April 20, 2022 
Amid the pandemic, most e-commerce industries manage their order, inventory, and warehouse in a good way, and few fail to look into it decently. A report by McKinsey & Company mentions that it’s time for businesses to minimize the complexity and get different ways to manage full-price sales to reduce the inventory levels and aims to enhance the demand in terms of strategies.
An article by ET Retail mentions that the accessories and fashion world have slowed down to 22% in terms of sales. The apparel business model continuously follows the changing trend to achieve the best product outcome.
A fashion report in 2021 mentions that the online fashion business measures a growth of 51%, with the gross merchant value (GMV) rising by 45% in 2021.
This article will give a clear idea of the trends, opportunities, challenges, and solutions to enhance the apparel industry’s long-term growth.
Apparel Industry trends
Despite the pandemic and downfall of the sales in the market, the apparel industry somehow tried to survive in the market to fulfill the customer need and desires. The dressing sense keeps on changing to get evolution in the fashion industry to grab the attention of the massive crowd in a meaningful manner. The apparel industry is getting a hand in quirky printed masks to change the vision of the fashion world. BCG predicts to reach Rupees 5,781 billion by 2024 in the apparel industry.
Below are a few trends to go through in 2022:
- Ethical and Sustainable fashion trends:
Fashion industries are constantly criticized for enhancing pollution and are one of the reasons behind climate change. The apparel industries are going towards sustainable materials to keep such criticism in mind.
- Readymade clothes:
Readymade clothes still hold the market to improve the retail market in a significant way. The readymade trend still makes its way from men’s casual and formal dress to women’s ethnic kurtas; set the movement will go on in 2022.
- Intimate and Lingerie wear:
Personal hygiene is most important for both women and men and is a boiling topic to discuss. Brands these days are working hard to provide the best comfort in Lingerie items that will help in the growth of their business.
- Kidswear:
When the pandemic was at its peak, parents were worried about shopping for their kids as going out with kids may infect them. To get rid of the infection, parents bought everything online. It increases to 200% in terms of volume and much more to go ahead in 2022.
Apparel Industries Opportunities
The post-pandemic has given an enormous opportunity to the apparel industry to shift from offline to online to chase the massive audience in a significant way. The online market is booming in a big way to raise the sales channel in the market. The online process is so easy and convenient that the buying and returning of the stuff becomes more accessible, which helps in the booming of the apparel industry to its zenith.
Problems and challenges in the Apparel Industry
With the evolution of the changes in the trends, the market keeps on juggling and acquiring new challenges to handle the customer needs in 2022. Some of the issues are mentioned here:
- Sometimes they face difficulties taking customized or personalized orders or looking into inventory significantly.
- Managing the warehouse manually is the second big challenge
- Sales of the necessary products in combo offer is the most significant hurdle to grabbing the customer mindset
- Return or exchange of the stuff is quite challenging, and the cancellation of the products too
- Cost of the reverse logistics is increasing day by day
- No updates on stock rotation regularly
- The delivery of the stuff is inefficient and not in real-time
- Handling multiple vendors in a next-level challenge
- Sometimes it isn’t easy to manage the transaction to look into the taxation policies.
The solution to tackle the challenges in the Apparel Industry
- Real-time delivery of the products
The real-time delivery of the stuff helps in customer satisfaction on their doorstep. The focus of the e-commerce industry is to provide customer-centric or customer-oriented services to serve the purpose.
- Customer experience
Customer feedback or comments helps in influencing other consumers to add it to their collection. The customer shares their experience on social media to make other shoppers aware of the service provided and mention the quality of the ordered stuff with a briefing.
- Return/exchange policies
The e-commerce business model of apparel industries should come out with good exchange or return policies to satisfy the customer. The return policies should be easy to access by the crowd with just a few clicks. And the sale of the stuff should be a quick and straightforward process to get the product back in a few days.
- The direct approach to customer
The e-commerce business is looking for a Direct-to-Consumer model where they can eliminate the intermediaries and directly communicate with the manufacturer to get the stuff of their choice. As per the report, business models have been hiked by 78% in sales prospects to grab the entire market in its circle.
- Secured transaction
The transaction and other personal detail-filled at times of shopping are kept safe and secured to avoid any fraud. The mode of payment is assured to be safe and quick to manage the transaction simply and magnificently.
- Inventory and Warehouse Management
The e-commerce platform uses the updated software version to handle the inventory brilliantly. The in and out of stock are updated accordingly. The use of AI helps minimize human effort or human error for the easy delivery of the services.
The apparel industry excels in a significant manner to effectively catch the massive crowd’s eyes for long-term growth prospects efficiently and effectively. Such industries are the glamour of the time and entertain the customer’s requirements in a specific way to fulfill their needs.
