Items That Are Mass Marketed in Fashion Pictures

The mass market place manner business is a lucrative one for British clothing brands. Merely with so many vying for a slice of the pie, it's a competitive space to be in. Winning at the game takes more than just offering the edgiest or trendiest products; it takes a strong and forrad-thinking digital strategy.

The battlefield is only complicated by the variety of companies that accept nudged into the value fashion market, from traditional clothing and accessory brands to supermarkets and department stores.

And then what are they doing to ensure they stay competitive? What'south working and what's non? Below we'll take a look at five of the key British mass market wearable brands, and analyse their arroyo to social media and digital marketing.

1. Sainsbury'south

Sainsbury'south is currently the second-largest grocer in the Britain according to Kantar Worldpanel, with latest figures attributing them fifteen.ix% of market share. An impending merger with third-ranked Asda is set to create a supermarket superpower — not to mention an affordable-fashion force to be reckoned with.

Despite being a supermarket chain, Sainsbury's accept been incredibly successful at growing their clothing category. Their fashion brand, Tu Article of clothing, at present contributes nearly £1 billion to annual sales. Sainsbury's stands to increase their fast mode market share even further with the addition of Asda's George clothing line.

It won't be the beginning major takeover for Sainsbury's. The 2016 acquisition of Argos has immune it to expand the reach of Tu Clothing past offering shoppers free click-and-collect from 1,100 Sainsbury's and Argos stores across the Britain. In April 2018 Tu Clothing was as well made available on the Argos website — the third virtually visited retail website in the United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland. Between two e-commerce websites (the dedicated Tu Clothing site and Argos.co.united kingdom), and more in-shop collection points, the Argos takeover has immune Sainsbury'south to deepen their omnichannel retail approach to mode.

When it comes to digital marketing strategy, Sainsbury's treats Tu Clothing as a separate make with separate social media accounts. This allows them to distance Tu from its supermarket origins and pins it more in the realm of manner.

Sainsbury'south uses the Tu Clothing social media to not merely promote the make only to build a customs around it, regularly regramming posts from followers (encouraging them to postal service photos of their Tu outfits under the hashtag #TuBeYou) and fostering an inclusive spirit.

They too apply Instagram for social shopping, tagging products in posts to drive online sales, a winning strategy every bit we discussed in our Ultimate Fashion E-commerce Checklist.

Their strategies seem to exist working: Sainsbury's most recent total year results reported that vesture sales rose nigh 4%, while online sales of clothing grew by 45%.

2. Matalan

Matalan is some other British article of clothing make that uses social media to dominate the mass market fashion space. They care for their 250k+ Instagram followers to a beautifully-curated feed blending fashion with aspirational travel and lifestyle images.

This lifestyle content brings them high engagement: for example, their recent mail of the Purple hymeneals generated more likes than whatever of their other posts.

Matalan'southward winning Instagram strategy has only been implemented recently. In 2016 the account had very depression engagement due to over-posting, and in 2017 the account was inactive. In March 2018 they re-launched the account to positive reception and, co-ordinate to our squad of Information Scientists, their average engagement rate is currently at 1.84%,infrequent because their absenteeism in 2017.

Another strategy they employ to generate this date is reposting from followers, while a heavy use of Instagram'due south shopping feature works to drive sales.

Some other marketing strategy Matalan has employed — one that's unique in comparison to other British clothing brands — is a T.V show. Their regular celebrity-hosted Television receiver bear witness (titled simply "The Show") is broadcast on YouTube, Matalan's website, and within their app. The show captures viewer interest with interviews and lifestyle content, while also heavily promoting Matalan's latest apparel and accessories.

Past inviting celebrities and influencers onto the testify, Matalan is also able to expand their reach by penetrating the guests' social media accounts.

According to Electrical Glue agency, weekly site traffic doubled within 11 weeks of The Show's launch, while online sales shot up by 69%.

3. Primark

Brands who decline to sell online get left behind, right? Not necessarily: yous just need to look to Primark for an example.

Although this mass market brand started and is recognized in Republic of ireland as Penneys, information technology is registered in England and Wales equally Primark, and we couldn't help but think of this fashion behemoth when talking about digital strategies. Despite not having embraced e-commerce (their reasoning being that their very depression price points would suffer nether the weight of shipping and returns costs), Primark have plant a way to drive customers in-store through their website and digital presence.

Social media is a key function of Primark'south strategy to remain relevant to the new generations of consumers. In less than five years of beingness on Instagram the retailer's business relationship has boomed to over 5.vii million followers. To grow the account organically, their focus has been on creating the right blazon of content. And information technology's working, our team of Data Scientists tell us that over l% of their posts over perform.

Primark's social accounts are careful to create a coherent brand image, whilst still incorporating plenty of user-generated content. Their focus has largely been on presenting products in context — like flay lays on a bed, or an outfit regrammed from 1 of their followers — rather than filling their feed with staged catalogue shots. This gives their posts a friendly, natural feel that customers tin relate to.

Followers are besides encouraged to share their mode using the hashtag #Primania, or by uploading their photos to a dedicated Primania area of the Primark website. Each Primania postal service includes details of the products featured and their prices, once again driving customers into stores to buy.

Primark reported 3% growth in its UK like-for-like sales in the six months leading upward to March 2018, despite generally poor retail atmospheric condition, suggesting that the style retailer's digital strategy is working wonders — even without east-commerce.

4. Marks & Spencer

Marks & Spencer have always been known for innovation, for introducing new products to the British marketplace and irresolute the manner people shop. Merely with recent years bringing an influx of contest beyond all areas — from food to style — the section store has experienced a drop in marketplace share.

Declining footfall due to customers moving online is i key gene contributing to loss of sales.

Merely in that location's proficient news for Marks & Spencer. The retailer has already recognized their challenges and developed new strategies moving forward. I of their chief goals is to take at least a 3rd of sales online.

They've likewise outlined plans to create a more seamless experience across online and offline channels, and to focus their efforts on creating fewer but meliorate physical stores that are digitally-driven.

M&S also accept a strong opportunity to abound and capitalize on their existing social media presence: the make already has over v million Facebook fans and 790k Instagram followers.

Unlike Sainsbury'due south, M&South mix all sales categories into their social media to create one full general lifestyle business relationship. In November 2017, all the same, they launched a second Instagram account dedicated to style and based effectually their Try Tuesday styling service. This account assembly the M&S brand with celebrities, influencers and street style stars via inspirational collages and styling tips.

M&S as well use this account to repost from followers, always in a way that visually fits the high-end, magazine-fashion aesthetic of the Try Tuesday sub-brand.

One thing the account has not nonetheless embraced is Instagram social shopping, which we're sure will be a positive next step in their goal to push sales online.

5. Peacocks

Peacocks is a long-standing visitor (founded in 1884) that rebranded over the years to turn itself into one of the major British brands in the mass market fashion infinite.

Later going into assistants in 2012, the visitor was bought out by Edinburgh Woollen Mill, who take since worked to turn the fortunes of the brand around and bring it back to relevance.

One part of their strategy has been improving the quality of their social media content and organically growing their following. As yet, Peacocks has a relatively low follower count across all platforms: although they joined Instagram in 2012, for example, they've just garnered 19k followers.

Despite the comparatively low numbers, Peacocks accept taken steps in the right management by engaging with users, reposting from followers, and even working with bloggers and micro-influencers to build brand awareness and credibility. The Launchmetrics Data team confirm that this is working for them, equally their most engaging posts are those with influencers.

Peacocks also uses their business relationship to encourage community contributions under the hashtag #mypeacocks, adding incentives like weekly prizes.

The Futurity of British Habiliment Brands

The retail landscape in the Britain has changed a lot in recent years, largely thanks to the growth of east-commerce and social media marketing. In the realm of mass market place way, value for money may be a key factor that keeps customers coming back — just information technology's certainly not the only one. To maintain marketplace share, brands also need to keep up with the changing times past embracing digital and meeting customers on the platforms they use the near. Having a clearly-divers strategy is central: as the five examples above demonstrate, a strategic approach is needed to ensure whatsoever brand continues to thrive.

What other British article of clothing brands exercise you remember are doing digital right? Feel free to comment below!

By Launchmetrics Content Team

The Launchmetrics content squad is always on the lookout for new trends in the mode and applied science sector. Nosotros are geeks with style and lovers of proficient stories!

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