As the pandemic continues to reshape the fashion industry and accelerate a new era of consumer buying trends, there are new looks for the industry to try on. Online fashion retailers are turning to new strategies, like mobile apps, omni-channel services and buy-now-pay-later, as they evolve the methods in which they can reach and supply their customers. 

These new moves allow fashion ecommerce retailers to offer seamless shopping experiences both online and offline, as consumers change the way they shop — balancing brick and mortar stores with surging eCommerce demand. Here’s our round up of four online shopping trends that retailers must watch in 2021.

Mobile App Shopping

Global consumer spending on mobile is expected to reach $270 billion by 2025, having been accelerated by increased mobile activity during the pandemic, according to SensorTower’s 2021-2025 Mobile Market Forecast report. The research also forecasts that consumer spending on non-game apps, such as e-commerce apps, will overtake that of games on the App Store by 2024. 

Leading the charge in mobile app shopping is Nike, who is developing its own social shopping app outside the bounds of TikTok and Instagram. The company recently teased that it was working on a new native mobile app dubbed NbG (NOTHING BUT GOLD) aimed at young women shoppers, taking social commerce in-house. As of now, the app is set to be “a true mix of sport, style, activism and mindfulness” where young women can buy Nike products, see how other users style them and get inspired.

Buy Now, Pay Later

In such a volatile year for the economy, it’s unsurprising that consumers are turning to buy-now-pay-later services to help spread the cost of their online purchases. In Europe, the BNPL payment option was offered by one-fifth of retailers, largely driven by consumer appeal and adoption — but there are many benefits for retailers as well. 

According to Salesforce, up to 85% of shoppers abandoned their carts in Q2 2020. This means that marketing teams are spending considerable budgets trying to get cart abandoners to complete their purchase. Buy now, pay later services can help retailers solve this and capture otherwise lost revenue. Klarna, one BNPL service provider, reports a 30% increase in checkout conversion rates.

Not only do these services help retailers convert shopping carts, but they also help stores drive up the amount of units per transaction. Afterpay found that retailers using their service had a 50 to 200% increase in basket size, Klarna reported a 58% increase in average orders, and Affirm reported an 87% increase in units. 

But what does the future look like for BNPL services? Eventually, online retailers will want to eliminate the costs associated with third-party vendors like Afterpay and Klarna, and are likely to build out their own in-house services.

Omni-channel retail services

According to a report from Retail Economics and Natwest, nearly half (46%) of UK consumers have purchased a product online that they would have previously only ever purchased in store, since the pandemic began. 

As the ongoing situation triggers a wave of new shopping habits, the retail industry attempts to determine to what extent these changes will become permanent. 32% of consumers surveyed said they expect to continue with their new ecommerce habits in the future, a figure that rises to 40% in 45-54 year-olds. 

While the pandemic was responsible for these significant changes, the accessibility and convenience of online shopping had already made its mark on brick and mortar spaces around the world. Retailers are under enormous pressure to unify retail experiences both inside and outside of their stores, and are turning to omnichannel strategies, such as engaging, direct-to-consumer models to keep online shoppers engaged. 

Zara was one of the first retailers to explore what an omnichannel future could look like back in 2018, when they built out their BOPIS model (buy online, pickup in-store) and opened a click and collect concept store in London.

Customers didn’t have to pay for shipping or wait a long time for their items to be delivered, there was a dedicated space where they could pick up their online purchases and shoppers could even avoid payment lines by using self-serve checkouts.

Today, BOPIS sales now make up around 40% of all fashion retail sales (KIBO Commerce data shows), with shoppers selecting the BOPIS option four times more than they were before the pandemic began. The biggest reason for increasing sales is that customers are more likely to purchase additional items when picking up their orders in-store.

According to the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), over 50% of shoppers use BOPIS, and 67% of those customers add extra items to their carts when they know they can pick them up immediately. This shopping behavior was also seen by Lululemon – the brand reported that 20% of shoppers who chose to pick up their orders in-store made an additional purchase when they came to collect it.

Challenges For Online Fashion Retailers In 2021

As the demand for online apparel sales continues to grow, so does the pressure on online retailers to keep up with the demand of detailed, high-quality product images. 

Key challenges: 

• Inconsistent product display online across hangers, flatlays, ghost & models 
• Unique styles or sizing that is not well-captured in a flat lay 
• Artificial nature of traditional or ghost mannequins 
• Difficulty keeping lighting & color consistent across imagery from different sources 
• Lack of budget and/or internal capabilities prevents upgrade to model photography

How Looklet Can Help 

Looklet provides retailers with an efficient in-house studio and creative styling tools to produce high quality dynamic fashion images. Capture multiple angles for every category type (male, female, plus-size and kids) and choose from ghost or detail images. Easily add accessories or change the styling later in our styling software, The LookCreator, optimising for market, season or trends.

• Capture the most realistic on-model look of your products
• Present individual products as an entire outfit 
• Drag & drop different items to create full looks 
• Easily add accessories or change styling later