Much to the horror of any millennial who lived through the traumatizing ordeal the first time around, it would appear that skinny jeans are back in fashion. As we make our way into summer 2024, one of the arguably least flattering fashions of the noughties appears to be making its return. So as a fashion business, what does this mean for you? How much should you cater to this? Even if you truly despise the look, it might be time to start to consider these things.
Social Media
If your business is taking the bold step of introducing skinny jeans, make sure you let your shoppers know. It’s a bold step to take- be bold about it. There’s no shying away from this fact, skinny jeans definitely reveal a lot! Your social media status needs to make this clear.
Gen Z loves confidence, so stand behind your decision. If you are selling skinny jeans, make some instagram posts and stories about it. Maybe a competition or a quiz if you want to spread the news even further.
Encourage user generated content, maybe by paying influencers or by hosting competitions. These will help spread the word and count as great social proof for those who might be considering joining in the trend.
Ultimately, a new fashion trend will spread no matter how resistant people are at the start. If you’ve started to make your position clear earlier on in the trend, shoppers will know where to come looking when they decide they will buy into the trend too.
Recommendations
Using AI powered recommendations is a great way to encourage sales. Personalized cross-sell and upsell recommendations means that once a user has shown interest in a product, they are helped along in their journey. When done well, this boosts the user experience at the same time as boosting sales.
Cookies aren’t needed in order to offer relevant personalized recommendations as long as you have click profile settings activated. This means that anonymous or first time users can even be offered recommendations that are relevant to them.
For example, if a shopper starts searching for skinny jeans: keep the skinny jeans suggestions coming! Show them different colors, different styles, different price points. This could be the nudge that helps them to actually complete the purchase.
Marketing
If you are jumping on a trend such as skinny jeans, it’s important to have a strong brand voice that can back this up. Let yourself be known as a loud, current and trendy fashion brand. For example, Princess Polly lets its shoppers know that it stays on top of trends.
Offering this kind of ‘out there’ product works well with their marketing. Their models are diverse and inclusive. Their target demographic is Gen Z and Millennials, and their fashion choices are fast-moving and sometimes risky.
Being loud and authentic will help attract the customers you want. This marketing strategy is not for the faint hearted, but if it complies with the brand you are trying to build, it’s the only way to go.
Whether this is through social media, SMS and email marketing, or simply through the website itself, stay true to your brand.
Collections
Lastly, when introducing skinny jeans make sure you consider which collections you’ll place it. Having AI automated smart collections can help you offer collections that are in alignment with each other. You want to make the shopping experience as smooth and holistic as possible.
There are AI programs which can help you merchandise collections in a way that will follow your business strategy, whether this is promoting, burying, hiding or anything else that makes sense for your model.
Merchandising collections by hand can be time consuming and won’t guarantee that you are making the most of the possibilities available to you. AI automated merchandising editors can be the solution to this problem.
Conclusion
Skinny jeans are back, and your business can find a way to make it work. Just make sure that your eCommerce strategy is optimized and up to date. There are many AI automations that can help you achieve your goals. Whatever you do, don’t be shy or afraid to stand by your decisions! Anyone deciding to wear skinny jeans will definitely not be shy in their decision making either.