The trends, processes and behaviours that you’ll need to control

FASHION FULFILMENT IN 2018

The internet has levelled the playing field, both for businesses and consumers. It has democratised commerce; anyone with a credit card, a good idea and access to product can easily and quickly set up a webstore. And it has given consumers access to more brands, more price transparency and more products than could ever be imagined in the pre-digital world.

Online, consumers are more powerful than they’ve ever been. Their expectations are high; 78% are willing to provide personal info in return for a personalised experience (The University of Cambridge Psychometrics Centre). The technology that they’re using is advanced;

1 in 5 consumers now use voice search (Eric Schmidt, Google). And their patience is limited.

This means that in order to stand out, fashion companies have been forced to innovate. Most brands that have risen in success over the last few years share a few important characteristics; they don’t resell, they’ve got a defined identity, they’ve developed their own intellectual property, they own their product lifecycle and they’ve been grafting to build up an iron-clad customer experience.

INTRODUCTION

53% of consumers are willing to pay a higher price for a valuable and relevant customer experience (RetailCustomerExperience.com). The most successful fashion brands haven’t just come into prominence because of their product; their growth can also be attributed to their ability to gain trust and build loyalty with consumers.

Before the online journey, and the lived product experience, this trust and loyalty is developed in the warehouse. It’s secured with accurate, effective fulfilment that delivers the right order to the right customer on time, every time.

Looking at how some of the fastest-growing fashion e-commerce companies deal with fulfilment, this booklet guides you through four of the main focuses that are vital to building customer trust; buying, returns, shipping and culture.

In 2018, fashion consumers will get into bed with e-commerce more than they ever have done before. Supporting your brand with fast and accurate fulfilment processes that build on the customer experience is going to be central to your success.

This booklet guides you through four of the main focuses of building customer trust; buying, returns, shipping and culture

They see something, they want it, they get it. Easy. But, thanks to environmental changes, seasons are all messed up. It’s getting increasingly difficult to know what to stock, and when to develop the product ranges that consumers expect.

If you don’t have what they’re looking for, they’ll go elsewhere. If you don’t have enough of a popular item in stock, they’ll go elsewhere. If you say that you have something in stock on your website and, actually, you don’t...they might not ever come back to you.

It’s harder than it ever has been to know when to flip over your stock. So it’s harder to be certain that you’re going to be stocking the right products in the right quantities, harder to ensure that you’re hitting the mark with your customers.

Companies like The Chapar, Thread and Wantable have been tackling the problem of seasonality head-on by creating bespoke shopping experiences through subscription. This fulfilment model, paired with a strong degree of accurate knowledge about each of their customers, means that they can keep a tight control over the stock that they keep in their warehouse and the stock that they need to buy in.

The customer leans on them for convenience and trusts them enough to send through a mystery box of products on a regular basis. The subscription model means that these brands aren’t at the mercy of unpredictable seasons, or fickle customers.

FOCUS 1: BUYING

FOR CONSUMERS, BUYING SHOULD BE SIMPLE 1

Of course, subscription companies like The Chapar are outliers in fashion e-commerce. For most, the power lies squarely on the side of the consumer. So keeping their attention, and giving them what they want in the instant that they want it, will be absolutely critical in 2018.

FULFILMENT ADVICEHere’s a fundamental; you need to know exactly how much stock you’ve got and which items are the most in demand. And you need to be able to stay a few steps ahead of this. A lot of companies track this in Google Sheets, or through manual counts.

If you’re selling a lot of products every day, you’re going to feel the strain in efficiency. A reliance on manual systems might lead to potentially damaging miscounts. Look into

automating some of your processes, where relevant. It could be a massive time saver, and a real stress reliever.

Start with barcodes. Barcode everything. Even if you don’t think that your products are going to be sold in a physical retail store, stick barcodes on them during the goods-in process. It means that you can track every item, and have an immediate view of stock levels. It’s a simple thing that will put you in control of your inventory, and ensure that your most popular items can be restocked to keep pace with consumer demand.

Keeping consumers’ attention, and giving them what they want in the instant that they want it, will be absolutely critical in 2018.

RETURNS2FOCUS 2: RETURNS

Returns are a known cost that fashion companies have to shoulder. Almost a fifth of online purchases include orders with multiple items of a similar size, shape or colour. (Financial Times). These intentional returns have always been encouraged because they make sense; as well as helping the customer to navigate their own fitting issues, easy returns have been crucial in bridging the gap between the in-store and the e-commerce shopping experiences.

That’s a higher percentage than any other vertical; sports and travel equipment, health and beauty and furniture all trail behind at 15%.

Because the practice is so widespread, consumers now expect the companies that they shop with to offer returns for free. 82% prioritise shops which offer free returns (Deloitte). They want to be able to reuse the box that the items were sent in, slap on a returns label and then have somebody come to their door to pick it up. That’s the dream. Different companies activate this at different levels – the consumer might have to visit the Post Office or use services like CollectPlus – because the cost implications of returns can be huge, and prohibitive.

If you don’t offer free returns, you might lose the customer. It’s a cat and mouse game. Some companies have made generous return policies their main point of differentiation. Zappos offers free shipping and free returns for up to a year. Modcloth gives consumers a $5 bonus if they decide to take store credit instead of cash when they make their free return. 304 Clothing offers free returns with a pre-paid label sent with every delivery.

It’s estimated that 25% of all fashion items ordered online are returned (Financial Times).

And subscription based fashion brands have free returns central to their model; these companies have a higher overall basket value and, owing to the nature of their business, will have more items sent back in one package as opposed to many smaller packages. Here, the economies of volume make it viable.

All of these initiatives are good at building customer loyalty, but they’re still costly. More fashion companies will move towards a free returns model in 2018. So it’s really important to make sure that the process is handled in a quick and cost-effective way.

FULFILMENT ADVICEReturns are less costly when the goods sent back are restocked and resold as quickly as possible. Far too often, these clothes aren’t treated as one of the warehouse’s main

priorities. If that’s true for you, then rethinking the way that you approach returns will bring cost benefits to your business.

Again, this is where some automation can really help out. You’ve already barcoded each product. So, after checking that the returned items are still fit for sale, all you need to do is scan them back in; if you have an inventory system that extends beyond basic functionalities, returns can be easy. Get a system that scans items, gets them on the shelves quickly and then has them ready to be bought again.

This level of speed is important. When returns runs quicker, it reduces the amount of time that your cash is tied up in stock. Being able to rapidly process returns can only have a positive impact on cashflow.

Track every reason for a return in a spreadsheet so that you can spot faulty batches, or items with problematic sizes; if there’s a size 16 dress that actually fits like a size 14 then you’ll know that you’ll either have to address the problem with your suppliers or to advise consumers about garments that run small.

If you have an inventory system that extends beyond basic functionalities, restocking returns should be easy to tackle

Consumer expectations around what an acceptable shipping time is have radically changed over the last few years. They want their order quicker. They want it now.

a huge drop from the 63% who said so the year before (Deloitte). Inevitably, this percentage drop will be even steeper in 2018.

Impatience among shoppers is something that’s only going to grow as the “always on” consumer culture increases in dominance. Speedy delivery is going the same way of free shipping; it’s almost going to be seen as a requirement. Which raises a couple of pretty big red flags for e-commerce companies.

While the costs of free shipping can generally be absorbed as an expense, speedy shipping can only happen with the support of strong partnerships with carriers, and with sophisticated warehousing procedures in place. Both of these things cost money; the question is whether the benefits of quicker shipping – both monetary and in terms of establishing a strong competitive advantage – outweigh the price tag.

FOCUS 3: SHIPPING

IMPATIENT SHOPPERS WANT QUICKER SHIPPING

3A study at the end of 2016 showed that just 42% of shoppers considered 3-4 day shipping to be “fast”;

Brands like Couture Club and Oh Polly have expedited shipping built in as standard, for a cost only marginally more than standard shipping. Having the processes in place to enable this, and having the capability displayed so prominently on both of their websites (Oh Polly has a countdown to the next day delivery deadline underneath the website’s main banner) gives them an edge over their competitors.

To the consumer, this probably doesn’t feel like a huge innovation. They’re not being wowed; their expectations are being met. Blame it on Amazon Prime, blame it on iPhones, blame it on ASOS. You can blame it on anyone, or anything, but the facts remain the same. The status quo has changed. In 2018, more than ever, speedy shipping will be seen as standard.

FULFILMENT ADVICEIt’s a standard that a lot of companies struggle to meet. For many, the costs outweigh the benefits. For others, they simply don’t have the processes in place in their warehouses to speed up the fulfilment process. They might not have carriers on site every day to pick up orders.

These carrier relationships are crucial. If you want to send out next day deliveries every day, they need to be reliable. And your

fulfilment processes need to be tight. Any delays, or slow downs, or mistakes, that mean that you’re unable to deliver on the promises made to your consumers can have potentially severe repercussions.

Look at reducing one of the biggest time-wasting activities in your warehouse; walking. When you’re dealing with large order volumes, you need to have the right machinery and the right warehouse layout to allow for quicker picking. Invest in picking carts, or a motorised picking device, that allow your staff to pick more, and to pick it quicker. And make sure that there’s enough space in your aisles to fit them in.

If you want to be quick, you need to be organised. You need to have systems in place that support you. And you could do worse than looking into automating some of your processes.

Any delays or mistakes that mean that you’re unable to deliver on the promises made to your consumers can have potentially severe repercussions

FOCUS 4: CULTURE

THE FASHION BRAND CULTURE

4Fashion brands thrive on the culture that’s built around them. Talk used to centre on building ‘tribes’, creating communities of brand ambassadors. In reality, the sphere of brand influence doesn’t necessarily come from a sense of tribalism and rigid loyalty but from influential people and events within communities. It isn’t always about building up large numbers of brand devotees, but about creating hubs from which consumers can be influenced.

Look at Gymshark, for example. Its community is influenced by its gym expo; a lot of customers and advocates attend and it works well as a base from which Gymshark can be confident in its influence.

Building a culture around brand influence is becoming more complex. The real value of influencer marketing – getting famous people to pose with brands on social media – is increasingly coming into question. While comments that the ‘bubble is about to burst’ are more hyperbolic than they are framed by reality, it’s true that fashion brands are having to step outside of these expected methods to gain real-world traction.

Tapping into the zeitgeist isn’t easy. Brands like Supreme, Hype and Thrasher have such strong cut-through because they’ve managed to create places that allow for their communities to connect. One of the best ways to do this is by having a real world presence, whether that’s through opening up pop-up stores or by having a more permanent retail space on the high street.

The House of CB, Missguided and Pretty Little Thing are three brands which have moved from being pureplay companies to having permanent offline stores. These are places which enhance their brand messaging and build trust.

FULFILLMENT ADVICEOpening up a pop-up store and establishing a presence outside of the digital world has its own potential pitfalls. The fulfilment needs of retail spaces are different to online. You need to be able to tightly manage the movement of inventory.

Only showing products in the offline store that you’re actually going to have available to sell online is important. Know that these brand activations are going to have an impact on demand; if you don’t have somebody’s size when they come to visit, are you confident that you have enough stock online to be able to

make them happy? Do you know how much more product you’re going to sell, and will need to have in stock?

Any pop-up store needs to support online sales. So you might not even need to have much stock in store; it might be a pop-up that exists to encourage customers to purely buy online. Either way, you’re going to need to invest in the right technology.

Shopify has a POS (Point of Sale System), and Vend’s POS has a good reputation. We’d also recommend LightSpeed’s EPOS (Electronic Point of Sale). Connect this technology with your WMS (Warehouse Management System), and you’ll be able to keep track of inventory across all locations while maximising stock visibility for online buyers.

Create a place that allows for your community to connect by having a real world presence

GETTING FULFILMENT RIGHT IN 2018

Fulfilment isn’t just about process. It’s about understanding what your consumers want and making sure that your warehouse is robust enough to be able to deliver. The expectations that consumers have of the brands that they shop with - whether that be inclusive returns or rapid shipping - are only going to heighten. The onus falls on your business to match their demands and to follow through.

If you’re experiencing high order volumes, one of the best ways to stay on top of everything is by getting a WMS. If you have one, you’ll already know how much time you can save. Most offer a degree of customisation to suit your unique business needs. A WMS can help you to determine the perfect layout for your warehouse, speed up all fulfilment processes from goods-in through to despatch

and give your warehouse managers an instant live view of all inventory and activities within the warehouse.

Being able to fulfil orders quickly and accurately is dependant on being organised. You need to know what to restock ahead of time. You need to know exactly where the inefficiencies are within your organisation so that you know what needs to be improved. You need to stop making costly and avoidable human errors. Get the right technology on your side, and you’ll be able to do all of this with ease.

ABOUT PEOPLEVOXABOUT PEOPLEVOXFulfilment is one of the key components of a successful customer experience. We know this. Peoplevox has been around for almost a decade. At the moment, we’re helping 120+ e-commerce companies to thrive under the pressure of increased demand, a growing number of which are in the Fast Track 100. Many of these companies are fashion brands, including In The Style, MissPap, Pomelo Fashion and Pink Boutique.

Our software facilitates efficient warehouses. We know warehousing inside and out; our Warehouse Management System (WMS) is trusted by some of the e-commerce industry’s fastest-growing companies. We give pure-play and multi-channel retailers full control over their warehousing processes, enabling them to decrease costs, increase profitability and improve customer satisfaction.

Because Android handles mobile operations on the warehouse floor, the solution is flexible, fast and affordable. It’s also truly scalable and easily integrated with other systems, making Peoplevox a powerful WMS for any fashion brand wanting to have full control over its warehouse operations.

Every business is at a different stage in its growth. Each warehouse is unique. Peoplevox’s technology embraces this; it is purpose-designed to meet your business’ unique needs. It’s the easy-to-use WMS that will support your company’s development in the new year and beyond.

Our consultants know how to make your business perform better in 2018.

If you feel like a WMS could benefit your company and your customers, get in touch.

* sales@peoplevox.com

+44 203 824 1395 (UK, Australia and Europe)

+1-929-224-0715 (USA)

Buying photo by Robert Andall; Culture photos: Daniel Adesina (l), Gonzalo Arnaiz (r). All on Unsplash.