Fashion types can be wound up pretty tight.
Fashion brands, however, should learn from software and tighten up even more.
When it comes to feedback loops, the cream of the crop software companies do a good job of keeping things tight.
In fact, in my experience, revenue leaders that I have worked for were very stubborn in building customer advocacy boards. These would be a selection of first-time customers that would help us find product-market fit. They would make sure we spent time solving the most pertinent of problems.
And, the product people would work as fast as possible to respond to feedback, fix bugs, make updates etc.
Fashion and apparel brands on the other hand, thanks to existing processes, do not respond to customer feedback as rapidly.
Or in some cases, there is no response.
Those feedback loops are not as tight or just plain broken – see the diagram below, which we adapted from this blog post by Oliver Rhodes on the topic of software vs. fashion feedback loops.
And, if I can paraphrase a quote from Oliver:
“In fashion, spreadsheets are where customer quality issues go to die.”
If we agree that customer feedback loops in fashion are loosey-goosey, then here’s what we need to tighten them up:
1 – Standardization of capturing feedback on product attributes including fit, function and aesthetic.
2 – A clear and efficient road for said feedback to get back to product creation, vendors, factories and other relevant parties.
3 – The ability to act on/implement feedback if the decision is made to do so.
We can put this together in a Venn diagram because having only two out of three is not enough.
Standardized feedback which is shared but with no ability to act is like having a wonderful cigar but no way to light it.
Shared insights with the ability to act but no standardization results in a bunch of fragmented information.
Finally, standardized feedback and the ability to act means nothing if the information isn’t shared. Here, the relevant stakeholders are uninformed.
If all three are in place, then a brand can act on customer feedback and innovate accordingly.
Closing the loop like so….
Consider this example taken from the blog of protective gear brand, Zoombang, in an interview with the Chief Product Officer, Sandy LaRowe.
On the topic of solving customer problems and know if/when they have been successful:
“It starts with a common complaint, like ‘When I run, this part of my leg gets sore.’ Then design, development and merchandising come together to pinpoint the root of the issue. We meet with athletes directly to gather their feedback and perform lots of testing to find a specific solution that meets and exceeds their expectations.”
It’s a highly simplified example, but it does demonstrate the basic steps to close the loop.
Another great example of customer informed product development is the Tabby bag from Coach. See The Business of Fashion for an excellent write up on the topic.
When the customer feedback process is tightened up, then technology can be layered on top to drive efficiency. For example, if merchants can quickly pull up sales data on a daily, weekly or monthly basis then they should have the ability to pull real-time (or at least as close to real-time as possible) market feedback about the assortment.
Perhaps this could be powered by AI — merchants have access to a dashboard where insights are surfaced to them with one click. Maybe mounds of data sitting in spreadsheets won’t be left to exist in digital purgatory.
Instead, they can be analyzed, actioned and turned into meaningful edits to a product assortment.
