Advancing mobile marketing within fashion retailing
| Subject: | 💼 Business |
| Type: | Proposal Essay |
| Pages: | 3 |
| Word count: | 759 |
| Topics: | Online Shopping, Marketing, Smartphone, 🛍️ Fashion |
essay ASAP?
Summary
The Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG) reported mobile shopping accounting for about 40% of all sells online in the UK as of 2015 (IMRG 2015, p. 4). This aspect of shopping behaviour is especially significant in the fashion industry, where online retailing is fast becoming a core trend. As of July 2017, the online fashion retailing recorded an average year-per-year growth of 21.4%, about 4% higher than the average rate of growth for all commodities retailing online (Retail Economics, 2017). According to Siwicki (2014), mobile devices have become the primary access points for online customers as opposed to larger devices like PCs.
Online sales accounted for a total of 13.3% of the total retail that took place as of July 2017 (Retail Economics, 2017). This composition features non-food home-ware, food, and fashion items. Due to the increase in competitiveness for all retailers, shifting from the bricks model has been an effective way towards achieving better sales and profit growth (Mintel, 2016). The access to a global market scene and the reduced costs of physical location make the clicks model more attractive (Blázquez, 2014, p. 100). The use of online retailing has, therefore, emerged as easier to comply with the demands of customers and encourage purchases through constant communication.
Shifting towards the new models of retail is strongly dependent on mobile technologies. Ideally, other than simply availing fashion items online, mobile retailing enables the development of sites and applications to provide a complete shopping experience (Piotrowicz & Cuthbertson, 2014, p. 11). Some of the apps currently available on Android and IOS include Amazon, Zara, and Poshmark (Phillips, 2017). With such applications and the available options for alerts, the retailers maintain constant communication with their customers and tap into their routine searches to personalize available items for their needs (Pantano & Priporas, 2016, p. 552). Even in instances when customers make purchases off other devices, selection usually begins with searches on mobile devices (Pantano & Viassone, 2015, p. 111).
Further developments in technology are expected to influence the future of fashion retail. Virtual reality possibilities create the opportunity for customers to submit their design ideas and request custom made items from producing retailers (Escobar-Rodríguez & Bonsón-Fernández, 2016, p. 7). It is also possible for the customer to get a view of the possible fashion item using 3D and 4D displays, which equates the shopping online experience to the bricks context. However, most of these technologies remain restricted to the use of larger electronic devices like computer monitors or smart TV (Pantano & Priporas, 2016). Advances to mobile operating systems hold the promise of improved shopping experiences and more customers in this area.
Purpose and Aim
As it is, the potential that mobile shopping has for the growth of online retailing remains largely unexplored. Clear differences between mobile shopping preferences and online shopping behavior are unavailable in research (Escobar-Rodríguez & Bonsón-Fernández, 2016). Understanding the degree to which mobile devices can facilitate this growth is integral to the success of the retailing approach. There is also a strong need for the technology to achieve degrees of user friendliness that compel more engagement and acceptance as a norm.
As such, this study will focus on understanding the current degrees of influence of mobile phone use on fashion retail. It will also seek to determine specific improvements to mobile technology that can improve the user experience and ensure the technology positively impacts revenue and profit growth for the online fashion retailing model.
- Blázquez, M., 2014. Fashion shopping in multichannel retail: The role of technology in enhancing the customer experience. International Journal of Electronic Commerce, 18(4), pp. 97-116.
- Escobar-Rodríguez, T. & Bonsón-Fernández, R., 2016. Analysing online purchase intention in Spain: fashion e-commerce. Information Systems and e-Business Management, pp. 1-24.
- IMRG, 2015. IMRG Fashion Foward Report, UK: Interactive Media in Retail Group.
- Mintel, 2016. UK Clothing Retailing market report.
- Pantano, E. & Priporas, C.-V., 2016. The effect of mobile retailing on consumers’ purchasing experiences: A dynamic perspective. Computers in Human Behavior, 61(1), pp. 548-555.
- Pantano, E. & Viassone, M., 2015. Engaging consumers on new integrated multichannel retail settings: Challenges for retailers. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 25(1), pp. 106-114.
- Phillips, A., 2017. The 12 best shopping apps that help you find exactly what you want. Piotrowicz, W. & Cuthbertson, R., 2014. Introduction to the special issue information technology in retail: Toward omnichannel retailing. International Journal of Electronic Commerce, 18(4), pp. 5-16.
- Retail Economics, 2017. UK Online Retail Report.
- Siwicki, B., 2014. Exclusive: Mobile now the primary way consumers shop online.
Offered for reference purposes only.