SOCIAL
PREFACE
The challenge is to generate traffic and create customer engagement
Fashion is the first eCommerce sector in terms of volume
and second in value. The fashion industry crystallizes itself
all the challenges that online sales must overcome quickly:
omnichannel, social selling, Big Data, ubiquity, seasonality
but also collaborative commerce… It’s one of the most
challenging sectors when it comes to innovation, mobile and
social influencers.
Indeed, there are very specific purchasing behaviors related
to the fashion industry. According to Content Square’s 2015
barometer, online consumers tend to have the same behavior
in both digital and physical stores: window shopping and
scounting for clothes. Thus, the Fashion industry is the sector
in which consumers revisit product pages before actually
buying products. On average, they visit the product page 3
to 4 times before buying.
For online retailers, it’s all the more opportunities
to engage with visitors and facilitate product
‘‘Online consumers tend to have the
discovery by providing various paths to access
same behavior in both digital and
items: social media, conversational platforms,
physical stores: window shopping and
advice, links...
scounting for clothes’’
Therefore, the challenge is to compete with physical stores.
In addition to editorials, videos and tutorials, brands are
starting to use the increasing power that online influencers
now have. These it-girls, followed by thousands of people,
regularly post products on Instagram and they are paid to
do so. Their compensations are based on the number of
purchases generated by their post. It’s a precious strategy for
brands since it’s a much more effective acquisition leverage
than digital advertising, often ignored by web users.
‘Fast fashion’ is another specificity of the sector. Launched by
the Spanish brand Zara, it consists in renewing collections
as soon as possible. Fast fashion has become an integral
part of customer experience in the fashion industry and is
completely integrated in the shoppers’ purchasing behavior.
But it involves challenges for brands: they need to be
extremely agile in their logistics and very responsive when
interacting with their customers. Thus, the brands’ biggest
challenge is to generate traffic while creating an immediate
need for customers: if they don’t buy the products right away,
tomorrow there won’t be any left for them to buy!
The challenges and innovations you will find in this white
paper all lead to the same conclusion: multichannel customer
service in real-time is now key to support online retailers’
growth in the fashion industry.
 SUMMARY

1.
FASHION: 2.
TRENDS AND NEW KEY FIGURES
CHALLENGES & HIGHLIGHTS

3. SUCCESS
STORIES
1.
FASHION:
TRENDS &
NEW
CHALLENGES
 FASHION & ECOMMERCE FASHION: TRENDS AND NEW
CHALLENGES
2,03% 17,3%
Change is coming in the fashion industry! Investors believe Applications aim to provide the best possible customer
AVERAGE CONVERSION AVERAGE CONVERSION in the digitalization of this industry, to be one of the reasons experience to increase online sales. For example, Fits.
RATE IN THE FASHION RATE AFTER CHAT IN THE for the rising number of mergers and investments last year. me is an application that analyzes body types, physical
INDUSTRY FASHION INDUSTRY
To name just a few, ‘unicorn’ pure players: Farfetch acquired proportions, the preferences of millions of shoppers and the
Content Square iAdvize
London boutique Browns, American luxury firm Neiman technical composition of thousands of garments to suggest
Marcus acquired both the German fashion e-tailer MyTheresa the best clothes for any shopper asking for help. It’s as if
and the start-up Rent The Runway, fashion aggregator Lyst or you were there, trying the clothes on! Change is definitely
mobile app Spring have all raised new rounds of funding to on the way.
fuel growth. Investments are necessary because the sector is
17,3% 79% changing quickly and companies have no other choice but Sharing economy: the new norm
to follow the trends.
The start-up Rent the Runway is currently challenging the idea
PERCENTAGE OF USE THEIR SMARTPHONE IN Fashion brands may have been a bit reluctant in the past of owning fashion with a Netflix-like rental service. It has
ORDERS THAT ARE BEING PHYSICAL STORES but they are now ready to focus on eCommerce and let’s capitalized on several trends like the coming of age of the
RETURNED
Contact Lab be honest, the transition is not easy. It is impossible to try Millennial generation and the sharing economy. This service
Ecommerce Europe
clothes on online and a challenge to manage the logistics of offers designer items from brands like Balenciaga. This way,
the store’s inventory in real time. But consumers spend more users can borrow clothes and accessories indefinitely. You
and more time online and they are increasingly demanding. share the clothes with the entire community and borrow them
from the website. You can then decide to purchase the item

57% Innovation: a key tool to ease the transition and for good. This way, the service is a good alternative to the
3 to 4 purchasing commitment.
sooth customer concerns

The first wave of eCommerce consisted in bringing the Now, why not challenge customer service in the fashion
OF ZALANDO’S SALES NUMBER OF VISITS ON A industry by letting brand ambassadors answer other
COME FROM MOBILE PRODUCT PAGE ONLINE fashion world online. Now, the challenge is concentrated
BEFORE A PURCHASE around features. For example, Spring is a platform that customers’ questions ? It’s another way of getting advice
Zalando
Content Square aims to be a virtual shopping mall for the Fashion industry. and making up your mind before you take the plunge.

The process is similar to applications like Spotify and Uber:

they focused on the user-interface and customer experience.
Fashion Ubiquity

Social Media: Social Shopping, an old habit

OF BRITISH WHO brought to Social Media
HAVE PURHCASED
CLOTHES ONLINE It’s not new that people ask their friends for advice when they

86% STILL USE THEIR

COMPUTER TO
start thinking about a purchase whether it is a new dress or
new shoes. Social Media just gives them the possibility to
BROWSE AND
seek recommendations from more people and influencers
PURCHASE
(experts in a field). For brands from the fashion industry,
CLOTHING
the challenge is to spot influencers and engage with them.
Influencers have a strong voice on Twitter (@ChiaraFerragni,
@AIMEESONG), Instagram (Kristina Bazan / Sincerelyjules),
Facebook (Chiara Nasti ) and on their blogs (Nicole Warne
OF WEB USERS
with garypeppergirl.com / Shea Marie Shea Marie with

65%
HAVE SEARCHED
FOR FASHION peaceloveshea.com).
ITEMS ON THEIR
SMARTPHONE IN Before social media, only friends and family influenced
THE UK someone’s decision to purchase a fashion item. Now,
influencers and conversations on social media help them
with their decision. Fashion brands have to understand
current trends to better integrate them within their content
strategy and social media engagement.
OF BRITISH

20%
ONLINE SHOPPERS
PURCHASED But if we could give you a piece of advice, do not just rely on
CLOTHING VIA A your brand’s content. User-generated content will have more
TABLET impact on your customers. Shoppers seek out user-generated
content before a purchase. It’s more objective and they can
really relate to it.
 Progress needed on the
mobile front
“It is true that only about 6 percent of sales happen online
at the moment. But we know that online is responsible for
influencing more than 50 percent of buying decisions. [...] You
need to integrate your eCommerce with your physical retail
operations.” José Neves, founder of Farfetch (International
fashion website).

With consumers spending 89% of their time on media

through mobile apps, it’s no longer something that can
be ignored. If consumers are more and more connected
it’s also because they are always a click away thanks to
their smartphones. Consumers are flexible, that’s why they
expect brands to be ready to support them on all devices, all
channels and at all times.

In a nutshell, the future of fashion is both physical and

digital – phygital!. Fashion brands should not neglect
physical shops but they should focus their attention on every
channel that can connect them with customers. They should
also pay attention to anyone who can help them advise
customers. Yes, you will first ask your friends for advice but
you might also take what social media influencers say into
consideration. Also, it seems like an interesting alternative to
let brand ambassadors advise visitors since consumers seek Customer service is key for brands in the fashion industry. returned). By providing online customer service, brands can
information and content from other users more than from the Indeed, it helps websites reduce the number returns which advise customers and visitors on sizes, shapes and colors.
brands themselves. is quite high in this sector (17,3% of fashion deliveries are
2.
KEY
FIGURES
&
HIGHLIGHTS
 FASHION: KEY FIGURES &
HIGHLIGHTS
One of the biggest challenges for the fashion industry is to
reduce customer returns. The Fashion industry is one of the
sectors most affected by this eCommerce problem. Indeed,
17,3% of fashion deliveries are returned.

Customer service, in the pre-sales phase, is proving to be the

best way to overcome this challenge. 88,3% 18,7% 13’14’’
customer satisfaction conversion rate for on average, a chat
Brands can help avoid costly disappointments by rate after a chat visitors who chat lasts
13mins14
advising customers and visitors on clothes’ sizes,
shapes and colors before they purchase clothing

Here is the performance of our Top 10 customers in the

fashion industry (data compiled between Sept. 1 2015 and
Feb.20 2016).

56’’ 224€
On average, chat average basket value
agents answer in less for visitors who chat
than 56secs
Online sales:
the 2016 January sales
There is strong competition between sales, private sales the visitors they support. By analyzing the history of past the average basket
and other special offers (proposed by merchants in mid chats, we noticed that 23,6% of the turnover generated value of customers
assisted via chat. That’s

205€
December to boost sales after a challenging end of year). after a chat conversation comes from questions about the
Still, the sales remain a strategic period for brands. customer’s order. Thus, this is the primary reason for which 145,61% more visitors
visitors chat and that generates the highest added-value, who don’t chat

For brands and their customer service, the stakes then, there are questions about special offers, advice on

are high: they have to understand the main products and product returns. Chat agents achieve a global
satisfaction rate of 87,5%.
barriers that limit conversion which is, of course,
higher in this period when consumers make
more frantic purchases. Moreover, brands have
Conversion rate after
to focus on baskets with more value to avoid
28%
chat during the first
being overwhelmed by the increased volume of week of sales
contacts.

After a week of sales, we observed the performance of our

Top 10 customers in the fashion industry who use the iAdvize
solution. 3 results stood out.

19% of post-chat
Visitors who chat have an average basket value of €205,09,
turnover is generated

19%
that is to say 145,04% more than those who don’t chat.
after a chat about a
We can conclude that thanks to their tailored engagement
customer’s order
strategy, brands have succeeded in mobilizing their chat
agents on contacts with higher added value.

In addition, on average, chat agents converted 27,89% of

3.
SUCCESS
STORIES
 SUCCESS STORY

‘‘We wanted to recreate the universe of a high-end tailor shop on the online store. Our
customers have a privileged relationship with our sales representatives who give them style
advice. Now they can get that advice online as well.’’
THE CHALLENGE Axel Dutreil, Ecommerce Manager

PROVIDE
THE SAME QUALITY THE SOLUTION THE RESULTS
OF SERVICE
ON THEIR WEBSITE
AS IN THEIR
STORES
The integration of Click to Chat came hand in hand with the
- 20%
decrease in the number of customer
idea of the Personal Shopper; a real stylist available online tickets created since the
who could provide personalised fashion advice about different implementation

Launced in 2008, this fashion brand designed for men and
women has developped rapidly by opening a network
of boutiques and an online store. The Kooples chose
to reinforce their image of a high-end and trendy brand
with an online store, providing quality advice and support
similar to in-store service.
+ 25%
products and styles. Just like in a real store. To make the online
Personal Shopper concept come true, part of the customer
service department has been trained to use the chat software
increase of the average basket
with the objective of giving advice with a strong focus on sales value of visitors who chat
and results. Personal shoppers are encouraged to answer
questions as naturally as possible and to rely on
their spontaneity and knowledge of the brand and
90%
global satisfaction after a chat
products.
 SUCCESS STORY

‘‘We wanted to focus on pre-sales enquiries. Thanks to behavioural targeting, we have

succeeded in focusing on this phase and avoiding post-sales questions.’’
Clément Coignac, E-commerce & Webmarketing director
THE CHALLENGE

SUPPORT &
REASSURE WEBSITE THE SOLUTION THE RESULTS
VISITORS AT CRITICAL
STAGES IN THEIR
PURCHASE
JOURNEY
Thanks to a targeting strategy focused on achieving pre-sales
objectives (reassurance, conversion, satisfaction, etc.), 63%
- 20 à 30%
in the volume of email and
of chats took place before the checkout funnel. The strategy is phone contacts

Founded in 2011, Le Slip Français is men’s underwear
brand, Made in France. Extremely preset on social media,
the startup sells 80% of its products online, and the rest in
the three recently opened shops in Paris, Hong Kong and
in a network of 90 resellers (Galeries Lafayette, Printemps).
96%
based on a visitor action scoring system. The different phases
are: Welcome, Discovery, Research, Choice, Confirmation. For
Le Slip Français, the Research and Choice phases are the key
customer satisfaction rate
engagement opportunities. Getting the right balance between after chat
reactive and proactive invitations as well as personalising the
wording in the chat invites are part of the global strategy to
adapt the real-time engagement to each situation.
19%
conversion rate after a chat
exchange
 SUCCESS STORY

‘‘We needed a channel which would enable us to provide our online visitors in 33 different
countries with quick answers.’’
Gian Marco Guatteri, CEO
THE CHALLENGE

PROVIDE ONLINE
VISITORS WITH THE SOLUTION THE RESULTS
REAL-TIME
SUPPORT AND
ADVICE,
WORLDWIDE
Brazilian Bikini Shop decided to implement Click to Chat
because they knew this channel would enable them to provide
91%
customer satisfaction rate
their international visitors with fast and efficient support. The

Brazilian Bikini is inherently international. Created in 2008,
brazilianbikinishop.com is now available in 33 languages
including Thai, Croatian and Turkish. The company delivers
worldwide and from the start, paid particular attention to the
local specifics of payment methods and delivery options.
16%
inherent nature of chat also means that their agents can help
more than one customer at a time. In order to help as many
online visitors as possible, BBS recruited multilingual agents
average basket increase
who, combined, speak English, French, Italian, Portuguese,
Spanish, German, Dutch and Bulgarian; the number of
languages spoken during the summer goes up to 12. Chat
is increasingly replacing the phone because agents can help
12
real-time customer service in 12
customers from countries they would not be able to support over
languages
the phone.
 ABOUT

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iAdvize is a real-time customer engagement platform that
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Community Messaging.
Combined with a behavioral targeting engine, iAdvize
offers real-time help to visitors who will really benefit, at the CONTACT US
right time and in the right place, thus boosting conversion contact-uk@iadvize.com
rates and improving customer satisfaction and loyalty.
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