How can we keep up with the changing taste of consumers?

 

Fashion and apparel are one such area where consumer tastes change fairly often. What do we look for when we go shopping for clothes? Do we look for the same style each time, or do we check out the new styles?

Apparel businesses change their inventory all the time to keep up to date with what consumers want. For example, the styles available in summer won't be the same ones that are available in winter. The type of clothes a brand chooses to have in stock are also determined by what their consumers want. It depends on the trends going on during that time of the year.

To get insight on consumer tastes, we can use some traditional information, such as sales data on what people are actually purchasing. We can run surveys and analyses to know where the trends are going, and then overlay that with demographics and other consumer information.

Another way of research that can be very critical is listening and looking for the data around us. It is vital to listen to the ones who are directly talking to store owners, retail buyers, and wholesalers every day. We need to understand what they are seeing, and what consumers are saying to them. We also look at industry publications and what’s happening in the market.

We can also look into consumer preferences from other industries, even though they might not be entirely related. We review social media platforms to begin to understand how people are responding to certain ad campaigns, or to see what people are posting about. We can get a sense of what people are posting online in general—and where our industry or product has a role in that particular trend.

The rise of e-commerce means there is so much more data available; hence, we can see not only see what people purchase, but also what they’re browsing. That kind of data can suggest new ideas about what potential buyers are considering, which gives a sense of their tastes.

Using these strategies, we can market a product/brand that jumps ahead of consumer tastes rather than struggling to keep up.