As the largest generation in 2019, millennials set the trends, including where and how to shop. About 60% of millennials make purchases online, which is a 13% increase from 2017. Online shopping has been gradually increasing in popularity over time.

While online shopping is a convenient way to snag some of the best deals, old-fashioned shopping trips to brick and mortar stores aren’t completely out of the equation just yet. Both of these shopping methods have their pros and cons, so it’s important to understand what online shopping and brick and mortar stores have to offer shoppers as well as what can be lost in the process.

The Changing Face of Retail

Technological innovations have drastically changed the retail industry. Online shopping for clothes, goods, products, and services provides extensive information at consumers’ fingertips. By simply browsing a search engine or two, consumers can look over thousands of customer reviews to learn more about products. They can make purchases with the click of a button and engage with brands through social media platforms and live chat features. With the fast fashion industry and the instant information the internet provides, consumers have gotten used to infinite choices and prompt responses from brands.

Online vs. In-Store Shopping

Consumers can experience unique benefits from both in-store and online shopping, which can make it hard to choose their preferred retail method.

The Benefits of Online Shopping

• Less time and effort: Hopping online and doing a bit of research is all that’s required to find products and complete an online order to make a purchase. E-commerce retailers employ sales order management software to expedite fulfillment and get the right orders to consumers as quickly as possible — often within two days or less.
• Price comparisons: Consumers can use search functions to compare prices on the same products through multiple retailers. Mobile shopping support from retailers means consumers can research, make selections, and even complete purchases on the go through their smartphones.
• Recurring purchases: Online brands make it easy to schedule recurring purchases, so consumers don’t even need to place orders once they’ve signed up for these programs.
• Fewer interactions: Many consumers feel hassled or annoyed by interactions with retail associates, so these can be avoided through online shopping.
• More choices: With so many online brands, companies, and products, online shoppers have access to many product choices that aren’t limited by location.

The Benefits of In-Store Shopping

• Enjoying the shopping experience: Many consumers enjoy the act of shopping and make it into a social event, which can be missed through online shopping.
• Getting the product immediately: With brick and mortar shopping, consumers don’t have to wait for the product to be shipped and can take it home right away.
• Not paying shipping costs: Without shipments, consumers don’t have to pay costs for shipping and handling like they usually do with online shopping.
• Trying before buying: In-store shopping allows consumers to touch, examine, and try on/try out products before they decide to buy them.
• Secure purchases: Online data breaches are on the rise and there were more than 3,800 data breaches in 2019. In-person store purchases may be more appealing to consumers because it’s less likely they’ll be the victims of data breaches.

How Brick-and-Mortar Stores Are Adapting

Brick and mortar stores aren’t blind to the draws of online shopping. To stay alive, they’ve adapted many practices to entice consumers to continue shopping in-person. Many retailers allow consumers to shop for their products online, but ship them to local stores. In many cases, the products are available in the store on the same day the customer requests it online. This way, online shoppers can choose what they want but still visit the store to get the product.

Many retailers have also started to offer price-match guarantees for their products. Consumers can do their online shopping research to find the best prices for products but still visit brick and mortar stores to ultimately make the purchase. This allows buyers to know they got the best prices on these products but still encourages them to shop in person. Not only do consumers benefit from online savings, but they also get to touch the product and enjoy the in-person shopping experience before they buy it.

Both online retailers and physical stores are integrating their inventory tracking and sales management software with every stage of the supply chain, so they can adjust orders and update stocks to better keep up with consumer demand, fashion trends, and other marketplace variables.

How to Compare Product Prices

Whether you’re looking to purchase a product online or in a store, you probably want to get the best price possible. Consider implementing both retail methods so you can be sure you get the best price for your goods. To compare product prices thoroughly and accurately, you should:

• Make a list of competing products: When comparing prices, make a list of every alternative brand that’s comparable so you can find the lowest price available, either online or in stores. There are several online price comparison sites you can use, such as Google shopping, to make this process easier.
• Compare product alternatives: Compare different product types in addition to brands if your ideal product is too expensive. You may be able to find affordable alternatives, as long as you thoroughly compare the features and benefits to assess the value of your options first.
• Use deal and price trackers: Price trackers such as SlickDeals can inform you about potential deals without you doing the research yourself. These price trackers alert you when a product or brand you’re interested in is on sale or had a price drop. If you’re willing to be patient, these price trackers can save you money on your purchases, both online and offline.

When you’re shopping for a product, both the online and brick and mortar retail options have their pros and cons. By using both resources to find the best price, company, and value, you can ensure you choose the best outlet to obtain your goods.

Fast fashion may provide consumers with quick and easy access to an affordable, yet fashionable wardrobe, but the benefits come at a cost. “Fast fashion isn’t free,” says fashion journalist Lucy Siegle in an article for Vogue. “Someone somewhere is paying for it.”

The Landscape of the Modern Fashion Market

The demands of the fashion industry have been evolving over the past 20 years. This can be attributed to the consumer’s desire for affordable clothing at a lower cost or even cultural changes towards the attitudes of shopping in general. There are multiple factors that have contributed to the fashion evolution, some of which being:

• Needs for reducing the cost of production, labor, and products;
• An increased amount of customer expectations;
• Globalization;
• Technology.

Since the market is always evolving, it can result in common characteristics that may be found within the industry. A few of which are:

• The product often times has a short life-cycle. Meaning that the period in which it is considered viable for sale may be very short — sometimes within months, or even weeks;
• The selling seasons are often short as well. This refers to the fashion market’s constant need to refresh their product ranges to comply with the rest of the store’s merchandise season (how often the merchandise within the store is changed);
• Consumers possibly making high-impulse purchases;
• Tremendous product variety.

What is Fast Fashion?

“Fast fashion” is a method for making inexpensive apparel at a rapid pace in response to the latest style trends. With an increased demand for inexpensive clothing items at a quick rate, shopping has become a form of entertainment.

Shoppers visit outlets to be entertained. Retailers that provide a sense of atmosphere — usually done with proper displays, lighting, and even smells — provide their customers with a good customer journey. Going to a physical location, rather than shopping online, gives the customer the ultimate shopping experience, potentially leading them to make a purchase.

The Pros and Cons of Fast Fashion

Fast fashion has its benefits. However, just as with most things, there are also downsides.

Pros

The ability to meet market trends at a fast pace enables businesses to potentially become highly competitive and may provide consumers with desired goods faster than ever before. Other pros of fast fashion are:

• A drastic increase in the production of affordable clothing. This way consumers don’t have to wait around for what they want since there are so many retailers to shop from;
• People — particularly the youth and students — can still enjoy the thrill of shopping without having to spend a lot of money;

Cons

Although fast fashion is affordable, it has multiple downfalls. The reasons to rethink fast fashion consist of:

• The Exploitation of Workers Overseas: Due to their drive for low prices and quick access, fast fashion stores are often associated with subcontracting manufacturers in countries like Bangladesh and Myanmar. The manufacturers within these countries may consist of less-than-ideal working conditions, which can be why they’re often referred to as “sweatshops.”
• Environmentally Disastrous: The Huffington Post reported that the average American will throw out 81 pounds of clothing in a year. This totals up to about 26 billion pounds of textiles and clothing items in the landfill in a given year. Part of this may be caused by the mass production of clothing that is lead by the fast fashion industry. The issue not only resides with people throwing out their clothes, but it also is found with how the clothes are manufactured. Elizabeth Cline, author of Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion writes in her book that fiber production takes roughly 145 million tons of coal and between 1.5 and 2 trillion gallons of water.
• Fast Fashion Can Possibly Cost You More Than “Real” Clothing: Sure, buying fast fashion can be extremely affordable, but it’s important to think about the quality of the clothing that is being purchased. When a consumer purchases a shirt for $7 it may not hold up for long, so after a few wears, it gets thrown out. The consumer really liked that shirt, so they purchase it again and once more they end up throwing it out since the quality of the shirt didn’t hold. This happens a few more times throughout the year. They end up spending $35 for multiple tee shirts that end up getting thrown out when they could have just spent that same amount, one time, on a more high-quality shirt that would more than likely last longer.

Sustainable Fashion: A Response to Fast Fashion

Fast fashion has contributed to an increase in what critics often refer to as a throwaway culture. Throwaway culture is when consumers throw out goods, foods, and other products — rather than recycling or donating — after they’re perceived as useless or they no longer need it. “Buying clothing, and treating it as if it is disposable, is putting a huge added weight on the environment and is simply unsustainable,” says Cline.

Because of this, companies such as Everlane, ThredUp, and many more are exploring ways to solve the fast-fashion and throwaway culture crisis — which leads to the concept of sustainable fashion.

Sustainable fashion is clothing, shoes, and accessories that are manufactured, marketed and used as sustainably as possible, taking into account both environmental and socio-economic aspects. There are seven forms of sustainable fashion.

1. On-Demand and Custom Made
2. Green and Clean
3. High Quality and Timeless Design
4. Fair and Ethical
5. Repair, Redesign, and Upcycle
6. Rent, Lease, and Swap
7. Secondhand and Vintage

How Retailers Are Responding to Consumer Concerns

Transparency is important because it is believed to be the first step towards transforming the fashion industry. Lack of transparency within the industry can make it difficult for companies to ensure their employee’s safety, working conditions are adequate, and that basic human rights are respected. When a company is completely transparent, they are making the public aware of who manufactures their brand’s clothes, who farmed the fabric (cotton, wool, etc), and under what conditions.

However, some businesses aren’t as transparent as they should be, despite knowing the cons of the fast-fashion industry. In fact, according to the 2019 Fashion Transparency Index, out of 200 brands that were reviewed:

• 72% of the brands publish policies on energy and carbon emissions at the company level;
• 37.5% disclose that they are involved in capacity-building projects in the supply chain focused on gender equality of female empowerment;
• 35% publish their supplier’s list.

On the other hand, some brands are becoming more transparent and are making more substantive organizational changes in order to reduce their impact on the environment. For example, as of December 2016, the following brands have published supply chain information on their branded products:

• Adidas;
• Columbia Sportswear;
• Disney;
• Fruit of the Loom;
• Gap Inc.;
• H&M Group;
• Levi Strauss;
• New Balance;
• Nike;
• Pacific Brands;
• Patagonia;
• Puma;
• Target USA;
• VF Corporation;
• Woolworths

Finding a Balance

It is difficult to monitor a supply chain if a company doesn’t even know where their manufacturing facilities are, which is one of the reasons why being transparent is important. Christina Hajagos-Clausen, garment director of IndustriALL Global Union says that “transparency of a company’s manufacturing supply chain better enables a company to identify and assess actual or potential adverse human rights impacts.”

Being able to embrace transparency while keeping aware of market trends may help a company be able to forecast consumer demands well ahead of time in order to produce desired goods in a sustainable fashion. This can be done with the help of order fulfillment software and apparel manufacturing software that helps improve on-time deliveries and customer satisfaction, as well as building in more granular visibility and control over the entire supply chain. Better tracking of both fashion trends and inventory at every stage means software allows retailers to reduce waste and source responsibly, potentially saving money as well as delivering more ethical or sustainable choices to consumers.