An Overview of Fashion E-commerce - Paper Sample

Introduction

The rise and spread of e-commerce have facilitated the emergence of different online businesses. One of the most thriving e-business is fashion. Digitization has transformed locale and countries into one global community with the primary objective of quickly sharing information. The process has been facilitated by the use of smartphones and social media, which has created new communication lines and customer touchpoints. Technological developments and advancement in e-commerce have facilitated an increase in the sale of fashion products online. More than a decade ago, no one could have imagined that the internet would be subsequently used to modify how people buy fashion products. The number of online sales has been soaring annually, and both retailers and high fashion brands are experiencing the change. The transformation in e-commerce sales was fuelled by smartphone and shopping applications. The form of business has its challenges, such as lack of touch and feel factor, but it offers an overwhelming convenience to its customers.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

Effect on Fashion Industry

E-commerce has grossly affected the fashion industry. Besides increasing sales of fashion products, the internet has enhanced awareness among people. New fashion trends, new products, and fashion news quickly reach people worldwide via the internet. Global trends can now influence one in the comfort of their homes, which has motivated them to adapt to the new fashion. Since customers instantly get information about the latest fashion, they can buy clothes and other fashion products accordingly. Their demands are met innovatively by e-commerce that has enabled the creation of virtual stores that customers can easily access from their homes. There are numerous fashion houses and apparel firms that are purely internet-based and numerous others with both brick and mortar stores and online shops that enable them to extend their customer base. With its global reach, e-commerce uses innovative visual tools to offer shoppers a closer look at products to overcome the challenge of lack of touch or feel factor. The advanced tools with previous customer ratings enable buyers to make informed decisions on fashion products they intend to purchase. The growth of online fashion industries has also been facilitated by social media, which offers a perfect platform for marketing fashion products. The creation of official pages and advertisements of the products on social media enables firms to generate traffic for their websites and applications.

Conclusion

Fashion e-commerce is a fast-growing online business that has both opportunities and challenges. Fashion e-commerce is accessible, and it offers lower prices as compared to brick and mortar stores. Customers’ data could easily be stolen or tampered with by hackers or rogue sellers. Monopoly is one of the serious threats that affect e-commerce. The market is controlled by major markets such as Amazon that have killed smaller stores. This means that the upcoming stores must develop effective marketing strategies to thrive in such a monopolistic environment. E-commerce is a free platform and this has enabled most online fashion shops to pop up. This has led to stiff competition among these shops. The opportunities of fashion e-commerce are that it has influencers that provide a powerful marketing opportunity for savvy sellers and it is a growing market that is influenced by the advancement in technology. There are specific products that can be sold online easily such as clothes while other fashion items do not easily sell online. More people will increase purchasing fashion products online, hence enlarging the fashion industry. With the continuous advancement of technology, fashion e-commerce will expand and most people will shop online rather than visiting the brick and mortar stores. For effective future operations, the sector must adopt effective payment strategy of the fashion products to minimize theft of customers' details.