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Wait time between runway and retail is consumer turn-off: Fashionbi Report

Technological innovations including ecommerce and social media have created a domino effect of consumerism, creating fertile ground for the see-now, buy-now movement.

A new report from Fashionbi, “See-Now, Buy-Now: How Is The Industry Adapting To Fashion’s Newest Movement?” lays out the various solutions that designers and luxury labels have settled on to appeal to consumers who have become tired of waiting five months between seeing an item walk down a runway and being able to buy it. The industry agrees on the potential benefits of a realigned timeline, but apparel labels are divided in their approaches to the problem, which may lead to a fragmented fashion calendar.

“[A potentially divided fashion calendar] would only persuade the brands to innovate and fall away from the traditional bounds that some industry ancestors have set,” said Ambika Zutshi, CEO of Fashionbi, Milan.

“Brands have analyzed the big defects in the traditional system – in today’s digital era when a consumer may get to know the collection before a buyer and, is immediately simulated and falls in love with that one exotic handbag for which she is ready to pay any price – making her wait five months till she can find the bag in the retail stores and without a guarantee that it wont be sold out even before she gets to know of its arrival is a big turn off,” she said.

“This has already made the brands realize that the time to make a change is now – to revamp the whole production and promotion process, otherwise it is only going to be harder and more expensive. And so many are doing.”

(Source: Luxury Daily )