Fast-fashion retailers slow down to engage with customers

Chain Store Age
Crosby Noricks

Fast-fashion retailers provide shoppers with the latest trends that, in many cases, are in one minute and out the next. So if the customer experience changes so frequently, how do brands form meaningful relationships?

The answer lies not in having merchandising tunnel vision, or in vague brand statements, but by creating a community that connects patrons with the brand and with each other, and social networks have staked a modern claim in fostering these relationships. Once retailers fulfill their shoppers’ latest fashion craving, the next step is to keep them involved (and shopping!) through meaningful, one-on-one conversations, no matter the season or sale. Facebook and Twitter both provide real-time engagement opportunities that can extend brand affinity, word-of-mouth and yes, even increased purchases away from the storefront, away from the brand website — right where shoppers are spending the majority of their online time. Here are five tips that fast fashion retailers can do to better amplify customer interaction through social media:

1) Offer exclusive “Social Media Only” promotions
Sharing special offers exclusively for those individuals that follow a particular outlet’s brand increases shopper’s desire to pay attention to that brand’s Facebook or Twitter updates. Furthermore, tracking the ROI of social initiatives can be easily done through coupons and social media sales — just wait until that LBD (little black dress) sells out an hour after you post a Twitter sneak sale!

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