In a world where consumer expectations and trends are increasingly shaped at the speed of Instagram, brands are being forced to take note and explore on-demand manufacturing and personalisation. The mismatch right now is that a digital consumer is being served by an analogue supply chain. The rise of digital media only magnifies the issue.
To become competitive, fashion retailers and brands need to embrace new production strategies and technologies, such as data and intelligence, robotics and digitisation, to use customer data to provide tailored, on-demand items.
Continual engagement is key
A responsive supply chain enables brands to react quickly to consumer demands and changing trends. The vision is to reduce lead times from months or weeks to days or hours. Consumers today live in a constantly changing world. This shapes their behaviour and expectations. They demand newness and immediacy without compromise.
Current production chains do not meet consumers’ need for speed, so we need to disrupt the current methodology. In today’s fashion world, technology-driven supply chains are more important than design. They enable us to combine speed in manufacturing with the flexibility to rethink conventional processes to give consumers what they want, when they want it.
Bespoke, customised, perfectly fitting items made just for you and only when you order them – it sounds just like a Savile Row offering, only this time it is purchased from your smartphone.
Janice Wang will speak at Tech powered by Retail Week where she will discuss Alvanon’s digital initiatives and what technologies will continue to reinvent and disrupt the supply chain
