The New Year has arrived, which means your inbox will be flooded with trend reports. Do not be alarmed by the flood of emails. From Business of Fashion, WWD, and Vogue Business, we’ve compiled a list of five must-know trends.
Trend #1 Inventory Bubble
Retailers have been grappling with Covid 19 for several years as consumers shifted from in-store to online shopping, stores were closed, labor was drastically reduced, and supply chain issues arose as a result of factory shutdowns and shipping bottlenecks.
Greg Petro, founder/CEO of First Insight, a technology company that helps retailers develop and market products through consumer insights, predicts a “inventory bubble” in Q1 2022 in a WWD article titled What to Watch: Retail 2022 — Still Strong But Tougher.
Retailers are facing difficulties as Omicron threatens a drop in foot traffic, store lockdowns, factory shutdowns, rising inflation, and a drop in consumer spending backed by stimulus checks.
With this influx of inventory, Petro expects retailers to provide more services and conveniences such as resales, repairs, and buy online and pick up in-store to improve the customer experience and increase profits.
Retailers should use an all-encompassing B2B platform that includes tools for reallocating and shifting stock to mitigate loss, as well as BOPIS features to provide customers with more flexible shopping options.
Trend #2 Fashion Shows, Trade Shows, and Omicron Woes
Fashion month has arrived! Pitti Uomo, Milano Men’s, Paris Fashion Week, Paris Haute Couture, and other menswear and haute couture shows are scheduled to take place this month, but with Omicron and increased cases, the industry is unsure how to proceed safely.
According to a Business of Fashion article, it is ultimately up to individual brands to decide whether or not to proceed. Governments are allowing in-person shows as long as they follow national coronavirus guidelines such as reduced guest capacity, social distancing, mask-wearing, and vaccination proof. Some brands are canceling; Brunello Cucinelli has decided to postpone their plans for Pitti Uomo, which takes place January 11th – 13th.
