant)

Also, employees with the excellent ability to guide and motivating customers to try new infrastructures would also increase the offline digital experience. The reasons include the gap of acceptance of high technology still exists among different customers, (Jan, 2018) and the participant Lily represent that the retailer needs to focus on “how easy to use the in-store facility” as an improvement. At this point, the fashion industry in the future would require more staff with the knowledge of digital facility and have the ability to guide people use it. The pictures showed primary observation of Swarovski’s pop-up Christmas display in Milano. By an interview with the staff there, this activity

was for the Christmas sale, and the use of AR virtual mirror and touchscreen machines were aimed to generate attention in the city center. The virtual mirror allowed people to visualize how Swarovski’s Christmas range products on their body with the technology of AI face recognition. The staff was allocated there to guide people to utilize the facilities and introduce the product range with their recommendation to the customer. During the 20 minutes’ observation for one of the virtual mirror, 16 people stood there to experience the machine for approximately 2 minutes. Ten of them asked the staff for help and had a communication; 8 of these people enter the physical stores nearby later.

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2.2

Perosnal Stylist Anytime and Anywhere With the result from the focus group survey, another key reason for a combination technology skill with staff is to provide personalized service. 24.1% online respondent stated there is a need for the team to help them while shopping.

Participant Randy express that there was an expectation for customized service from retailers which could engage her to the brand better, the stylist advice is necessary for her, and she wants some personal recommendation for her style during shopping. Currently, some brands provide styling suggestions to customers through both online and offline.

The online retailer Zalando has set up a styling and advice service system through WhatsApp which named Zalon. It opens from 8 am to 7 pm and provide shoppers with stylist questions in a detailed way, from what color products suit a customer’s skin, to what is the most famous shop in Paris.

The picture showed on the next page were from the primary research took in Paris store observation of Zalando’s showroom. It allows the audience to take a selfie on the digital screen and enter the email to receive the picture. This activity would increase the awareness and download rate of their application, along with a further communication with users through their email address.

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Overall, retailers need to discover more advanced technological innovation with the support of a human assistant.

The UK fashion retailer, TOPSHOP has launched the virtual fitting room in some stores with an improving facility of call bells inside as well so that customers could ask staff for additional products of sizes. (WGSN B, 2015) Regional controller Alex Hanson presented that the call bell increased the rate of conversion and acted as a worthwhile investment even there was an extra cost of staffing. (WGSN A, 2017) As a result, adding human professionals working alongside high technology facility can elevate the customer’s experience and foster an emotional connection to consumers.

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Whch kind of information you prefer?

60%

Image Information

- Online survey

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40% Text Information

Chapter THREE:

Image Express Everything

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3.1

Uploading, Researching and Exploring The online society contributes to a more efficient offline world in the digital era; an integrated fashion marketing effort will repeatedly demonstrate the fashion’s benefits to its audience. (Downs, 1972) In today’s image-conscious culture, the pictures have used for various marketing activities. The LUXE pointed out that, 75% of Instagram users take action, such as visiting the official page or physical stores after the brand’s posting. (LUXE,2019)

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On one hand, the image expresses more values to people compare to the written information. 60% of online respondents choose image message as a better communication tool than the written word.

It means the excellent quality of picture sharing could help the fashion industry to generate attention online than do the following-up events more effectively. There were 67.4% respondents from online survey followed the brand’s account online, and 78.8% of them online agree that the meaningful and insightful advertising pictures would deepen their brand loyalty.

Similarly, three out of seven participants from the focus group survey remind their favorite brands with a reason for the impressive pictures sharing. The brands including Tate Gallery, Loewe and Victoria Secret.

Depends on this result, the secondary survey of fashion brand’s social accounts observation was proceeded to explore the further utilization of image information. Gucci, the fashion brand with the most significant amount of followers (approximately 30.9 million followers on Instagram) than any others took the lead role in the digital fashion market. Their success was due to their innovative digital marketing. The maximalist aesthetic design with luxurious design and iconic brand images provide the audience with a strong impression of the viewing experience.

Another successful brand was Topshop; their Instagram account contains a more significant percentage of images from shoppers’ equitable sharing. Encouraging customers to post photos to a retailer’s space can increase the brand awareness and generate traffic, and apparently, provide user-generated content can offer customers a strong sense of participation both from online and offline which would drive more sales at last.

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On the other hand, the image has become a more powerful element than the written message to back up the searching engine for both business and consumers to utilize. The online retailer eBay launched its visual search in July 2018, using artificial intelligence and machine learning to accept customer’s products searching for information on mobile devices. Shoppers can take a photo or uploaded from their album to visually explore similar items. (Drapers, B, 2018) Another visual search engine Syte presented that, there will be an upgrading experience for the searching process because there will be no requirement for correct search terminology anymore.

(Drapers A, 2018)

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Shop The Look

est store. It launched in 2017 and currently works with JD Sports, Whistles, Barbour and Karen Millen. (Drapers B, 2018)

With the research on people’s expectation on personalized service, the need for stylist advice has mentioned in the previous part.

At the same time, consumers consider the As a result, the emerging styling app came mobile devices as the most critical thing of out in recent years to satisfy user’s daily requirement of fashion news and inspirain-store technology, (Forrester Research, tions by the image sharing. Intel-style, an 2011) So, the image sharing is also used AI-based app launched in 2017 provides in various mobile application, aimed to provide a swift and effective service from styling suggestion and impulses when online to offline. Werewolf, an app allows users upload their own clothes picture and send traffic to partner retailers. retailers to make offline stock “Searchable” for digital consumers by identifying their location and showing them the near-

39% of online respondents njoy the “fashion styling” section in app

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3.2 Fashion Event is More Enterable Fig8

A round-up of new digital strategies and innovative technology provided more opportunities for fashion marketing. Recent year’s fashion months and other offline activities turned to be digital and put the image concern at the front of their event concern.

One-third of online participants have a high desire to join in fashion week and other fashion related events offline. Recently, fashion week are being more accessible and focus more on digital content. One of the highlights was the arrival of augmented reality. (AR) In 2017 London Fashion Week, online marketplace Lyst presented an AR-based experimental activity to allow the audience to digitally dress the naked models in a store window by using their tablets and smartphones. Lyst used four “Humannequins” and the hottest outfit and style currently on the platform for a passerby to selected and identify the trending fit by themselves. To better result, the creative technology firm captured textures and garment details using 360-degree photography to shoot. After the event, Lyst stated that they received positive feedback online and admitted the success of blurring the gap between online and offline experience. This event seemed to bring the dress-up game back to the adult fashion world. While the image only games keeping Fig.39 its core purpose of providing customers a direct and straightforward way to join in the trend making process which represents the constant demand of fashion-conscious audience.

The following case study of Tommy Hilfiger illustrated a maximized use of digital content to generate a coherent and effective PR event.

In 2017, Tommy Hilfiger launched its fashion week as an “innovation incubator” that promised to provide consumers an immersive digital experiment.

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31.2% of online participants have interested in catalk show and fashion week

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3.3 Case Study Tommy Hilfiger Fig.41

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> See-now and Buy-now With an aim to provide a more connected content experience for both online and offline customers, the brand using the Artificial Intelligence on Snap app for users to take a photo of any item they saw during the show, online, in-store or on the street to shop it instantly. A live stream video was uploaded to various channels as well which benefited the majority of brand fans who had no access to their shows. A click-to-buy function will appear on their social accounts including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and Pinterest. > AI chatbot Tommy Hilfiger is also using AI chatbot to provide styling advice based on user’s preferences and occasions through Facebook Messenger.

There were more than 100000 messages have been exchanged since launch, with an increasing number of returned customers afterward, according to the team.

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> AR for conversion By the rising demand to access the catwalk experience, the brand used AR technology to engage consumers outside the show. The Tommy snap app allowed users to see and shop their private version of the runway. It evolved a 360-degree view that audience could pick up and see the detail of any pieces from that show, even at home. There was a low requirement on IT ability that they merely need to point their phone at a flat surface, then tap look and shop after that.

Case Study Insights - Importance to make all activity consistently by using digital equipment relevant to customer’s need.

- Personalized service needs to reflect in every aspect.

- Revenue-generating shoppable content is one of the fundamental purposes for PR activity.

The role of catwalk show is essential, how to let more audience to join in by using digital equipment need further development.

- The popular mobile application could generate a discussion and be part of useful PR events.

- Image and video information would engage people quicker and more impressive.

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Your face will be the most valuable image.

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3.4 Emotional Intelligence is the Future

Emotional Intelligence is a mood-based AI technology that people’s face will act as a vivid image to interpret. WGSN states that this technology would change the future of the fashion industry, especially beauty. (WGSN, Digital Highlight S/S17)) Facial recognition is not new, but it is becoming a trend in fashion retail to help brands track and understand the consumer’s emotional state during the shopping journey and foster emotional engagement with them.

Shiyao, 21 years old respondent from focus group represented an expectation on personalized service based on a more profound understanding on herself, and another participant Lily stated a need for “exclusive service” from brands. Hence, the problem is not merely nominal “personalized service,” but how certain and exclusively that brands provide the customer.

Some business is already using the new tool that can read non-verbal human emotions. Unilever trialed an in-store EI equipment in Brazil and US in a few years ago. When shoppers stop before the display, the Discreet cameras placed on shelves will read their facial expressions. The data would provide for a better knowledge of consumer’s level of attention with the display.

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Chinese retailer Suning launched a new AI shopping assistant named Sue with the ability to identify shopper’s emotions and facial attributions (Fig,48), which are aimed to provide personalized consultations and product recommendation through one-to-one conversations. For instance, if Sue detected shopper’s expression of confused, she will instantly provide shopping guidance.

Therefore, by using high technology to analyzing their face expression, EI Could benefit customer’s high expectation on personalization at last.

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Insights and Opportunities

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Insight: High demand for fashion advice Opportunity: Digital Profile used in Offline Part From the focus group survey, the personal styling assistant was popular among respondent. To give accurate and emotion-enhancing products, the human professionals working alongside AI is not a new phenomenon in society.

In the future, the AI could do more tasks such as analyze the user’s skin type and medical history, than make a digital profile after the service. The cosmetic scientist alongside could design custom formulas and recommendations to complete the progress. Same to the fashion retailing, AI technology could save people’s buying history and do a summarize of these data, add the after-sale styling advice, the shopping experience would be more efficient each time they visit in-store.

However, retailers need to consider the customer’s data security during the process. 5 out of 7 participants from the focus group hold a data safety concern when brands ask them to fill their personal information. It is necessary to make the information gathering process more humanization and make promises on their privacy.

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Insight: Mobile applications work as a brand touch point Opportunity: Fashion and Beauty industry use AR on the app to test new products

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From the online research, virtual mirror took the lead of other digital facilities with 50% of respondents. “Try on” experience is still important, especially in the fashion industry.

Fashion brands could put the effort in a mobile application with AR technology to improve people’s fitting demand and help them with a more valuable pre-sell investigate. In recent years, some cosmetic brands had joined in the application with facial recognition with their lipstick or eye shadow filter. The next improvement for it could add a simple feedback system on the app. Users could click “like,” “dislike” or “Want Buy” after they test the product. The data would be collected by brands directly; the most popular one could be put at a prominent place in-store with a signed label such as “The Hottest on Snapchat” to attract attention. These feedbacks from customers themselves would raise concern for new products and bring a high engagement rate among the public.

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Insight: Immersive environment

Opportunity: Showroom, Gallery and Museum.

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Insight: The emerging of self-checkout

Opportunity: Touchscreen self-checkout in a brick-and-mortar store The world of payments is changing rapidly, and self-checkout is a time-saving way in recent years. 34.3% people prefer mobile-checkout during shopping with their QR code. Participant William from focus group mentioned that, the touchscreen machines in McDonald’s speed up the purchasing process.

With the further secondary research of store observation in another restaurant including KFC, Boots and McDonald’s in Nottingham, the touchscreen machine attracts a part of people spend with the card and reduce the burden on the human-driven service. However, there is few fashion stores use this technology currently, even in the fashion store. As a result, the long-queue is frequently appearing in the physical stores, especially for fast-fashion brands.

In the future, fashion retailers could use the touchscreen machine as a self-checkout facility and allow people to scan the bar-coded on products by themselves like Tesco. They can also use McDonald’s as an example to use the machine as an advertising board to introduce the hottest style. Also, to present the styling match advice with customer’s scanned products before the payment.

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The “real shopping environment” took the second reason for people to choose physical stores.

So there is a consistent need to perfect it. In the digital era with an information explosion, the fashion industry needs to own do marketing innovatively and highlight the core part to customers in an intelligent way.

Gucci museum in Florence exhibit the brand history and their brand based artwork in the real museum with great use of digital equipment, such as the panoramic projection screen and LED screen. They also launched online tour for the digital audience.

There is a fact that, 896 street shops closed in 2016 (FACT) and H&M closed some of its physical stores for better online development.

The abandon of offline store is not the only way to move to e-commerce, they could exchange some of them to the showroom to express their brand concept, display the trending clothing and use digital equipment such as AI, VR to remain people’s desire of finding trend by themselves in the offline environment.

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Insight: Personalized catwalk show through VR Opportunity: Personalized catwalk show through VR

There were nearly half of the online respondents choose catwalk show as their most wanted offline activity to access. However, most of them did not have an excellent manageable plan to go even if they have the chance. From the focus group survey, all seven people wrote “Look at the fashion week’s timetable” as their first step to begin their journey. However, the “Timetable” was a word exist as an explanation in the question stem, which means that respondents could have no direction of where should they start. The heavy schedule for different shows makes people feel struggle on making the plan.

In this case, catwalk show and other events could proceed in personal digital equipment could simplify the whole progress and be personalized. People could still feel the real experience of catwalk show by using VR facility. They can even choose which show they want to join in, and leave out anytime if they found there is no attractive for themselves. In spite of the barriers to adoption of VR, which is costly and comes with a steep learning curve for people, the fashion week will move to service the public but not just fashion professionals anymore. The increasing engagement could also be utilized for brands to explore more revenue-generating opportunities combine with other technology, such as Tommy Hilfiger’s innovation on “see now, buy now, wear now.”

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Next Step In conclusion, this report has met all the objectives and the aim through in-depth research. The fashion industry has obtained a new era of digital connectivity through extensive use of technology. The concern of high technology such as AR and VR has been widespread in the recent year for a better experience on “try on,” which is the core value of fashion. However, it should not be the end of intelligent technology in the fashion world. The internet and improving social channels has engaged customers to join the fashion industry variously, such as e-commerce and social channels. From the report, it has discussed how the business connects the online to offline now; they offer omnichannel retailing, after-sale service and even recommendation on style. They have done some innovative upgrade in-store, such as the virtual fitting and facial recognition. These immersive experiences upgraded people’s demand for personalized service and access to the fashion event. So, the fashion business should start to look at the possibilities of combining the existing offers and services through online to offline, summarize them and implement on the technology equipment. The high technology equipment could make consumer’s own data more valuable, which can be the new oil in the digital fashion world.

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The End

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