Ragrade: Business of Fashion Assignment 1

Student name: Aliina Neep Student ID: n9637150 Date of submission: April 15th, 2016 Lecturer: Carla van Lunn and Lydia Pearson

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Executive summary This report indicates what a job in e-commerce in the fashion industry entails and how to get there. The information in this assignment is gathered through primary research (two interviews with industry professionals through e-mail) and secondary research (15 online sources through Google and Google Scholar). As an e-commerce manager you are responsible for all the online marketing of a fashion brand, but with a focus on the webshop and the sales of this medium. The main tasks of an e-commerce manager include maintaining the webshop and improving this to increase sales. The interviews show that although the job title is similar, the actual job tasks may vary depending on the company. E-commerce comes in at the end of the fashion supply chain, although according to E-commerce Manager Ernst Hiemstra, as an e-commerce professional you’re constantly working on and preparing for current or upcoming collections. When talking trends, e-commerce will mainly be customer driven, because customer needs are becoming a huge focus point in the online industry. Shopping through social media or in physical stores will be the focus point this upcoming year. To enter a career in e-commerce within the fashion industry, you need to obviously have a passion for fashion, but having some experience in the industry (through internships) and having worked retail (and know how to connect with the customers) really helps setting yourself apart from other applicants.

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Contents

Executive summary 2

Contents 3

1. Introduction 4

2. Methodology 4 2.1 Scope 4 2.2 Methods 4

3. Findings 4 3.1 E-commerce and it’s role and impact on the fashion industry 4 3.2 Where online marketing fits in the fashion supply chain 5 3.3 An interview with a online marketing professional 5 3.4 How to pursue a career in online marketing 5

4. Discussion 6

References 7

Appendix 1 Interviews 8

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1. Introduction This assessment is developed for readers interested in a career in e-commerce in the fashion industry. This assessment will give information about what this career entails, where it fits in the fashion supply chain and how to achieve and enter this career. The goal is to gather insights on e-commerce and learn about the skills needed to enter the career in the fashion industry.

2. Methodology

2.1 Scope For this report information is gathered through 16 online sources, 2 interviews and general knowledge gathered through different online marketing units at QUT and Hogeschool van Amsterdam.

2.2 Methods For this assessment, information will be gathered through primary research – an interview with an e-commerce manager – and secondary research. The primary research is gathered through e-mails, by e-mailing questions and getting them answered. The secondary research consists of using Google and Google Scholar to find relevant articles, researches and information.

3. Findings

3.1 E-commerce and it’s role and impact on the fashion industry Working as the e-commerce manager, you will be responsible for monitoring the webshop and online sales. You need to make sure the webshop is an accurate reflection of the brands identity and communicates its core values (Web Analytics World, n.d.). Webshop For the webshop to be successful, it should be consumer friendly; it should be easy to navigate, not too many ‘messages’ and the photography should be clear (Kay Singh, 2013). Customers also value different payment methods. To improve the sales, you need to have information about the visitors, which can be found through Google Analytics. Based on that information, you are able to see which webpages are problematic and try to improve these (Kristi Hines, n.d.). Through SEA and SEO an online marketeer improves the brands online visibility. SEA stands for search engine advertising (Arifa Raufi, n.d.) and SEO stands for search engine optimalization. SEO is making sure your website shows up first in Google search results (Search Engine Land, n.d.).

Social media Social media has an enormous influence on the fashion industry. Nowadays fashion weeks are reported live through Instagram and Snapchat and fashion bloggers promote brands through product placement on Instagram. Social media is responsible for a complete revolution in the way the fashion industry operates. Fashion lovers don’t need to wait for a new Vogue to come out each month, but can resort to Instagram to get the latest fashion updates. Social media allows brands to communicate with customers more effectively and get feedback. Fashion is now completely socially connected (Chris Danforth, 2015).

E-mail marketing E-mail marketing is used to connect with the database and remind them of upcoming collections, discounts or information about collections. There are different components e-commerce managers try to define, such as the open rate, click-through-rate and bounce rate. The most common days to send e-mails are

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Thursdays and Fridays between 6 and 9AM (Moosend, 2015). Also, you need to make sure the e-mails are compatible for mobile devices, because 41% of all e-mails are opened on phones or tablets (Christopher Ratcliff, 2014). The database for e-mail marketing can be used for other purposes such as e-mails to remind you of items you left in your shopping basket (so a basket abandonment e-mail) or to congratulate you with your birthday.

3.2 Where online marketing fits in the fashion supply chain Online shopping started out in 1980, when English entrepreneur Michael Aldrich launched Redifon’s Office Revolution; a software that made consumers connect to company’s corporate systems and made transactions happen electronically (Michael Aldrich, 2011). Since 1991 then many technological innovations started popping up and not long after Amazon launched its online shopping website in 1995 (Jillian D’Onfro, 2015). Online marketing comes in at the end of the traditional supply chain (shown below). When the new collections hit stores, the same garments are available on webshops. Some brands use the ‘pre-order’ option, which means you can order a garment before it’s actually available.

Trends in e-commerce The future trends in e-commerce will mainly be consumer driven. Consumers needs have a big impact on brands. Social media will most likely become a shopping platform, since they’ve already been using social media to market their brands and communicate to customers. They will most likely add ‘selling’ to that resume. Also, video is starting to become very popular and is already making its way to homepages (Catalin Zorzini, 2015). Surprisingly enough, as opposed to the upcoming online developments, more retailers will open physical stores in order to keep their market share and add more value to their customer experience (Vend University, 2015).

3.3 An interview with a online marketing professional Both interviews (Appendix 1) are done with e-commerce professionals and it’s interesting to see how different their tasks are, considering they have a similar job title. Essentially they do the same, but Nina’s job is broader as she also oversees customer service and supports online marketing. Ernst states that e-commerce is an ongoing business. He is constantly working on current or upcoming collections. Regarding trends, he mentions that the focus has shifted more onto customer needs, as stated in 3.2. In order to do this, he says he spends more time going over analytics and researching the target customer. When talking about trends, both have slightly different views on them. Ernst thinks people won’t need webshops to buy their clothes anymore, because it will mainly be through social media. Nina predicts that e-commerce will increase and eventually technological developments, like virtual reality, should support e-commerce even more.

Also, Nina says a passion for fashion is definitely mandatory and it creates motivation and capabilities that you need to be successful within this industry. Experience is not mandatory, because what you lack in skill, you can make up for in effort.

3.4 How to pursue a career in online marketing An overview with tips of how to pursue a career in online marketing in the fashion industry, and what steps are essential to pursue this, can be found below. While there are many ways of getting into this type of career, the tips below are only an indication of skills that are needed.

Workinretail Thebestwaytoknowhowtosellfashionisknowthecustomerandknowingwhattheywantandneed.Theperfectplacetolearnthatskillistohaveworkedinretailforawhile.

Getadegree Whenpursuingacareerinonlinemarketinginthefashionindustry,it'scrucialtohaveknowledgeaboutmarketingingeneralandonlinemarketing.Thereforyouneedtohaveachievedabachelorormasterdegreeinmarketing,communicationsoradvertising.Youdon'tnecessarilyneedtoknoweverythingaboutfashion,aslongasyou'vegotthe

Design Production Distribution SalesandMarketing

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marketingpartdown.Asanonlinemarketeeryoushouldbeabletosellanythingonline.

Dointernshipsand/ortraineeships

Youcanlearnonlinemarketinginschool,butyougainmoreknowledgeactuallydoingonlinemarketing,forexamplethroughaninternship.Internshipsareagreatwaytogettoknowtheindustry.It’salsoagreatexperiencetoaddtoyourresume,because–especiallyifyoudidaninternshipduringuniversity–itshowsyou’reeagertolearnandworkhard."Iworkedasaninternforfreeforthefirsttwoyearsofmycareerwhileworkingotherparttimejobstomakealiving.Itwasagreatwaytomeetpeopleandgainrecommendationsandexperienceforfuturework"(LaurenDavidPeden,2013).

Readeverythingthereistoknowaboutfashion

"Findanareawithinthefashionindustrythatyoufindinterestingandreadeverythingaboutit,whetherit'scelebritystyleorshoes.Makesomethingyourownandbecomeandexpertinthat"TracyLester,ContributingFashionEditoratGlamour(SarahZWexler,2012).

Goaboveandbeyond “Justgettingyourdreaminternshipisn’tenough–youhavetogoaboveandbeyondeveryday.Bethefirstoneinandthelastoneout.Neverleavebeforeyourbossdoes.Volunteerforanyjob,notjustthemoredesirableones.Taketheinitiative,anddothingsbeforeyou’reasked.”(WhoWhatWear,2013).

4. Review As an e-commerce manager you’re responsible for the webshop and how to maintain and increase sales through this online medium. Social media and e-mail marketing help reach that goal through increasing the online visibility. (Online) marketing comes in at the end of the classic supply chain, although I personally think e-commerce never stops, just like stated in the interviews (3.3). It is an ongoing process and doesn’t ‘keep track’ of the traditional collections. The way I see the supply chain is illustrated on the right. Social media, and especially Instagram, has completely changed the way we ‘consume’ fashion, because it provides us with current (and previews of) collections and trends. A trend in e-commerce is that social media will potentially be used as a shopping platform by adapting to customer needs. But surprisingly enough more retailers will also open more physical stores to add more value to the shopping experience. I personally think people will still always want to shop in physical stores, because you can touch the fabric and the experience in store will always be more fun than online. This business is a tough one to get into, and as mentioned in 3.4 there are different ways to get into e-commerce in the fashion industry. I personally think internships are the best way to get experience and connections. Also an interest in fashion is required, obviously, but primarily you need to be able to do a good job at e-commerce. You’re passion for fashion won’t teach you how to apply SEO, it only makes it more interesting and fun.

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References Arifa Raufi (n.d.). Traffic: SEA Search Enginge Advertising. Retrieved from

http://onlinemarketingin60minutes.com/traffic-sea-search-engine-advertising/

Catalin Zorzini (December 7, 2015). 10 interesting e-commerce trends for 2016 and beyond. Retrieved from

http://ecommerce-platforms.com/ecommerce-news/10-interesting-ecommerce-trends-for-2016-and-beyond

Chris Danforth (April 8, 2015). Has social media had a positive impact on the fashion industry? Retrieved from

http://www.highsnobiety.com/2015/04/08/has-social-media-had-a-positive-impact-on-the-fashion-industry/

Christopher Ratcliff (July 2, 2014). How fashion e-commerce brands use email marketing. Retrieved from

https://econsultancy.com/blog/65115-how-fashion-ecommerce-brands-use-email-marketing/

Jillian D’Onfro (March 21, 2015). Look at how much Amazon has changes since it first launched. Retrieved from

http://www.businessinsider.com.au/what-amazon-looked-like-when-it-launched-2015-3?r=US&IR=T#first-

things-first-amazon-wasnt-the-companys-original-name-1

Kay Singh (June 17, 2013). Web design: 11 characteristics of a user friendly website. Retrieved from

http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/web-design-11-characteristics-user-friendly-website

Kristi Hines (n.d.). Awesome Google Analytics. Retrieved from https://blog.kissmetrics.com/awesome-google-

analytics/

Lauren David Peden (May 22, 2013). How to land a job in fashion. Retrieved from

http://www.elle.com/fashion/g8364/how-to-work-in-fashion/

Michael Aldrich (November 2011). Inventor’s story. Retrieved from

http://www.aldricharchive.com/inventors_story.html

Moosend (August 13, 2015). Infographic: e-mail marketing for fashion brands. Retrieved from

http://www.moosend.com/blog/infographic-email-marketing-for-fashion-brands/642

Sarah Z Wexler (August 8, 2012). How to get a job in the fashion industry. Retrieved from

http://www.glamour.com/fashion/2012/08/how-to-get-a-job-in-the-fashion-industry-glamour-september-2012

Search Engine Land (n.d.). What is SEO. Retrieved from http://searchengineland.com/guide/what-is-seo

Vend University (2015). Retail trends and predictions for 2015. Retrieved from

https://www.vendhq.com/university/retail-trends-and-predictions-2015

Web Analytics World (n.d.). Internet marketing assistant job description. Retrieved from

http://www.webanalyticsworld.net/jobs/internet-marketing-jobs-usa/internet-marketing-jobs/internet-marketing-

assistant-job-description

WhoWhatWear (June 19, 2013). 10 need-to-know tips for getting your fashion dream job. Retrieved from

http://www.whowhatwear.com.au/10-need-to-know-tips-for-getting-your-fashion-dream-job

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Appendix 1 Interviews Appendix 1 contains two interviews; the first interview is with E-Commerce Manager of Dutch denim brand Gsus, Ernst Hiemstra. The interview was done through e-mail. Only the relevant answers are included in this appendix, since some questions in the e-mail were personal ones regarding my former job at the company. The second interview is with Nina van Lith. She is an e-commerce coordinator at America Today, a Dutch fashion brand focussed on young teenagers who are looking for a Dutch equivalent of Abercrombie & Fitch. Also this interview was done the same way as the first one, since both professionals are situated in the Netherlands.

Interview 1 Aliina: What does a usual day look like for you? Ernst: I usually start my day around 7:30 at home. I’ll quickly check my e-mails at home and get ready to leave for work. I’ll arrive at the office around 9:00. I’ll check Google Analytics on how the webshop performed the night before. Especially if we’ve sent an e-mail to the data base the day before, I want to see if it had an impact on sales on the webshop. After analysing that data for a little while, usually I’ll go into meetings with the website development team until lunchtime. We’re working on a new lay out for the webshops that fall under the same investment company, so Gsus, but also Men at Work etc. We’ll work on the whole back office part of the webshop, so all the programming and data things. Then I’ll have lunch around 13:00. After lunch I’ll either check with my fellow colleague on what to do with the e-mail marketing and what promotions we might add in it. She will then work on that, while I’ll check my e-mail and either work on a proposal for finance regarding budgeting or work on the back office of the webshop. There are so many things to do, that no day is the same. Usually I’ll leave the office around 6:30. At home I will still check my email quickly before I got to bed. Usually we send our e-mails to the database around 7PM, so I’ll check in Google Analytics how that has an impact on the webshop sales.

Aliina: How much of the e-commerce department is actually involved with the actual garments or the fashion industry within Gsus? Ernst: I’m not really involved with the actual clothing. I just work on the webshop and other online activities. Although the social media and those sorts of online activities are done by the marketing department, I’ll usually help them make the right decisions. My colleague is more involved with the e-mail marketing and front office of the webshop, which means she will work on the lay-out and graphic work for the webshop. She will gather visuals and the garment photography when preparing for upcoming seasons, whereas I work on the data and back office.

Aliina: Do you need to love fashion to work in online marketing within the fashion industry? Or it not related to each other at all? Ernst: To me it’s mostly about the online marketing of the brand, whatever the brand might be. I could be happy to work at a car brand too. It’s just that I’ve got to know the target customer very well, because I’ve worked in the fashion industry before. I’ve gotten to know what the average fashion girl wants and how they shop. If I were to work for a company in a different industry, I would need to do a lot more research before I make a decision than I do now. I don’t mind working in fashion, usually it’s a lot of fun too, but for me it’s mainly all about the online and data part. My colleague works a lot more with the actual clothing than I do. She works on the webshop photography. Because of that she needs to know everything about every collection. She needs to know what items come in which delivery, their actual colours (for photo shopping the photography), the fabrics (to write product summary’s for the product page) and every detail you could possibly be able to find on a product page. She works with the clothing a lot more. Also, she needs to know which items she can apply a discount on and how to put them in order on the webshop so it’s visually attractive. All those kinds of things that I don’t do, she does. You could say there’s to parts to the e-commerce department. At least, that’s how we work at Gsus. It might be that it’s more integrated at other fashion companies.

Aliina: What are the future trends in online marketing and fashion and where do you see it in a couple of years? What do you think you’re tasks will be like in a few years? Ernst: Online marketing is constantly evolving and not a single day is the same, although it might seem that way to consumers. Working in the back office, there are a lot of rules that change and programming things that change. I even got a call last week of a government company telling me I need to change a sentence in my ‘shippings and returns’ info because it was against regulations. In terms of major trends in online marketing, I think it will become a lot more customer driven. Already now I’m stuck to Google Analytics after every campaign, Facebook post or e-mail that Gsus sends, just to see what our customers do online. I think that will become a bigger part of online marketing. Everything we do is for the

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customer to have a good shopping experience. In general, we change the webshop if customers can’t find things, we change colours because some might find them too bright, we change photography because to some customers the garments aren’t photographed clear enough. All the emphasis is on the customers and I think that will grow even more. It’s hard to predict where online marketing is headed. Some researches or authors think that consumers still want physical shops because of the experience and ditch online completely, while other researches show online is about to become everything and physical shops are no longer needed. Right now the sales at Gsus are 65% online and 35% retailers and our own stores, but we see that our target audience still needs that shopping experience and ‘going into the city to shop’. Our goal at e-commerce is to copy that experience and try to achieve it online.

Interview 2 Aliina: How did you get to your job in e-commerce? Nina: I have always had an interest in both fashion and marketing. While doing a bachelor degree in Business and Marketing, the digital environment was something that strongly appealed to me and I focused my assignments and thesis on social media and other digital channels. After a specific project on e-commerce I knew this was an area that I would like to further address, and I was lucky to have found an internship at a women’s clothing webshop in The Netherlands. Although I have always had an interest in fashion, it wasn't until this internship that I got really excited from the challenges and possibilities of working with clothing. Especially the quick rate of changes in collections etc. is something that strongly appeals to me.

Aliina: What does your job in e-commerce entail? Nina: At the moment, I am an e-commerce manager for a Dutch women’s clothing webshop. This means that I manage the different departments such as customer service, webshop and design and I help out with online marketing. We have a very organic and informal organization, which facilitates communication between different departments. This makes it easier for me to get aware of challenges and opportunities and quickly act on it as e-commerce managers. Aliina: What trends in online marketing and e-commerce are you anticipating happening in the next few years? Nina: Although physical stores are still very popular, I expect that the amount of visitors to e-commerce website will keep increasing. I think that there will be a lot of technological developments that will influence e-commerce in fashion. For example, virtual reality and other visual techniques could increase the opportunities to 'try on clothing' from your home. Aliina: Is one able to work in e-commerce in the fashion industry without fashion knowledge, or do you think this passion is mandatory? Nina: I feel like passion is mandatory, but previous experience is not. I think the passion will create the motivation and capabilities needed to be successful in your job. The fashion industry is a very dynamic one and I didn't expect this in the beginning, as I had no previous work experience in fashion. This creates a lot of long days and hard work and I feel like passion for the job is needed to enjoy this high workload.