A Time of Reckoning for Southeast Asian Fashion Brands
Southeast Asia is poised to reach US$53 billion in online retail by the year 2023, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23%[1] fuelled by a growing middle-class population as well as high internet and smartphone penetration.
Fashion Leads Category Growth
While consumer electronics remains the largest category in the region, fashion (including apparel, footwear, and accessories) and cosmetics are forecasted to be the key drivers of future growth, mostly due to the lack of availability of brands in offline retail channels.
Zalora, the fashion e-tailer with a strong foothold in Southeast Asia, reported that sales doubled every year since taking part in Singles’ Day in 2014. Site traffic and items ordered tripled in 2018 compared to the prior year, as shared by Giulio Xiloyannis, Zalora’s Chief Commercial Officer, in an interview with South China Morning Post.
Trend Analytics Drive Growth Opportunities
With a positive industry outlook and growing online channels, fashion brands are now powered with retail and consumer data that is tracked, collected and managed through own websites, external sites and social media. The data, when layered with structured analytics and examined in detail, offers excellent insights to inform decision-making and devise strategies.
Trend analytics enables one such process that significantly influences fashion design and buying, with insights on a specific style, silhouette and colour direction up to 95% accuracy[2].
The birth of Mr P. by Mr Porter and 8 By Yoox are testaments to this. Both retailers utilise transactional data to spot bestsellers and product opportunities and combine it with an eye for design to execute buys for their respective in-house labels[3].