Strutting their stuff
The purpose of fashion shows is changing. Now everyone can watch.
Feb 14th 2015
With a 10- to 15-minute catwalk display costing up to a few million
dollars, some industry commentators wonder if there are better ways for
fashion brands to spend their marketing budgets than parading their
wares at more and more shows.
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Luxury brands have been cutting out the middlemen in their distribution chains. More than 80% of the shoes, bags and other products bearing the Prada label are now sold in its own shops, compared with about 50% a decade ago.
So the fashion shows have become less about selling the latest
collection to other retailers’ buyers and more about communicating the
brand’s image to a wider public.
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There are now legions of fashion “influencers”, with big followings on
Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. A recent survey of the luxury industry
by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) concluded that word of mouth
overtook magazines last year as the biggest influence on consumers’
purchase decisions.
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Streaming also helps the fashion firms gather information on fans: Marc
Jacobs, an American designer, has used it to capture e-mail addresses,
by getting devotees to register in advance for live-streams in return
for a chance to win tickets to shows.
The luxury industry in the 1990s was defined by the rise of global
brands. The 2000s were all about those brands taking control of the
retail “experience” offered to customers. The BCG report posits that in
the coming decade, the industry will focus on getting to know individual
customers. Fashion shows are part of that model.
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