Your Omnichannel Strategy – How To Launch on Ecommerce
13-05-2021
On the 13th May 2021, Carley Johnson, founder of Unzipped Fashion Connections, hosted a two-hour masterclass on: Your Omnichannel Strategy – How To Launch on Ecommerce.
This free online session was a part of a series courtesy of the N17 Creative Callings programme supported by the Mayor of London and the European Social Fund.
Specifically aimed at fashion businesses wanting to develop their brand in today’s complex and evolving multichannel market. Carley has a vast history in fashion starting as a textile designer creating unique concepts for major clients around the world including DVF, Karen Millen and Philip Lim. She then went on into buying and wholesale for major brands before launching Unzipped at the start of 2019.
Carley began by discussing what a good omnichannel strategy looks like for fashion brands. She explained the importance of a clear, consistent tone of voice, logo and DNA throughout your brand’s website, social media and marketing platforms to project cohesion and clarity to your customer. Throughout the session Carley showed examples, before and after, of how other brands had worked on developing their visual presence taking into account their USP and who their core customer is.
The session covered these four core areas:
- What does a good omnichannel strategy look like for fashion brands?
- How to know if your fashion brand is ready to approach 3rd party eCommerce?
- How to find the right 3rd party platform for your fashion brand.
- 10 sales channels you should be selling your fashion brand on.
Carley explained how multifaceted today’s retail sector is and stated that a brand could gain 89% more customer retention if good multichannel buying options were in place. She explained the pro’s and con’s of wholesale and marketplace and asked the fundamental question – is your brand ready? How to identify that you are and what to do if you aren’t. Did you know that your brand would need a following of 50,000+ on Instagram to be classified as ‘established’!
Carley’s masterclass was full of insight, tips and useful advice, including her top 10 sales channels and further links via her Unzipped blog. Her biggest tip: ‘Pick one territory to launch in at a time, E.g. Middle East, and then target 3 platforms in that territory.’ Don’t run before you can walk. Keep shipping costs down, focus and stick to a well-planned timeline.
The 30 participants certainly had a lot to take away from this session which rounded off with some questions on specific territories, such as China taking over the US for ecommerce for the first time this year, and her advice on margins and approaching buyers.
The masterclass received some fantastic feedback:
“I learnt a lot, the pro’s and con’s of wholesale and marketplace and how to know you’re ready to go 3rd party.”
“Great answer to my question about making connections with buyers and getting your collection seen.”
“The slides were great and easy to understand.”
“I thoroughly enjoyed the masterclass so thank-you.”
“I found the section on when you are ready to go 3rd party and the examples given to explain really useful.”
“Brilliant session, loved it.”
A big thank-you to Carley for such an informative session, if you missed out Carley will be returning for another online masterclass later in the year. Next up on the N17 Creative Callings agenda is: How to do your own PR with Rosie Davies-Smith.
