Power of Personalization In Fashion Retailing
Bottles of Coca Cola from the “Share A Coke” campaign
Image Credit: Creative Guerilla Marketing
Over the course of many years, the fashion world has ventured on a long journey from mass production all the way to mass personalization. In the age of technology driven style, consumers now have access to a world of choices when it comes to the products they spend their money on. Cost used to be the dominating factor of consumer purchases, but now the price does not matter as much as the customer experience does. Customers are developing bonds with their brands of choice by crafting and shaping the products and services they buy. Personalization allows for a connection to be made between a consumer and a product/service, increasing the likelihood that the consumer will be satisfied. In order to remain relevant in the world of fashion today, brands must integrate elements of customization into their products/services to show consumers that these companies are catered towards them as an individual.
Mass Personalization
The desire to stand out from the crowd and the urge to be different has taken the needs of modern customers to a whole new level. They are investing in fashion that is tailored to them, that speaks to them, that is sustainable, and that will never go out of style. It is now more important than ever for fashion merchants and entrepreneurs to provide hyper-personalization to their clients to make them feel extra unique. For many businesses, a demand for personalization directly contradicts their dominant models of providing high-volume products through mass distribution. Offering personalization may require some businesses to rethink operation strategies, but without the integration of personalization companies risk losing revenue and customer loyalty. Mass personalization has been made possible through advancements in manufacturing and distribution technologies, allowing for companies be able to measure consumer demands. Advancements in manufacturing, such as 3D printing, has enabled manufacturers to rethink supply chains, postpone production until the latest point to allow time for individual customization. The advent of the digital world and social media have changed businesses “pushing” content towards consumers towards consumers “pulling” content themselves. Social curation communities such as Pinterest allow consumers to create their own collections of products, providing companies with deeper insights in real time.
A Coke and Coke Zero with Aussie slang nicknames
Image Credit: Inside FMCG
A great example of a company that brilliantly introduced mass personalization into its product line is Coca Cola. In 2011, Coca Cola launched the ‘Share A Coke’ campaign in Australia where it took the country’s most popular 150 names/nicknames/terms of affection and put them on the label of Coke bottles. The campaign did well in Australia, and eventually the campaign expanded to many other countries. ‘Share A Coke’ was very successful in different countries all around the world, making it one of the most effective mass personalization strategies every attempted. Casually seeing your name on a bottle of soda brings a smile to the face of consumers, and will most likely result in a purchase. The personalization of the coke bottles were also trending on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook due to users posting photos of the bottles. Coca Cola’s clever marketing strategy is so effective that they actually found a way to get consumers to practically market the product for free. The ‘Share A Coke’ campaign demonstrates a mastery of consumer connection and personalization, making it one of the many reasons why Coca Cola has remained popular as time transcends.
Data-Driven Personalization
Google’s Data & Personalization window where you can choose data preferences
Image Credit: Google
In a day and age where technology tracks everything, companies have found a way to use consumer data to their advantage. Data-driven personalization is the ability to deliver valuable content to a consumer at just the right time. Many social media applications such as Instagram, Twitter, Tik Tok, YouTube and Snapchat all use data analytics to provide relevant advertisements on your feed. Instead of getting advertisements from random companies, the ads that you do see may actual be something you are interested. Data-driven personalization takes all the information known about a consumer to tailor specific products/services to them, helping build a trusted connection between the brand and the customer. Marketers are continually shifting to data-driven marketing strategies in order to gather enough information about their customers and deliver personalized, relevant content at the perfect moment. In order to accomplish this, marketers must analyze accurate and reliable customer data to identify specific customer segments. To correctly reach the target customer, marketing automation allows for the collection of customer related metrics to be integrated into boosting customer experience. Unlike traditional marketing, data-driven marketing allows for the company to measure how effective their strategy is, providing more opportunity for growth and focus on customer relationships. In a Deloitte study, it was found that 22% of consumers are happy to share data in return for a more personalized customer service or product. With consumer data, companies can connect the dots between multiple platforms in order to create a more sophisticated and comprehensive view of their customer profiles.
The Benefits of Customization
Advertisement for Curology Skin Care “Your skin —- the way you want it.”
Image Credit: Curology
Fashion companies and retailers can benefit from strategically employing big data and analytics to customize the customer experience, and empower the customer to lead the way. Over time, the consumer's position has moved from passive observance to enabled dominance. They are no longer satisfied with the normal, boring shopping experience in stores, causing many people to shift to online shopping for their needs. One company that has successfully managed to build its entire brand on the premise of consumer customization is Curology. Curology is a skin care company that offers a custom skin care formula just for you. A licensed dermatology provider evaluates the skin profile, skin type, and medical history, and prescribes a custom mix of three simple ingredients. By tailoring the product specifically to the consumer, Curology successfully creates a personalized product that people can not find elsewhere. Curology also tracks the progress of the skin care journey, creating a rather personal bond between the brand and the consumer. The devotion to understanding and analyzing consumers to create a personalized customer experience is extremely important when it comes to building engaging customer relationships.
It is not easy to implement mass personalization on a company scale, but fashion brands that successfully manage to incorporate personalization will experience growth through increased sales, enhanced customer loyalty, and price premiums for customized items. Eventually in the future, real-time response to user behavior will be the holy grail of personalization, in hopes that it can match the level of human skill that a salesperson has when consumers are shopping for products. Customers want to be made feel like they are understood, and the more that your product/service is tailored to them, the more likely it is that they will make a purchase. Personalization and customization of products/services creates an intimate bond with the item and the consumer, increasing the likelihood of consumer loyalty to the brand.
Resources
Accenture. (2021, November 4). Sizing up personalized fashion. Accenture.com; Accenture. https://www.accenture.com/id-en/insights/retail/retail-sourcing-personalization
Data-Driven Personalization: What is It and Why You Need It. (n.d.). Retrieved December 13, 2021, from https://marrinadecisions.com/data-driven-personalization/
Deloitte. (2015). The Deloitte Consumer Review Made-to-order: The rise of mass personalisation. https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/ch/Documents/consumer-business/ch-en-consumer-business-made-to-order-consumer-review.pdf
Govisetech. (2020, July 20). Fashion Retailing In an Era of Customization and Personalization | PLM. GoVise Technologies. https://govisetech.com/fashion-retailing-in-an-era-of-customization-and-personalization/
Heble, A. (2018, December 22). Case Study On Coca Cola “Share A Coke” Campaign. Digital Vidya. https://www.digitalvidya.com/blog/case-study-on-coca-colas-share-a-coke-campaign/
Pogul, A. (2020, March 9). Customization and Personalization: Key Trends Fashion Retailers Must Watch. Katalyst. https://katalysttech.com/blog/customization-and-personalization-in-fashion/
